By Fred Bower

Each year the Visual Communications Design area in the Department of Art sponsors a Portfolio Night for graduating senior designers.  In the past, this event involved inviting design professionals from the Indianapolis design community to come to Muncie and give feedback to our design students on their work. This year our annual Visual Communications Design Portfolio Night was held in Indianapolis at the Ball State Indianapolis Center, located at 50 South Meridian St.

"The night was full of energy, conversation and productive feedback for the students and professionals in attendance. Each student had the opportunity to meet with four to five designers to obtain constructive information about their design work and presentation techniques. The design market is continually changing and it is an excellent evening for the faculty to gather information about the job market and how we can improve the focus of the Visual Communications area. The evening was a success for the students and faculty. It is an experience that the faculty cannot present in the classroom and we owe the design community much credit for offering the students this professional feedback. The Visual Communications area has been fortunate to have such a supportive design community and once again we would like to say thank you for another successful Portfolio Night," said Sam Minor, Visual Communication Design Professor.

This year, twenty-six Indianapolis design professionals volunteered their time to attend the event and provide feedback to our graduating seniors.  "The BSU students were allowed … to have much more creative "room" to explore and develop ideas. If there were any patterns detected - it was the quality of their work and their thought processes – overall very good, …very impressive. I wish we'd had an opportunity to review more – but two hours is probably about right," said Chris Williams of Hirons and Company

Brandon Luring of Daniel Burton Dean observed, "For the most part, students seemed to have a good sense of how to talk about their pieces. They knew what each project was supposed to teach them, and they retained that in a way that allowed them to communicate it."

"There was a mix of success for the students to "present themselves" well - since many were able to provide a thoughtful explanation of the work they presented reflects on the program favorably," commented Amy Baker of Fusion Alliance.

Bill Hendrickson of the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Center noted, "I was glad to be a part of the portfolio review. Let me start by saying how professional the work and attitude of the students presented was and I am sure they will not have a hard time finding employment."

Sam Minor summed up the experience by stating, "This is a capstone experience of the senior year, offering the students professional feedback before they enter the job market. Many juniors also were in attendance in the hopes of obtaining an internship."

The guest list included the following:  Chris Williams and Haven Anderson, Hirons and Co.; Craig Moore, Bradley Montgomery Advertising; Bill Hendrickson, Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Center; Ryan Hickey, Media Sauce; David Stahl, Jackson Group; Amy Baker, Fusion Alliance; Joe Blackburn, Gerardot Design; Amanda Uhde, Miles Design; Sarah Steiger, Cassis Group; Noel Fliss, RLR Associates; Kevin Pletcher and Matt Miller, Klipsch Audio Technologies; Jo Hohlbein, IBJ; Brian Pennington, Pivot Marketing; Heath Eisberg and Mike Pogue, BD&A; Ellen Krause, Design Solutions; Steve James, Ashley and Associates; Tom Johnson and Brandon Luring, Daniel Burton Dean; Jamie McLain, Indiana Gas; Erin Green, Burkhart Cain Associates; and Mark Shanks, Creative Fuel.  We offer our sincere thanks to these companies and their representatives for offering their time and expertise in making our Portfolio Night a rousing success.