Portfolio "too amateurish" − 1 December, 1995
I sat on my ass a bit after graduation and got a job at Vistachrome, the printing house for the huge Homes & Land Magazine franchise in Tallahassee. I then did some work for the Tallahassee Democrat and after I left them I continued to do some freelance.
I was getting into all of this web stuff. I was a graphic designer being lured by this early era of the World Wide Web. I kind of regret it now.
I sent in my portfolio to Portfolio.com (at the time, the big agency promoting designers in the web arena) hoping they'd be impressed. They weren't. They sent it back to me with a sticky note "too amateurish". I was a bit heart-broken and was on the verge of denial when it dawned on me that it's a GOOD thing they told me this.
Honest, objective critique is important. To this day I try to remain as objective as possible about creative work. While I still struggle with my design career (I've delved into too many tangents and really need to focus), I still look at my work or anybody's work and think about whether it's really gonna be good for its purpose or not. It's gotta connect and solve the client's problems. No matter how it was done, how much time went into it, this is inconsequential to the purpose of your work: communication. And if you can't communicate, you don't have a solution.
So, thanks Portfolio, wherever you are or whatever you became, for being honest!
I was getting into all of this web stuff. I was a graphic designer being lured by this early era of the World Wide Web. I kind of regret it now.
I sent in my portfolio to Portfolio.com (at the time, the big agency promoting designers in the web arena) hoping they'd be impressed. They weren't. They sent it back to me with a sticky note "too amateurish". I was a bit heart-broken and was on the verge of denial when it dawned on me that it's a GOOD thing they told me this.
Honest, objective critique is important. To this day I try to remain as objective as possible about creative work. While I still struggle with my design career (I've delved into too many tangents and really need to focus), I still look at my work or anybody's work and think about whether it's really gonna be good for its purpose or not. It's gotta connect and solve the client's problems. No matter how it was done, how much time went into it, this is inconsequential to the purpose of your work: communication. And if you can't communicate, you don't have a solution.
So, thanks Portfolio, wherever you are or whatever you became, for being honest!
