Designing a digital portfolio Chapter 3: Audience
au·di·ence Pronunciation[aw-dee-uhns]
–noun
1.the group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively, as in attendance at a theater or concert: The audience was respectful of the speaker's opinion.
2.the persons reached by a book, radio or television broadcast, etc.; public: Some works of music have a wide and varied audience.
3.a regular public that manifests interest, support, enthusiasm, or the like; a following: Every art form has its audience.
4.opportunity to be heard; chance to speak to or before a person or group; a hearing.
5.a formal interview with a sovereign, high officer of government, or other high-ranking person: an audience with the pope.
6.the act of hearing, or attending to, words or sounds.
"you dont become someone new with each group...you adapt your style to feel more comfortable- or to make the people you're with more comfortable with you"- Baron
This quote seems accurate, in that as you would go on an interview, you are not changing who you are in order to seem more appealing to the client, but you are trying to show how, despite who you are, and what you are accustomed to, that you can adapt and acquire their style and understand where they are coming from, and what they hope to create. I always feel as though I am not good enough, or that I lack the abilities that a company may need or want from me, however, if I can make them believe that my knowledge will be useful for them, and that my thinking can be flexible enough to work with their concepts, then maybe I can be the one for them.
ReSearch: Baron writes on how crucial it is to have an understanding of the companies you are interviewing for. By showing interest and knowledge about the company, the more suitable you may seem for the job, the more prepared you are to answer particular questions about their company or their current work, the better. Baron includes 4 steps on how to conduct your research on a company or job field:
1-
who's your target audience?-you need to research who your target audience is, find out the reaction and preferences of other products or companies, and see what logos, styles, marketing techniques they use and how the audience responds. This also deals with the type of company you would want to work for, large or small? long projects? or quick demanding ones? "how company size is likely to impact your project opportunities"
**The market assessment area (page 44) was very helpful, as it included information on looking for a job, and looking for clientele. The breakdown really helped clear any misconceptions. For the looking for a job area, it included bullet points specifying geography, company size, type of projects, types of media...etc. For the looking for clientele, the bullets included information about their type of audience, other creative opportunities within, the type of work they purchase and so on. The specific job category was interesting for me because I never really thought of the job search process in this way, it really is crucial to research the background of the company on top of the kind of work they do, as it could potentially be a place where you would work and spend hours of your time.
2-
what categories should you search?- once you have an idea of your target audience, you are looking for "general ideas about this target", how you can narrow down the companies that fit your target, their location...this will all be helpful in the long run. Baron says to have several pages of potential targets!!! KEEP this in mind Kat ;)
3-
what specific companies should you approach?- the target audience/companies that are now organized, are the companies in which we are "testing our portfolio with. Baron suggested a bunch of questions that will be useful to "find answers through networking, periodicals, school contacts, websites, or other research sources".
4-
what do these organizations want from you?-
before your begin your portfolio, Baron suggests designing your audience and determining their basic category information. By doing so, you have the chance to create a portfolio, or a compilation of your work in a specifically appealing way for that company or audience. The questions shown in this section were helpful guides, they play a good role as the opening questions during an interview. Knowing these answers are important, in that you are investing so much time at this one company and you want to make sure that it is a place you will be comfortable at.
Search Tools-
Personal Contacts-This area of the chapter was appealing to me, especially, because my dad works at
Conde Nast and holds a significant position in the company. His influence was the prime reason for both of my interning opportunities, and I have made sure to take the most that I could from my experiences. Even though I know I had these great chances to be at two great companies, I sometimes become anxious that the only reason I got to work was because of my dad, and not because of my abilities. While at
Quad Graphics, one of the top printing companies in the country, I had my own desk, and went into work everyday doing my thing, and really producing work that was later featured in magazines. I truly felt as though my contributions were valuable and that my time was valued. I also made some very great friends while at Quad, and still keep in close contact with the sales manager, Liz Fowler, who in turn has become close to a mentor figure to me. However, at
Conde Nast, I felt more like an intern, doing minor tasks, but still experiencing the work flow of producing a magazine issue. They gave me awesome opportunities to go on photo shoots, sit in on the creative director and her team when given the cover stories for an issue, planning out the images to be used to illustrate article titles, as well as to work with the fitness editor. I got a broad view of the daily work life of
Self Magazine. From Self magazine, I walked out being friends with the other interns, as well as the editor and the creative editor, who I look up to and admire. So I know that I am so lucky to have these chances, and that I shouldn't let them make my abilities seem insignificant, I need to still be able to prove to them however, that I am more than an executives daughter.
Schools Universities and Alumni Associations- The only real alumni association that I currently have under my belt, is that I am a member of
Kappa Alpha Theta on campus. With this, I have many alumni contacts, that I really hope will be useful as I enter the business world.
Internet- the internet is a fine way of gathering information about a company and their objective. Baron suggests a strategic approach for web searching for a job;for example starting off at
yahoo! or
google, with key words, cities etc. From here you can also create a targeted search as well.
BBK Studio: Know your market-if you know your market well enough and can have all the information a client or audience may need, while having an appealing design, your off to a good start. Baron claims that "speed and efficiency are important to corporate clients" you need easy navigation, quick loading, and up to date information.
Side Note:I remember when I went out to lunch with a woman that I worked with at Quad Graphics, and she suggested to me that what will prove to be valuable always, is the ability to carry on conversation about daily news, and any current events. She advised me to begin reading the
new york times, one day a week, slowly beginning with reading just one section (as I am not an avid newspaper reader, i need some time to get into the swing of things). By doing so, I will be up to date with at least some part of our news, and be able to converse professionally with a client, or coworker.
