4th Annual Phoenix Portfolio Review

I can't believe this year was the 4th Annual Phoenix Portfolio Review. I am proud to say I have been involved since the beginning and wouldn't have it any other way. Jason and Michelle organize the shit out of this event and should get massive kudos.

The idea is simple, get the Valley's creative folk to review a bunch of students books.

This year's turnout was amazing. Every reviewer had people waiting to talk with them, it felt like a portfolio review at The One Show in New York. I went to the One Show portfolio reviews as a student, I would stand in line and the one CD I wanted to talk to left when it was my turn. I know he probably had somewhere to go or just didn't want to be there anymore, but I will never forget that he couldn't give me 15 minutes of his time. Now, I make it a point to stay the entire time and plan to stay a bit afterwards in case anyone wants to talk to me.

We normally get 10 minutes to talk to the interns but I didn't let the lights being turned off and back on distract if a student kept talking. Of course that lead to me meeting with less students, but the ones I did meet with were pretty awesome. Here they are below:

Justin - He has a great personality about him and he said he came to talk to me because he heard I was a straight shooter. I like this guy already. His work is crisp, clean and beautiful to look at. As he learns to evolve an ideas arms an legs, he's going to be dangerous.

Shelby - I would love to see her push her work a bit more. The branding work is great, though how would you market those brands? What would they look like in-store, on a shelf? How would you get someone want to purchase these baby clothes over a more established brand? Also, her last name is Spoon, seriously how awesome is that?! Can you imagine how many self promo ideas are going through my head right now?

Tomoko - She was a little quiet, though she had very clean work. Though that wasn't what intrigued me. This lady thinks about things differently. All of her projects had a slight twist to them that gave you a bit of an aha moment.

John Doe - I feel really bad that I don't remember this guys name BUUT if you know it let me know. He's more of an animator and a decent one at that. He has this book called The Eye Book where he compares animal eyes and human eyes and then illustrates them. I really want to see this animated and see the transitions through each of the eyes. So cool.

Jane Doe - I can't remember her name either . . . She had branding for unitea and some cool posters. My favorite is the poster for the Spring Show, the photography and the angles. Ugh, just gorgeous.

I love this and really want to start up my internship program again. I love learning from them as much as I hope they learn from me.