* Download your PFH (Print From Home) portfolio poster PDF right here!
Clare McNally and Magnus Mynderup-Bjørnshave (Creative at Robert Boisen & like-minded) have created a fun and useful PFH (print from home) poster and instagram account called “Mission Portfolio” to help advertising students with their creative portfolios. The idea for the poster came from a doodle made by Magnus, one of Clare's former students at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX) in Copenhagen. He made this great sketch during a class lecture back in 2018.
Then 2020 struck! Industry bodies, recruiters and agencies stepped up to help students with mentorships, webinars and free online portfolio reviews (thank you One Show and D&AD New Blood). And, it seemed like the perfect time to turn that doodle into a proper poster! The poster then became an instagram account, where ad students can unpack each piece of content individually and learn more. They can also keep coming back for additional inspiration and support.
Mission Portfolio includes input and opinions from industry heavy-weights like Morten Grubak (ECD Vice Virtue Northern Europe), Jan Jacobs (ECD Johannes Leonardo NYC) and Avital Pinchevsky (SVP & ECD at FCB Global). Their ‘big shot’ insights have been combined with those from recent grads now working across the globe, including 2019 Cream Portfolio Competition winners Thea & Cecilia / theacecilia.com (Creative team at Uncommon, London) and Jacob & Jakob / jakobandjacob.com (Creative team at Adam & Eve DDB, London).
Thea Føge Toft-clausen and Cecilia Mervig had great success with their portfolio, nabbing spots at Kessels Kramer, Special Guest and Wieden & Kennedy. Now they're at Uncommon London where they’ve already produced work like ‘Scents of normality’ for Earl of East. They advise other young teams to "Get on instagram! We’ve met and been contacted by a lot of cool people that way”.
Jacob Grandt and Jakob Lykke Jensen have this sage advice for other young teams: “If you’re rejected, it’s not an eternal ‘no’. Often it’s an invitation to improve and make a comeback. Your portfolio is sometimes just the start of getting a placement or job. It took us eight months from our first meeting with Adam & Eve DDB to get in”.
Mission Portfolio aims to be the go-to hub for all things ‘portfolio’. It will feature book recommendations, links to articles and resources, student competitions, placement opportunities, top creative agencies. And, every month, we'll select the very best work to feature as the "Portfolio of the month". It could be you!
The Mission Portfolio launch poster is free and can be downloaded here. You can print it out in four A3’s and assemble it at home. Of course, when we get back to real-life classrooms, ad schools can hopefully print it out in glorious, full-colour A1.
Clare McNally has been reviewing creative portfolios for decades, as a teacher, Portfolio Night ‘master’, mentor and Creative Director. In 2007 she wrote a book about portfolios called “Portfolio Class with Clare :-)” published by BIS Publishers in Amsterdam. On top of creating Mission Portfolio, Clare has donated her time to help grad students in 2020 by doing portfolio reviews for DMJX, the One Show and D&AD New Blood. Recently, she also gave a webinar for Reklamelinjen (an introductory advertising course in Copenhagen) titled: “Your Portfolio. The perfect matchmaker for future you”.
If you’d like to contribute to Mission Portfolio with either ‘Big shot’ advice or ‘team tips', or if you’d like to submit your work for 'Portfolio of the month', please contact Clare McNally. And, of course, please follow us on insta at @mission_portfolio
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