New Talents In Town

The end of May always means no sleep for San Diego’s Graphic Design students.
It marks the end of their portfolio classes, and they get ready to show their books as a grand final piece of their education before entering their professional lives. Here’s where all their hard work starts to pay off.

Students awaiting the results in front of Kroc Center

For us here at Mth Degree, the end of May is also an exciting time. That’s when we come together with AIGA San Diego for the annual Portfolio Review at the USD Kroc Center. This year, we enjoyed sponsoring the 2nd place overall award and the ‘Design For Good’ award in the design-driven social change category.
As always, we feel honored to be part of the judging panel. And we welcome the opportunity to pass on constructive critiques, our advice, and a bit of our experience to the young designers.

62 students meet 31 judges

Gathered from City College, SDSU, and PLNU— students are competing for the winning portfolios. There are awards for each category from Advertising to Branding, as well as for the overall winners, based on total votes from the judges, and the Student Choice Award.

But the best part for Steve and Harry is to see all the great creative and strategic work in the room. Everyone there worked hard to put their best foot forward and apply all the things they learned along the way to make a lasting impression.

For the judges, it is sometimes overwhelming—but awesome at the same time—to take in all these great projects and presentations. Usually though, there are one or two tables that everyone sort of ends up flocking to. Among all the young talent, there is almost always someone who stands out. And as conversations unfold, consensus starts to fill the room and judges check their votes on the ballot.

Congrats to Bradford

This year, one table displayed the portfolio of Bradford Prairie, from San Diego City College. Not only did Bradford win the FIRST PLACE OVERALL, but also the Student Choice Award—and he was voted best in his category Branding and Identity.

So what does it take?

What makes Bradford’s portfolio so good is the consistent strategic approach that weaves through his entire book. Before executing the project designs, there is thoughtful consideration of target audiences and their culture, positioning, and market opportunities. Prairie infuses branding concepts and processes to find the exact brand voice for each project.
For us, it is a delightful proof of what we already knew: strategy makes all the difference in the world of branding.
So we congratulate Bradford on his well-deserved success. We know he will make it far in his professional career.
Learn more about Bradford Prairie.

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