ddp design fair

Since last July, the Young Designer Job Fair was held as part of the 2021 DDP Design Fair, offering tips and advice for creating a portfolio and practical information for prospective design college graduates, job seekers and prospective entrepreneurs. On August 23, about 50 young designers who had attended three mentoring sessions were able to experience a job interview under all the same conditions as a real interview through an in-person mock interview mostly focused on their portfolio. We met four young designers who participated in a mock interview on that day and heard their thoughts about the mentoring and training program so far. 

Hyeeun Jang (Anyang University, Dept. of Digital Media Design, Senior)

After graduating from visual media high school, I chose digital media design as my major in university since I wanted to study more about this field. Besides digital media design, I started to get more interested in visual design, brand design and editorial design, so I'm thinking about combining video work and UI/UX design for my portfolio while I'm working on branding these days. It’s a time-consuming job. Even though the quality is great, it feels too commercial. I thought being commercial would be seen as an advantage but I was surprised when the mentors recommended that I should add works that tend to be a little more experimental, something more of a college student vibe in the portfolio. They wanted something that was not commercial and a little more creative. I have removed such works from my portfolio, but I think I need to put some of the works back in my portfolio. Since I had a group interview today, I was able to listen and compare what other candidates said during the interview so I learned a lot, and it was a good reality check for me. We had five candidates in the group interview. All candidates took turns to present their portfolio and got feedback about their portfolio from the interviewers. It is a rare chance to see other people's portfolios, right? So it was a great opportunity for me to look at other candidates’ portfolios, and the mentors provided realistic feedback about my portfolio by comparing it with other candidates’ portfolios. It was a valuable experience. It was something I cannot experience anywhere else.

Yejin Yook (Kookmin University Graduate School, Dept. of Communication Design)

I applied for this program since I was feeling worried about getting a job and started to think about how I can improve my current portfolio and take it to the next level. What I liked the most was that I was motivated by the portfolios of other participants and it made me look back on myself seeing my position in the job market. What was most memorable to me was that one the mentors shared her materials with the participants so that they could study on their own even after the mentoring program was officially over. I want to become a designer who has pride and affection for what I do, and I hope I can have a great ability and taste to find good values and make them my own.

Inha Hwang & Eunbyul Jeong (Sangmyung University, Dept. of Interior Design, Senior)

Inha Hwang : Managers of each company’s design department came as mentors to review our portfolios and give feedback for improvements. I made a portfolio, showed it to them and also showed the revised version to them. After going through this process three times, I attended an in-person mock interview today. It was conducted like an actual interview, and the interviewers were from various companies. All the interviewees presented their portfolio and introduced themselves, and the interviewers offered feedback on what could be improved and asked questions to each one of us. Each interviewer pointed out different things and gave the details on what I could improve on. The mentors also shared real world experience in their field.

Eunbyul Jeong : At school, there are not enough opportunities to hear about what kind of work designers actually do or the real world of the industry so I had a great experience participating in this job fair. I also received a lot of help so I really want to recommend this program to someone who is a year or two years below me at school. I am majoring in interior design so Inha and I both got similar advice from the mentors. They told me to be confident about marketing myself as a designer. It was a rare opportunity for me and was incredibly helpful to get professional feedback on the direction of my career.

Photo 1. Mentee Hyeeun Jang

Photo 2. Mentee Yejin Yook

Photo 3. (Left) Mentee Eunbyul Jeong (Right) Inha Hwang