The summer 2011 quarter ended with a bang and I went straight into a very busy week long break that included a “simple” oral surgery. That was a choice that knocked the stuffing out of me for the entire subsequent quarter, so now I am playing catch up with the blog!

One of the items I was particularly thrilled with at the end of summer quarter was my Portfolio Prep class. Decisions were finalized on my business name and branding direction, the look and feel of my design resume and stationery/business cards, portfolio concepts were explored, as well as graduate schools chosen and cv written.

I finally honed my graduate school down to one favorite choice, but I will probably end up with one of the less expensive options on my list. I have to pay it back and an MBA might serve me just as well as my preferred choice.

Branding included but was not limited to finally deciding upon my business name, setting up an About.me page, buying a business url, and setting up a Twitter account.

Not only did I create a 7 page cv (curricula vitae), but I finally finished my design resume. “Keep it to one page,” I was told, which created a challenge with 7 pages worth of experience, so I compromised and created a fun semi-two-page. To the right is my standard business resume often submitted via a pdf online and it is a 2 pager.

I also tried out an idea for my portfolio; however, I may make this more simplistic when I go into my portfolio show class in order to do more with the show itself. It was fun to explore and obtain feedback from those around me though!

The class was extremely productive and the resulting task list should move me forward through the upcoming year and beyond. I would summarize this class, led by Zeb Wood, as one of the key courses in my degree program and certainly the class that synthesized my current classwork with past experience and future possibilities.