Q&A with the Portfolio Night All-Stars of 2023
Portfolio Night is going down in just one week on Thursday, October 24, so get ready to get your book reviewed by the top creative directors in your city. Plus the person with the best portfolio at each event will be named that city’s All-Star, and will collaborate and compete with other Portfolio Night All-Stars from around the world for an opportunity to be flown into New York City to join us at Creative Week 2025 next May!
So ahead of Portfolio Night 2024, we sat down for a quick Q&A with our All-Stars from last year to hear about their experience and prize trip to NYC! It was a few of the winners’ first time ever traveling to NYC last fall and they were so excited to be living in their Friends era while also taking a crash course in the New York agency lifestyle. They visited Uber, TBWA, Edelman, WLab, and Madwell’s NYC headquarters. The four 2023 All-Stars winners, Helsinki’s winner, Art director, Ayan Aden; Manila’s winner, multimedia artist, Jacob Banog; Mumbai’s Winner, art director, Pallavi; and Singapore’s Winner, art director, Jodi Ong shared their insights.
Let’s talk inspiration– What about your hometown or current city inspires your creativity?
Ayan:There are a lot of good art exhibitions and creative people in Helsinki. I like to go to art exhibits on the weekends or after school, plus they are free if you’re a student.
Jacob: Honestly, I love taking walks and seeing our design style. The Philippines is very maximalist in terms of its design identity. Seeing ads, street signs, and different visual things on the street every day inspires me—and, of course, the museums, traditional art, even architecture, and sometimes music.
Pallavi: My dad was in the Air Force, so my inspiration is not tied to a specific area because we moved around so much growing up. Delhi is a historic city with both old and modern sides that inspire me. And, of course, the food is also an inspiration.
Jodi: What inspires me the most, not just in Singapore, but in general, is people. I love people watching. I like to tap into feelings and emotions, whether it be personal or watching as a third party.
How was the Portfolio Night experience for all of you?
Ayan: I went into it confident but also hesitant because there are a lot of super talented people. My goal was to be the winner because I really wanted to win the NYC trip.
One CD who reviewed my portfolio took out his laptop, showed me his agency, and started hiring me on the spot, so that felt super good.
“One CD who reviewed my portfolio took out his laptop, showed me his agency, and started hiring me on the spot, so that felt super good.”
Pallavi: I didn’t even think about winning. It was such a nice learning experience and atmosphere. Everyone was buzzing around sharing their work and exchanging their Instagrams and portfolio sites. Portfolio Night is just filled with creative, fun, and talented people.
Plus you never know who you could collaborate with in the future. The room was filled with photographers, writers, and designers– you could have met your next project crew there.
“The room was filled with photographers, writers, and designers– you could have met your next project crew there.”
Jodi: It was great. I talked to three different creatives and each person I spoke to gave me great advice, not just on my portfolio but life advice too. I just thought they would look at my book and tell me if I was good or not.
“I talked to three different creatives and each person I spoke to gave me great advice, not just on my portfolio but life advice too.”
What are some of the insights you learned from your All-Stars experience?
Ayan: The guy at Edelman was super cool and had a lot of cool stuff to share. I was very impressed by how he spoke. He was supportive and excited to be there and meet us.
Jacob: The biggest lesson that resonated with me was learning about the ideation process after receiving a brief. If you can’t explain your idea in one sentence, it’s not the right idea. It should be simple. It should be clean. It should be able to resonate with people since you are in advertising. It was a good reminder to keep things simple, and just because it can be said in one sentence does not mean it can’t solve a problem.
“It was a good reminder to keep things simple, and just because it can be said in one sentence does not mean it can’t solve a problem.”
Pallavi: A lot of lessons were repeated like taking time for yourself because creative people tend to be really harsh on their work and think about work all the time. I struggle with this because I feel like if I do something, I need to be good at it in 10 minutes. Otherwise, it’s not worth it. It made me realize that maybe I can suck at stuff and still like it, and that’s ok. So that was something that stuck with me.
Another thing was that everyone was so cool. They’ve seen the world and they’re doing such cool work, but they’re also so humble. They tell you about their work in a way that doesn’t feel like a brag. I want to be like that.
Jodi: All the creatives we met on our NYC trip said the same thing– prioritize your mental well-being and your own happiness over work. And make sure to take time to do the things you love rather than dedicating every single minute to your creative work. That mentality is very different from the culture in Singapore, so it was very impactful for me.
“All the creatives we met on our NYC trip said the same thing– prioritize your mental well-being and your own happiness over work.”
Want to be the All-Star of your city? Sign up for Portfolio Night today!
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