Student Portfolio Review
For Students and Recent Graduates
The Student Portfolio Review has always been one of the key components of the IDSA District Design Conference. There’s simply no substitute for the experience of presenting your work, face-to-face, to a professional you’ve never met before and then receiving immediate feedback. For many students, this may be their first opportunity to have a conversation with a professional. There’s no better place than at a District Conference where the professionals you’ll meet have come to help students and contribute their expertise to the next generation of designers.
If you're a student--particularly if you’re a Junior, Senior, graduating this Spring, or recent graduate--these reviews are a critical part of your professional development. We encourage you to participate in this review. You’ll begin conversations and professional relationships with potential mentors and future colleagues.
Portfolio Review Process and Tips
- You’ll sign up for the Student Portfolio Review when you register for the conference.
- The reviews will happen on Friday starting around midday (specific schedule is TBD).
- If review slots become limited, preference will be given to student closer to graduation or recently graduated (within the last academic year). Younger students are always welcom to “listen in” and watch a review of another student.
- For professionals with at least one full-time professional job experience, you should consider participating in the Professional Career Clinic (see below).
- The number and duration of individual reviews for each student will depend on how many sign up and the number of professional reviewers we have. But typically each student will have 2-4 reviews at around 20 mins each.
- Bring a fully charged device to show your portfolio.
- Have both online and PDF versions ready. Prepare for scenarios with and without Wi-Fi, and avoid large PDF files that are difficult to load and flip through.
- Carry a USB drive with your portfolio in case you need to use their device.
- Consider having a printed version of your portfolio as a backup.
- We strongly encourage students to show their portfolios to students from other ID programs. You’ll be surprised how different the work product is from one school to another.
Call for Professional Reviewers
We are asking all the professionals attendee to consider participating in the Student Portfolio Review. This is a critical part of the District Conference experience and a key component to the student’s or recent graduate’s professional development.
- You’ll sign up to be a reviewer when you register for the conference.
- The reviews will happen on Friday starting around midday (specific schedule is TBD).
- The number and duration of individual reviews will depend on how many sign up and the number of professional reviewers we have. But typically review will be around 20 mins each.
Thank you so much for supporting the students!
ID Professional Career Clinic
For ID Professionals Looking for Their “Next Step”
We’ve all been there.
Whether you’re in the first few years into career and not sure about that first job you took out of school, or at a “crossroads” in the second decade of professional practice, we can all use a little advice from someone who understand the business. The Professional Career Clinic is intended to meet that need.
While the Student Portfolio Reviews are intended for students (or recent graduates) with little or no professional experience, the ID Professional Career Clinic is intended for professionals who have been working for at least a few years and are looking for career advice. This is an opportunity to receive mentoring from someone who’s been in the business and understands what you might be going through.
The ID Professional Career Clinic sessions will be ~30 minutes and held in private meeting rooms. These one-on-one mentoring sessions will allow a seasoned Industrial Design professional more time to review and discuss your work history and portfolio and talk to you about their individual goals. The objective is for them to give you honest, personalized feedback, advice, and guidance (skills building, suggestions for potential industries or jobs, networking, etc.) to help you move forward towards their “next step” in your career.
How this works
- These mentoring sessions are intended for ID professionals with at least one full-time professional job experience. You can be currently employed or between positions and have been a professional for at least a few years (to a few decades).
- You’ll sign up for the ID Professional Career Clinic when you register for the conference.
- Availability of these mentoring sessions will be limited.
- These sessions will happen on Saturday as not to conflict with the Student Portfolio Reviews (specific schedule is TBD) and will be in a more private setting.
- You’ll be matched up with a professional reviewer in advance of the conference so that you may forward any information about yourself prior to your face-to-face conversation.
- In addition to sharing your resume/work history (or LinkedIn profile), you’ll be expected to show examples of your work. Of course, you should never show NDA-protected projects without permission, and always mention that you have permission to show the project.
- Note that the Professional Career Clinic is intended to start a conversation between you and the reviewer to generate ideas about what your next steps could be. What you do with those ideas or suggestions is completely your responsibility.
Call for Professional Reviewers
We are asking all the more seasoned professional attendee to consider participating in the ID Professional Career Clinic.
- Professionals will sign up to be a reviewer when they register for the conference.
- The review sessions will happen on Saturday (specific schedule is TBD).
- You'll be matched prior to the conference so you both may connect and exchange information. We expect this conversation to continue after the conference.
- Due to their duration (~30 mins), the number of reviews will be limited. Each professional reviewer may only do 2 or 3 sessions each.