CHICAGO PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
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365 DAYS OF DESIGN AT CHICAGO PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
25 WEST HUBBARD STREET, CHICAGO IL 60654
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365 DAYS OF DESIGN
TYPOGRAPHY Nothing elevates a portfolio more than
demonstrating a mastery of type. Being able to conceptualize font choices, to integrate text with graphics and pair fonts with deftness and intuition is what separates the wanna’s from the be’s. That’s why we say the three most important classes at our school are Type I, Type II and Type III. And why we offer three levels of typography.
f Each quarter, the Typography II class designs a booklet where students contribute chapters about a notable type designer. Students research, write and design the editorial content. h A logo design for Second Move, a local furniture store that sells gently used, high-end furniture in a loft-like warehouse environment.
f Logo design for Toyko Lunchbox, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant.
f Identity graphic for Chicago Transit Authority’s website and route maps.
f Students in the Editorial Design class choose a well-known author to design a series of book covers that is reflective of the author’s work. These book covers are for a series of novels by American novelist and playwright, Kurt Vonnegut, known for his dark comedies and stark descriptions of war. A great addition to the portfolio and the book collection.
ROYALE RUMBLE
Technically, they are called charrettes: a period of intense activity before a fast approaching deadline. We have one at the end of every quarter. Ours are more of a Smackdown. We divide the school into teams, hand out a design brief on a Thursday evening and entries are due very soon after. We like to add a little more fun and excitement to the situation by awarding the winning team a cash prize. It’s good for the ego, the portfolio and the bank account. After all, design isn’t just art. It’s also a business.
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f A series of covers for a collection of Malcolm Gladwell books about marketing and success.
ff A recent Royal Rumble brief to design packaging and promotion for Tate’s Root Beer. The brand is new but the strategy was to look like your great-grandfather’s favorite.
CHICAGO PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
h Logo design and CD artwork for a group of American songwriters.
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h As part of the Classternship, students designed identity pieces for a new rental building.
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h Chain of supermarkets that focuses on deep discounts for shoppers.
f Packaging is not just protection for the goods inside, it’s a reflection of the product’s branding and identity. Students learn how to develop a packaging system and create designs for the 3D space for a variety of categories.
h Logo design for the venerable Whitehall Hotel, located in the Gold Coast. (Hence, the gold.)
This student’s redesign of the well-known beverage company is a wonderful example of how design can elevate a brand.
h A redesign of the well-known chain brings a sense of style their current logo lacks.
h Branding vwork for Tate’s Root Beer was an entry in a recent Royale Rumble.
BRANDING What does a product aspire to be? It’s the central
question for every designer when they take an assignment and, at our school, the core of every assignment. Because it’s not enough to be clever or tasteful. Students need to design with a purpose; to make customers think better about the product after seeing the work than before. We call this branding or concept or strategy – either way, it’s a big deal. the real world
C H I C A G O P U B L I C
h Logo design for Home Depot project uses their recognizable orange color and cleverly integrates the “H.”
R A D I O
h Logo and identity for Chicago Public Radio, the local home of NPR and This American Life.
The Classternship is not a class; it’s not an internship. It’s the best of both.
INDIA HO U S E h A logo design that is as contemporary and beautiful as the flower arrangements they sell.
h Long’s Horseradish is a homegrown, hand-made family recipe that targets “foodies.”
h This logo design for India House, a family of Chicago area restaurants uses a pattern of curry colored petals to reflect time-honored Indian cooking methods.
Students attend the Classternship once a week at one of the many talented, local design shops and work on actual client jobs. Like any classroom experience, you’ll get great feedback on your assignments. But, like a job, they will fire you if you don’t give them an honest week’s work. It’s like having a teacher. And a boss.
25 WEST HUBBARD STREET, CHICAGO IL 60654
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365 DAYS OF DESIGN
WEB DESIGN Let’s not leave the web to the nerds. Let’s learn
to love digital, embrace code, and stake our claim! So, once again concept and design will rule. That’s why all our design foot soldiers go to Digital Bootcamp™ before heading to the job front.
h Student website design for Timeout’s Urban Explorer featuring the new undiscovered gems of the city’s dining, shopping, and events. h Like all award-winning ideas, this site design combines a powerful concept and an elegantly simple execution. The international panel of D&AD judges agreed, giving this entry the only First Place trophy awarded to a school in North America. ff Homepage design for the Chicago Transit Authority illustrates how easy it is to navigate the city and a website. f Men’s Warehouse sells tailored suits. But this design for a Men’s Warehouse micro-site shows they also help customers get fitted for a job.
digital bootcamp ™
OUR SPEAKER SERIES co-sponsored with AIGA,
brings nationally known talent to the school although, lucky for us, some of them work just down the street. The Post Family This highly functional family of seven Chicago designers comes together outside of their 9–5 jobs to make art, letterpress, and organize gallery showings.
