Stand Out

The design marketplace has never been more competitive, or demanded more from emerging talent. To succeed, you must navigate the transition from learner to professional with purpose and precision. In Stand Out: Building Your Design Portfolio, Denise Anderson offers a hands-on, three-step, full-color action plan for establishing your unique brand, crafting a killer portfolio, tailoring and delivering your message, getting your perfect design job, and excelling once you're hired. In this superbly organized and beautifully designed book, Anderson distills 20+ years of experience as a graphic designer, entrepreneur, instructor, and mentor, offering you powerful insights and easy-to-use tools for successfully launching your career. Whether you're in graphic design, advertising design, interactive or web design, fashion, or any other design field, Anderson will help you identify what makes you unique, and use it powerfully differentiate yourself from everyone else. Stand Out's step-by-step approach, hands-on work exercises, and short, easy-to-absorb chapters guide you through:Clarifying your brand purpose and unique attributesDesigning your brand identity, encompassing all brand touchpointsCreating an online presence that showcases you at your bestSelf-promoting your brand, from social media to print "leave-behinds"Optimizing your portfolio for the industry and company where you want to workDiscovering what's hot in portfolio design and strategy - and what's notUnderstanding what employers want from youProducing your digital and/or print portfolioChoosing your mentor(s) and creating your personal advisory boardDeveloping a personal job plan you can start executing right nowProtecting your work against theftIdentifying your dream jobWriting and designing outstanding resumes and job-specific cover lettersInterviewing and presenting your work effectivelyAccepting a position and negotiating salarySucceeding in your first job, and preparing for the nextStand Out brings together all the easy-to-use forms, checklists, and tools you'll need... multiple examples of great student and young professional portfolio work to show you how it's done... dozens of great tips and tricks... "in the trenches" insights from recent graduates... all you need to get where you want to go!