DesignSchool.ca Welcome - Click to return to the home page

Semester I

Semester II

Semester III

Semester IV

Semester V

Semester VI

HOME Contact Alain About the Site Policies Style Guide Podcasts in your browser Podcasts in iTunes R.G.D. Ontario

Leave-Behind

You will design a piece that you will leave with prospective employers. The point of the piece is to keep your break-through work and effervescent personality in the minds of the folks you visited. This piece is what will stay behind after you have left the interview. Make it count. It needs to reflect how you think.

Your Professional Goals

If you are going to leave a teaser behind, it needs to cater to your professional goals.

Do you want to obtain a contract from a potential client as a free-lancer? In this case, you need to show your work. What you may want to create is a sample sheet with images of your work.

Are you a designer looking for a position in a studio? Are you a free-lance designer looking for a contract?

Do you want to say something about yourself? About your work? Do you want to shock? Be humorous?

The Purpose

What do you wish to accomplish with this piece? These are only a few of the goals you may want to achieve:

  • Show your work in a leave-behind portfolio.
  • Identify yourself with a photo and contact information.
  • Demonstrate your talent with a show piece. The teaser would be your message.
  • Entertain, shock, be humorous.
  • Send out a call to action: "Hire me!"
  • Make your piece a link to your Web portfolio.
  • Include a resume.

The Format

Your piece can take any shape you want, within the limits of practicality. Consider that you'll have to produce a whole lot of these. Don't make them difficult to produce and assemble. Cost comes into play here too. Keep it under control.

Will you leave behind a disposable portfolio? Maybe it includes a reminder of the URL to your portfolio site.

Evaluation

You will be graded on:

Creativity - 50%
Is you piece innovative? Does it make the recipient want to keep it? Is it original? To have high creativity marks, it needs to get that wow reaction from the recipient.
Practicality & Effectiveness- 35%
Is your teaser easy to produce? Easy to keep? Inexpensive? You'll get higher marks for making your piece a really well designed post card than an elaborately-assembled model aircraft carrier. Does your piece achieve it's goals? Is it useful?
Presentation Quality - 15%
The fit and finish of your leave-behind has to be perfect. If it is an object you assembled, make the assembly look like it was manufactured.

Week One

Today, you should outline your goals. Are you going to use this teaser to obtain a co-op placement? Are you looking for a full-time job? Are free-lance contracts what you want?

By the end of class, I'd like you to hand in a brief outlining the direction you want to take. Leave it with me on paper.

Will your piece tie in with your mailer and your web site?