Designers need to be very friendly with their computer and on intimate terms with the software. So, we have a sister school called Digital Bootcamp where our students attend computer classes and workshops.
Rick valicenti
Dan fietsam
JOSH HIRSCH
interested?
Founder and design director of Thirst. In 2006, he was awarded the AIGA Medal for Excellence.
Chief Creative at Energy BBDO, Chicago, a twenty year creative veteran at Ogilvy, Y&R, DDB, and Leo Burnett.
Minister of Technology at Big Spaceship, NYC, and head creative of the team responsible for lots of award-winning sites.
Our guest speaker series is open to all. They’re free, too!
Mike Byrne
Stuart D’Rozario
Creative Director at Anomaly, NYC, Mike is a former creative director at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, where he worked on Nike.
Co-President and Chief Creative for BDM, Mpls, Stuart presides over award-winning work for blue-chip clients like United Airlines.
Digital Bootcamp instructors also are working professionals who teach in their free time
ian Cohen
They show students how to make the computer behave. Soon, the computer will be their best friend.
Founder of Wexley School for Girls, Seattle, an agency that does funny advertising for lots of clients, like Microsoft. But the work is no joke.
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Visit us on YouTube to see videos of their presentations and more. youtube.com/chiport Follow us to find out when the next speaker is scheduled. twitter.com/portfolioschool
CHICAGO PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
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h A print ad from a branding campaign for Pearle Vision. Other pieces in the system include collateral, web design, and environmental graphics.
f From a print campaign for CB2, a stylish home furnishing store that markets to a more youthful group of apartment dwellers. h One selection from a print campaign for Justin featuring the ruggedness and durability of the boots.
ADVERTISING It’s not common for design schools to teach
advertising. But showing designers how to create strong, clever selling messages — to use words as a punch line and not just the straight man — is something every design program should do. If they only knew how.
Do i need a degree?
If you want to be a teacher, sure. It’s required. Or a doctor. (Always look to see where your doctor graduated.)
h Animated web banner emphasizes the quality of meal service on an Air France flight.
f iPhone app for Men’s Warehouse helping customers to coordinate their tie selection.
But, if you want to be a graphic designer then, not really.
h The iconic Levi’s red tag is used to reinforce the strength of the brand by having it appear as straps in subway cars. Other pieces of the campaign include red tags on taxicabs, store entrances and print ads.
Samples in your portfolio are the ONLY way you’re judged. Shops want to hire hard-working, talented, smart, clever people. But only a portfolio shows how hard-working, talented, smart, and clever you really are. So degrees matter; just not as much as carbs.
25 WEST HUBBARD STREET, CHICAGO IL 60654
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365 DAYS OF DESIGN
OUR INSTRUCTORS are talented, award-winning working
professionals who love to teach. They take design very seriously, but not themselves. They are teachers, mentors and friends. Tammy Baird
gina Reynolds
As Senior Designer at Studio Blue, Tammy has developed concept and design for a variety of print and digital projects including Driehaus Museum, Washington University, and Chicago Architecture Foundation. Her work has been recognized by AIGA, I.D. Magazine and Print and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Gina is currently a Lead Communication Designer at Gravity Tank, Chicago. Her eight years of experience in the field include a large variety of design and advertising projects including work in corporate identity, retail, brand guides and print advertising. Her clients include Navistar, Cricket Mobile, SC Johnson, and numerous local civic organizations.
Radhika Gupta
David Sieren
Hika is a sought after freelance designer having worked at numerous, wellknown Chicago design firms including Gravity Tank, Studio Blue, Kym Abrams, Design Kitchen and Liska Design. She is also the Art Director at Stone Magazine and has won recognition from a variety of design journals and award shows.
While an Associate Design Director at the award-winning design shop Remedy, David is also a founding member of The Post Family, an art and design collective dedicated to traditional letterpress, silkscreen and darkroom photography. David also serves as the Chicago Portfolio School’s AIGA student team sponsor and mentor.
Our home is a five story, brick and timber loft building in the River North area of Chicago. Just two blocks from Michigan Avenue, the school is close to the most popular bars and restaurants in the city, as well as many of Chicago’s best design shops and advertising agencies. It’s a nice,
comfortable work space, which is good because students spend a lot of time working here! Please call anytime if you’re in the neighborhood; we’d love to show you around.
