Mitton - Portfolios for interior designers: a guide to portfolios, creative resumes, and the job search

Maureen Mitton

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Copyright 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Mitton, Maureen.

Portfolios for interior designers: a guide to portfolios, creative resumes, and the job search / Maureen Mitton.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-40816-2 (pbk.) ; ISBN 978-0-470-91340-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-91341-3 (ebk);

ISBN 978-0-470-91342-0 (ebk)

1. Interior decoration rendering. 2. Design servicesMarketing. 3. Interior decorationVocational guidance. I. Title. II. Title: Guide to portfolios, creative resumes, and the job search.

NK2113.5.M59 2010
747.068'8dc22
2009049256

To my mother, who bought me a portfolio (and a blue wool suit) so that I would finally stop waiting tables and hanging out at the beach. And to my father, who thought nothing of driving across the countryany countryto see what was on the other side.

This book would not be even remotely possible without the many generous people who contributed the wonderful work that graces its pages. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of looking at work by so many talented and helpful people. If time and space allowed, I would write a paragraph about each contributor; instead, a simple list will have to suffice.

A special thank-you to Ambica Prakash and Bob Atwell, who both contributed major chapter content. Bill Wikrent at the University of Wisconsin-Stout provided excellent technical information on a number of topics. As usual, the staff at Wiley has been wonderful, thank you to Paul Drougas, Sadie Abuhoff, and David Sassian. Andrew Miller seems to have taken my confusing sentences and made them into real paragraphs, for that I am very thankful.

I do thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Contributors list, in order of appearance:

(Schools and educators have been listed at the request of the contributor.)

Jim Taft

Melissa Brewer

Nicole Banaszewski

Laura Purcell

Shelley Pecha

Mollie Drabik

Sharon M. Stickney

Hannah M. Sparks

Jennifer Irey, Iowa State University. Instructor: Cigdem Akkurt.

Camilla Stine

Alvin & Company Inc

Catherine Popp, The Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg. Instructor: Suzann Nordstrom.

Pina Zangaro

Elizabeth Kruse

Jordan Breedlove

Jaime Schreiner, Iowa State University. Instructor: Cigdem Akkurt.

Denis Belenko

Katie Carlson

Ivan Trushin

Jennifer Leafblad

Hannah Roesler

Elizabeth Calka

Nathan Piper

Amy Stemper

Holly Sivula

Katie Goznian

Lindsay Lindner

Dustin Sparks

Julia Stephan

Lisa Schwennsen

Timothy Dolan

Carlin Traugott Cambell, Appalachian State University. Instructors: Timothy Dolan, Jeanne Mercer-Ballard.

Laura Van Der Sanden

Jennifer Pike, University of Cincinnatis College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning (DAAP).

Amelia Treptow

Jennifer Williams, Florida State University. Instructor: Lisa Waxman.

Helen Woods

Katie Cantwell

Holly McWhorter

Julian Hensch

Clive Walters, Liverpool John Moores University

Katarzyna Borowy

Kyle Snyder

Molly Naparsteck

Dayna Beck, Westwood College

Emily Nettler

Thank you all again.

The following quotes sum up key points in this book:

Designwhether graphic, industrial, interior or architectureis the process of taking unrelated parts and putting them together in an organized unit.

ALEXANDER WHITE, THE ELEMENTS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN:

SPACE, UNITY, PAGE ARCHITECTURE, AND TYPE (2002)

And:

Work your plan and plan your work.

This book is intended as an aid in taking what are often seemingly unrelated elements and putting them together in an organized unitand not being overwhelmed by the process (thats where having a plan worth working comes in).

Many students, graduates, and job seekers feel overwhelmed by the thought of putting together a portfolio: in representing your entire body of work, the portfolio can symbolize your fears about graduation, employmenteven about a successful future. (No small issue there!) However, by breaking down the elements of portfolio development, you can, in fact, develop a plan that yields excellent results.

One key is to stay focused on the tasks at hand and not become overwhelmed by the future or by fear. Instead, focus on working through the process in a step-by-step manner as described in the following pages and symbolized in .

Imagining the job search and portfolio development process as a series of small and manageable steps will keep you from becoming overwhelmed.

The following chapters convey the ways in which the components of an interior designers education, experience, and personal narrative can be put together in an organized manner. Additional information about the process and materials required for finding employment for interior designers is also included.