Since my field is graphic design, I reached out to five key graphic designers, artists, and entrepreneurs via LinkedIn. On Sunday, Sept. 15, I sent a personalized message and invitation to connect to each person. I have not received a reply back.

Here’s the list: Chris Do from The Futur, Melanie Perkins from Canva, Dylan Field from Figma, Kuya Jaypi from Ravensburger, and David Carson.

For the viewer profile, I decided to write about Chris Do:

Chris Do, 52, is the CEO and founder of The Futur—an online education platform—and a personal branding and business coach. His mission is to assist artists in establishing and maintaining successful businesses, and business leaders in crafting effective brands. Eight years ago, he made the decision to abandon the title of “graphic designer,” arguing that it is not an accurate representation of all that he does.

Kat Design (https://katsdesign.myportfolio.com/) I love how simple and clear-cut this entire website is. The artist’s work speaks for itself. I do think it could benefit from establishing that their specialities are graphic design and motion design with a banner of some sort right at the home page.

Michelle Deborah aka artsbyemdee (https://www.artsbyemde.com/)
I like how the artist allowed their personality to shine through, with their logo and brand colors. It can appear a bit messy with the menu broken up at the top and bottom of the website. Viewers might also not have the patience to swipe through all their work, so it might be better to present it all in one go.

Elisha Zepeda (https://www.elishazepeda.com/)Very clean and sleek website design. It’s easy to navigate and all the artist’s work is presented in a detailed and organized manner. I do wonder if the artist should only have a select few book cover designs to showcase, since it’s quite a lot to scroll through in the home page.

Matilde Viegas (https://matildeviegas.com/)
Such an interesting concept to switch up the orientation. I think the designer did a nice job in still making it legible and simple to peruse. When hovering over a certain project, however, it blurs out the background, which hurts my eyes.

Yi Zheng (https://www.hellothisisyi.com/)
I love how it appears simple and almost ordinary from the get-go, but there are surprises like images popping up as the user interacts with the interface. Then, once the user officially enters the website by clicking on the ellipsis, all of their work is expanded and presented in categories. This artist doesn’t showcase their personal brand which makes the website not feel personalized.

I have a lot of more work to do, but this is what I have fixed so far. I plan to create individual pages for each of the categories I have listed under Projects (i.e. Nonprofit Work, Social Media, Branding, Packaging, Print, UI/UX Design, etc.). I feel like this site has a lot more breathing room as compared to before.

While doing research, I noticed a lot of graphic designers had very simple portfolio websites, which is why I decided to not do as much self-branding (I may revisit and explore this in the future after the foundation of the site is complete). Other than that, all the links for the projects displayed on the Home page are working.

For my More Info (or in-depth About page), I intend to take pictures of my actively working and add them later on. I don’t have any at the moment, so I used a random one. Not sure if the Relevant Experience and Accolades sections are too lengthy. I decided to add some more information to my Footer which I’m satisfied with for now.

I have so many more projects to showcase (some of which I’m still working on in my other classes), so that’s another work-in-progress. For each individual Project page, I made sure to put some visuals above-the-fold and add captions / context to all the images. 
I found that my previous Home page was too static; I like the movement the slideshows have in my current Home page now so it could be more attention-grabbing. 

I intend to fix the Mobile version of my website once it’s completed as well as add some more color. I hope I’m on the right track and that things are working better.

Event Description:

Hyundai’s Career Experience Day offers college students the opportunity to learn about the different automotive careers at Hyundai Motor America and Genesis Motor America. Students will have the opportunity to network with professionals and have lunch with our company’s executives. Join us for an exciting day of learning and growth!

Our friends at Hyundai Motor America, one of our amazing corporate partners, are hosting their annual Hyundai Career Experience Day IN-PERSON and are inviting 15 TELACU Scholars to attend! Scholars who would like to attend will have the opportunity to learn about several departments at Hyundai Motor America (HMA) Headquarters (listed on the flyer) by attending interactive workshops, a hosted lunch with executives, connecting with Hyundai/Genesis team members to learn about what a day in the life looks like working at this organization, and will leave with some awesome giveaways!

Workshops:

• Sales
  
• Marketing
  
• Social Media
  
• Purchasing
  
• Finance
  
• Service/Quality Engineering
  
• Connected Car
  
• Public Relations
  
• Legal
  
• Human Resources
  
• Corporate Social Responsibility
  

My Experience:

I applied and was accepted into TELACU Education Foundation’s College Success Program (CSP) as a Scholar last academic year, 2023-24. In CSP, we receive a variety of opportunities to engage in numerous workshops centered on the following: professional and career strategy development, workforce entry preparation, internship opportunities, financial empowerment, and leadership training.

Through TELACU, I signed up for Hyundai’s Career Experience Day. It was held on Friday, Oct. 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Truthfully, I was painfully dreading the days leading up to it, and especially the morning of and the drive there. However, I’m pleased to say I ended up thoroughly enjoying my experience.

Networking and connecting with peers and professionals at the company surprisingly came so easily. I met and became acquainted with so many different people, and ended up adding them on my socials and LinkedIn. A few of the individuals that I connected with include an Assistant Manager of Public Relations at Hyundai, Recruiter at Hyundai, Senior Associate in Talent Acquisition at Hyundai, the Executive Director of Hyundai Hope on Wheels, the Director of Wolfgang Media, and so much more. I also learned that they’re launching an internship program, so I’ll definitely look into that and reach out to the recruiters I met. Throughout the day, we attended several workshops that focused on each individual field at Hyundai; we often had to collaborate with the groups we were placed in to brainstorm and present a mini project in the time allotted. It was so exciting that my group ended up winning in quite a few of the workshops! We received a bunch of prizes and care packages.

The entire event was very well-organized and everyone was so kind and welcoming. I’ve been to a number of off-campus networking events and conferences, but this one has to be my favorite. I’m so happy I went!

Event Description:

At the very heart of Escape Halloween lies Crazy Town, an enigmatic place occupied by a host of mysterious characters and unseen supernatural forces. Stop by for an enchanted drink at Poison Ivy and some light grocery shopping at The Butcher, or sit for a spell and watch the shows that take place at the Fire Organ.

My Experience:

From Oct. 24-26, I worked as a Brand Ambassador at Escape Halloween. My role was to greet and engage with festival goers entering the entertainment venue called Poison Ivy. I was interacting with thousands of people each day and standing for hours and hours on end, which became extremely mentally and physically exhausting. I worked with a team of other Brand Ambassadors, Production Assistants, Show Leads, Production Coordinator, and Project Manager. It was my first time utilizing a radio as my main mode of communication and also my first time working 12+ hour shifts. At my part-time job on campus, I’ve worked at many different events, but nothing could’ve prepared me for something at this scale. Even though I did not have the best time, I learned so much from this experience and feel as though I came out of it a different person.