Julie Jawor
Allison Strauss
Julie’s award-winning work for design firms in Chicago and Atlanta demonstrate her versatility in branding, advertising, packaging and environmental graphics projects for pharmaceutical sales companies, sports venues, non-profits and a host of Fortune 500 companies, including Coke, Home Depot and Fox Sports.
As Senior Designer at Avenue, Allison’s experience includes a wide range of disciplines; developing IA (Information Architecture) for web clients, logo design and corporate identity, direct mail, print ads and branding campaigns for clients such as Harpo Studios, Canyon Ranch Spa and McDermott, Will & Emery law firm.
Tim Lapetino
Ashley Vinson
Tim is currently Senior Designer and Principal at Hexanine, a Chicago design firm with a client roster that includes Jim Beam, Starbucks, and Target. Prior, he was an Art Director and Graphic Designer at a variety of well-known local agencies. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a concentration in Information Graphics.
Ashley is the sole interactive producer for the $2B advertising agency DDB, Chicago, supervising the production of digital creative projects from concept to completion. During her more than eleven years in the digital space, she has worked as consultant, information architect, media strategist, email marketing and banner ad expert
Will Miller
Mark Ward
As Art Director at Firebelly Design, Will is a lead designer establishing design direction for clients such as the Chicago Public Schools, LaSalle Bank and the American Medical Association. Projects include web site design, logo design, and print advertising. His work has been recognized by the Society of Typographical Artists and Print Magazine.
Mark specializes in project management, design and layout working with large companies to implement their print collateral pieces. Clients include JP Morgan, Boys and Girls Club, US Gypsum and National Association of Realtors.
Mig reyes Mig is an interactive web designer for Threadless, one of the world’s largest interactive web e-commerce communities. Before that, he worked at WhittmanHart Interactive and Segura, designing identities, social networking campaigns, online advertising, logos and custom type.
WWW.CHICAGOPORTFOLIO.COM
CHICAGO PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
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ONE YEAR at Chicago Portfolio School is filled with amazing
classes, great instructors, tough assignments, and lots of caffeine, taurine and guarana. QUARTER one
QUARTER three
Design Fundamentals, Concepts and Executions, Branding, Basic Logo Design, Typography I, Beginning InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
Designing for the Web, Standards Manuals, Visual Solutions, Typography III, Advanced InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop
Design Fundamentals A survey class that touches all aspects of 2D Design to provide students with basic tools needed to interpret, produce and evaluate design, including design theory, learning and practicing studio skills, and sharpening critical thinking through a participatory review process.
Designing for the Web Class gives students a general awareness of the depth and breadth of web-based platforms, including internet sites, OLA, rich-media applications, widgets and mobile, design students create interactive pieces as an extension of work from their other classes. Students also learn the fundamentals behind the web technologies used in web site development.
Concepts and Executions Students are introduced to the skill of thinking critically and conceptually about assignments in order to give their work a real world point-of-view and purpose. They learn to see the difference between “cool” and cool work that’s also persuasive and compelling. Assignments feature advertising and integrating creative campaigns.
Standards Manuals Chicago Portfolio School emphasizes assignments rather than exercises. Standards Manual class is a good example, allowing students to use a wide range of skills and concepts to create a fully-baked manual detailing identity and standards solution for a company or product of their choice.
Branding In many ways, branding is the DNA of marketing, helping products and services to evolve into the kind of brand they aspire to. Students become familiar with the tools of market research and create brand manifestos to instill a tone and personality to their work.
Visual Solutions Students create posters using strong, bold, graphic, visuals to communicate a story or an event. Class emphasizes concepts, executions, critiques and presentation of work. Students are required to produce their final designs as tight, computer comps.
Basic Logo Design Basic Logo Design introduces key corporate identity concepts to students with special emphasis on logos, and trademarks. In addition, students work with type pairings and custom ligatures. Students study award-winning logos and learn to develop identities that feature “a twist.”
Typography III Students work with more expressive typefaces, using type as a visual, and learning how to create their own customized “hand-made” typefaces. Hierarchy, tension, rhythm and type as texture are also covered.
Typography I The first of three type classes lays the foundation of a thorough knowledge of typography by introducing students to type terminology, history, font management software, letter anatomy and measurement, balance and rhythm in letters, typographic grid, visual hierarchy, type classifications and families. Students work with basic or “Desert Island” fonts, learning the nuances of kerning, leading and tracking. Beginning Adobe Print Applications For students who need basic or refresher help in the Adobe print applications, Chicago Portfolio School provides a beginning level of classes in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Class is not mandatory depending on previous experience with the programs but is open to all.
