A VIRTUAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW

One Club Denver's annual portfolio review kicked off virtually last Thursday evening on April 8th with students from across the country and creative reviewers, Jon Barco, Art Director, Wieden + Kennedy, Edi Inderbitzin, Creative Director, David & Goliath, Jen Hohn, Founder / Chief Creative Officer, Articulation, Jesse Alkire, Co-Founder/Creative Director, Denver Ad School, Ant Tull, Sr. Copywriter, Droga5, Marcus Brown, Creative Director, Preacher, Shea Tullos, Creative Director, Cactus and Alex Lang, Director of Visual Propaganda, Liquid Death. 

Students were divided into small breakout rooms with a creative reviewer for a 20 minute deep dive into their portfolio and given actionable insights on how they can take their work to the next level. 

After the reviews, attendees met back into the main zoom room for a presentation by Heather Vansiko, Co-Founder of Denver Ad School and Co-President of The One Club Denver and Kara Taylor, Managing Partner of FBI Talent Co. and President Emeritus of The One Club Denver on "Building Your Book" followed by a Q&A with Creative Recruiter, Betsy Baker of Leo Burnett, Chicago. Heather also announced the student winners of three awards: Best Idea, Best Design and Best Copywriting. 

Each submission was great but three rose to the top. Best Copywriting went to Samuel Eaton at CU Boulder, for his campaign "Nearly Natural’s death proof houseplants - Cure yourself of your plant killing curse",  Best Design went to Lizzie Cox at Pratt Institute for her campaign "The United States Environmental Protection Agency - Mask Mess" and Best Idea went to Kailin Zhang at Boston University, for her campaign "Spotify - Let Spotify Take You There". 

Students asked Betsy for advice on job hunting versus internships, what type of opportunities are available right after undergrad or portfolio school and how to follow up correctly with a recruiter. Key takeaways from the Q&A were keeping your portfolio simple and easy to navigate with quick reads and a great "about me" section. 

Check out the video below to see Heather and Kara's presentation and the Q&A with Betsy:

A huge thank you to all the students, reviewers, volunteers and recruiters for the incredible work, and for being so open with your time and creative spirit. We hope the event made everyone feel even more a part of the local creative community.