Portfolio Advice

Coming straight from my mentor for this summer, Liggett’s Senior Art Director, I have some tips and tactics for graphic designers to help boost interview results, and to customize your career to meet your goals.

Before interviewing, a good idea might be to research your company of course, and figure out specifically which positions they are looking for in a creative. For example, if you want to come in as an entry-level designer, then your portfolio might be more style oriented and comprise an extensive collection of die cuts, paper selections and popular visual trends for logos and various single pieces, then a couple business systems and campaigns representing the conformity of your styles. However, if you were to apply for a job as a junior or associate art director, an employer might rather see a lot of visual solutions for an idea or metaphor; or how you came about branding your ideas. You will still have a lot of logos and single pieces, but more campaigns, less variety, bigger ideas. Maybe you could go down to a local business and see if they will let you brand the fliers and invitations for their next event. It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.

But the idea that you are tailoring your portfolio to the position you are applying for lets the employer know that you understand the business. My mentor told me a story of a concepting class he took based on spec projects, in which another student spent an entire three months doing nothing but watching TV and redoing commercial spots that he saw – and created the portfolio that got him from Carmichael Lynch, Mullen, and a few other well known firms.



Pat B.
Creative Intern