QUARTER two Editorial Design, Retail Systems, Typography II, Color Management and PrePress, Intermediate InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop Editorial Design Chicago Portfolio School puts a strong emphasis on the value of marker comps to create, develop and refine design assignments. In Editorial Design class, students create book covers, table of contents, text pages and pagination design for a series of fiction books.
QUARTER FIVE Marketing Your Book, Portfolio Debut
Advanced Adobe Print Applications Chicago Portfolio School provides advanced instruction for Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator software helping students become familiar with the most expert tools and features of the programs.
QUARTER four Package Design, Information Graphics, Standup Comedy/Presentation, Classternship, Flash Animation and HTML Package Design Packaging is not only protection for the goods inside, but also provides products with a recognizable look and feel. Students will develop a packaging system and create designs for the 3D space exhibiting concepts that work across multiple pieces, as well. Information Graphics Boring statistics should never look boring! Students learn to translate and summarize complex information into clever, readable, easily understandable visuals using pictographs, charts, diagrams, tables, and symbols while also working with pacing, typography, grids, quantitative analysis, and color theory.
Retail Systems In Retail Systems class, students create fully featured campaigns, including logo, exterior signage, store design, in-store graphics and branding for retail stores and chains.
Standup Comedy/Presentation Skills Did we mention that our school is fun? Well, it’s also funny. We teach stand-up comedy to all the fourth quarter students and they perform a short, five minute stand-up routine at the end-of-the-quarter party. We do this not to inflict punishment but to give students the poise and confidence to be comfortable when presenting their work to clients and co-workers. It sounds scary but, just like sky-diving, it feels great when the parachute opens.
Typography II The second level of Typography instruction builds on the first quarter class, refining students’ ability to make conceptual font selections and pairings, working with longer text blocks and understanding the issues of choosing type for the web workspace.
Classternship Internships offer valuable insights and experience into the real world of design by presenting students with actual creative briefs, deadlines, budgets, project management tools, client presentations, all the while, showing them how to do great work!
Color Management + PrePress Students learn important studio skills related to preparing digital files for final printing. In addition, they learn about scanning, color calibration, color management workflow, binding, pagination and font management. In addition, the school offers a series of one-day seminars on digital photography and lighting.
Flash Animation and HTML/CSS Every Chicago Portfolio design student learns the basics of web site development and designs and builds a web based portfolio featuring their student work using either Adobe Flash animation or HTML/CSS coding.
Intermediate Adobe Print Applications For students already familiar with the basics of the Adobe print applications, Chicago Portfolio School provides more advanced instruction in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop tools necessary to create finished computer comps of their work.
Find Chicago Portfolio sChool online Chicago Portfolio School chicagoportfolio.com
Twitter twitter.com/portfolioschool
Facebook facebook.com/chicagoportfolio
YouTube youtube.com/chiport
The Fifth Quarter Congratulations! The year is over. But this is not the time to rest because there is still a little more polishing of your portfolio to be done. We get that. So, we offer a fifth quarter to use the equipment, take an extra class, confer with instructors, dot the i’s, to finish the job. We’re here to lessen the stress; not add to it, so there’s no tuition or fee for the fifth quarter. Marketing Your Book Design firms look for smart, clever, interesting people who work hard. In their words, people who “get it.” Obviously, your samples are the best examples of your talent. But, in fact, everything you do regarding your job search — resume, interview, cover emails, presentation of your bound and online portfolios — is a reflection of your “get it-ness.” Class assists student in all aspects of finding a job. Portfolio Debut Every Spring and Fall, Chicago Portfolio School invites Design Directors, Creative Directors, Recruiters to meet our graduates and review their portfolios. We work hard to develop good relationships with design firms and advertising agencies all over the country and they look forward to seeing fresh work from new talent. For students, it’s like a coming out party, and graduation ceremony, all in one.
OR, IN PERSON: Chicago Portfolio School 25 West Hubbard Street Chicago, Illinois 60654 Call us at (312) 321-9250
25 WEST HUBBARD STREET, CHICAGO IL 60654
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365 DAYS OF DESIGN
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HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO PUT TOGETHER A PORTFOLIO? It takes thousands of ideas. It takes hundreds HOUSE Portfolio of markers. It takes twenty awesome samples.INDIA At Chicago School, it takes a year. A year of everything you’ve got, working on challenging assignments. A year of showing work to award winning instructors. A year with the design programs comping up your best ideas. A year is not a whole lot of time and it goes really quickly. So, we’ll have to work fast. And work smart. But if you work your ass off, a year is all you need.
WWW.CHICAGOPORTFOLIO.COM