The Careers in Communication Design alumni and friends panel, hosted virtually on Oct. 19, offered students insight into professional design careers.
The Careers in Communication Design alumni and friends panel, virtually presented by the Student Professional Development Center and the School of Communications, provided valuable insights on Oct. 19 about resumes, portfolios and careers in the communication design industry.
Panelists included Elon alumni Caroline Matthews 鈥10, Lucas Lovett 鈥12, G鈥14 and Corey Mitchell 鈥16, as well as Sierra Piland, daughter of Randy Piland, chair of the Communication Design Department.
For Matthews and Lovett, communication design was not an academic major during their time at Elon they explained to the online audience. Instead, Matthews graduated with degrees in journalism and public relations, while Lovett studied strategic communications and art, and completed the iMedia master鈥檚 program in 2014.
Getting into communication design was not originally Lovett鈥檚 plan, and he initially wanted to be a biomedical engineer. Yet his interest in design changed his course. Despite not being enrolled in a degree program for design, Lovett created early versions of the Elon In Los Angeles and Elon in New York graphics, and now works as a video editor and motion graphics designer for Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
鈥淚鈥檓 curious about a lot of subjects. I played music. I played sports. Anything I wanted to do, Elon had it,鈥 Lovett said. 鈥淎ll of those interests and my level of curiosity fed into design.鈥
Matthews said that her involvement in different organizations while at Elon, such as the Colonnades literary magazine, The Pendulum and PRSSA, were great real-world experiences that she brought to her internships and professional career. Today, Matthews works as a project manager in design operations at CNN, where she originally started in the newsroom designing graphics and illustrations.
A digital content analyst at Lowe鈥檚 Companies, Inc., Mitchell got into design by chance. The former football player was originally studying computer science when the communication design major was introduced at Elon. Mitchell explained that the biggest reason he chose to switch to communication design was the opportunity to build brands from scratch.
鈥淪omebody comes to you saying, 鈥楬ey, I have this business,鈥 and you take their vision, and put in on paper and put it out there for the world to consume and interact with,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淚 love doing that.鈥
A senior designer at Tom Ford Beauty, Piland was encouraged by her father to study what she was most interested in 鈥 design and media studies. That led her to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and eventually to creative positions in Nashville and now New York.
Students asked the panelists about resumes and portfolios, as well as key components to job searching and planning for a career. Regarding resumes, Mitchell told students that he has had success with a creatively designed resume, an option some communications design students should pursue.
鈥淥bviously everyone鈥檚 different, but as the designer, you鈥檙e trying to get a creative job,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淚f your resume doesn鈥檛 show me the first piece of design you can offer me, you鈥檙e just selling yourself short because 鈥 that鈥檚 the way to catch their eye, to show off your talent already.鈥
Matthews said adding to a resume the software a student understands can be helpful and can better highlight an applicant鈥檚 skills to an employer. Adding in skills and interests, such as Matthews鈥 love for marathon swimming, are ways to start a conversation during an interview, as well.
鈥淚 had a fifth-round interview with NBC … and they talked to me about marathon swimming for half of the interview,鈥 Matthews said. 鈥淭hat was awesome because I was freaking out, very nervous to speak to them, and then I got to talk about something I absolutely cherish.鈥
In addition to keeping a resume up to date and personal, panelists recommended doing the same for a portfolio. Whether it is an online portfolio, a website or another medium, Piland told students to choose a platform they are comfortable with, which will allow them to update it easily, and often.
鈥淒efinitely include anything that might make you stand out, even a personal project or a little experiment that might help you stand out when they’re looking at other applicants,鈥 Piland said.