What advice would you give a student considering applying to this year’s competition?
For those looking to apply to this year's 2025 A S ID student design competition. I recommend that you put in not only your best work but the work that represents you who you are as a designer. It needs to be diverse. It needs to be interesting, it needs to have different explorations. I think the best portfolios are those that really show a different ways of presenting things. One project might be computer oriented, one project might be all hand drawing, but all of them need to have that depth of thought and understanding of topic and really um layered approach to show that you really took on that topic and you studied and you learned from it and wanted to communicate something about not only the project but yourself as a designer in the process.
What makes a submission truly stand out?
To me, the projects or portfolios that stand out the most are those that have an element of quite honestly surprise. And I think that comes from honest exploration, um depth of passion and showing that you really took one area of what you were learning and really went for it. You explored it in different ways, you looked at it in multiple facets um and, and versions and ways that you wanted to study that. I think that also what makes the portfolio stand out is the breadth of work, you know, the showing that you can do different things showing that um you can take your voice and communicate it or express it in multiple ways and that you've taken different scales of, of work, you know, from something very small, like a product design into a larger, more complex project that's more about space and organization. And I think those are the ones that are exciting to me because it really shows that you're a multifaceted designer and you bring a lot to the table. But at the end of the day, I think you really to stand out, you really, it needs to be honest, it needs to be pure, it needs to be yourself. Don't worry about including every last thing. Just make sure that you're only including the things that really have impact.
For the interviews, what advice would you give to a finalist?
I, I think for the interview, I think everyone needs to sit down, take a deep breath and understand that the interview is really getting about getting to know you. I think any sort of artificial or prepared answer or a person that's trying to create a picture themselves or make themselves into a persona. I think they're not going to be as successful. I think the most successful interviews are those where we're talking to people with passion and energy and that just can't wait to talk about their work. Uh People who clearly have a connection to their work um and that can speak that know their projects so well, they can just speak about it e effortlessly. We want to get to know you as a designer. This is a portfolio competition. It's not a project competition. So it's really getting to know. Yes, the body of work. But who's the person behind that body of work? It's about you. The designer.
What was the most surprising think you learned through the jury process?
OK, I would say the most surprising thing I've learned as a juror over the years is really how every year the variety of thought, the diversity of perspective is just overwhelming and it's really exciting to see. I think um those people who are bringing in uh their culture or a personal issue or something politically going on in the country or the world and those designers that are able to take those aspects of what's going on and incorporate it into their work into more layered and interesting explorations. Um I am continually surprised every year on students that can come up with these more complex things that I just haven't thought about. So the in a single word, I think what surprises me or has surprised me the most over the years again, is the diversity of thought. It's just really incredible as much as they say, the internet and everything that's going on with the digital age is unifying us and thought and letting us know really across the world on what everything that's going on, how we're maintaining our diversity has really still been a wonderful surprise to me.
