The beginning of year 3 started of pretty intimidating. We had to make professional portfolio websites and present those on the annual portfolio evening, where professionals from the design field would stop by to check out all the portfolio's. This was after my internship talk, one of the first moments where I had to present myself to professionals. I wanted my portfolio website to be really ourstanding, and kind of test where the limits would be to making myself more outstanding. I wanted to make a complete opposite version of a regular portfolio website, which normally consists of: many visuals, professional, clear and clean. My portfolio was mostly textual with just a hand full of images, nude imagery and confusing navagation. It was a critical reflection on the usual portfolio, there is this aesthetic that for some reason makes certain portfolio's better then the rest. In a school where we are told to look for the boundaries, everyone felt the pressure from the professionals coming to look at their work. It seemed like many we were expected to show the most orginazed and neat version of ourselves.

On the evening itself, I got a lot of attention because of my businesscards. People were so confused and interested to hear why I would put such an image on my businesscard. I felt like I was doing a good job on standing out. Though when I reflect on competency 5, communicative ability, I think I would have done some things different: "The student is able to articulate his/her ideas, concepts, work, work process and artistic vision for professionals and the public, within and outside the professional field. The student is evaluated on his/her supervised performance in simple professional situations."

Though many people were amused by my portfolio, I it became more of a installation rather then a real portfolio. People almost felt to uncomfortable at times that they didn't dare to ask anything. Although I very much like my approach, I would have liked to have more interaction with some of the studios, and that would have been more successfull when I made my portfolio more inviting. I don't have to take it to an extreme to make my point. I have learned that when it comes to professional settings, I can make things a bit more subtle so the attentions still goes to my work and to my artistic vision, rather then to the extremer aesthetics.