AIGA Chicago + Career Center at Columbia College Chicago presents
PreFlight: Career and Portfolio Advice from the Pros

Getting ready to jump into the job or internship search?

Join us for a panel discussion with a professional designer, developer, and copywriter, as they discuss how the three roles interact in the workplace. Topics Include; industry workflow, career paths, and the value of creative collaboration. Use this industry research from the PreFlight for your Test Flight portfolio review on Saturday April 7th! Please register for the portfolio review for designers, developers, and copywriters here.

Moderator:
Guy Villa Jr., Assistant Professor of Instruction, Design, Columbia College Chicago
Guy Villa, Jr. received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (concentration in Graphic Design and Photography). After gaining experience at design studios and in-house design departments, he founded Guy Villa Design. The studio’s work consists of editorial and identity design for not-for-profit organizations, start-ups, and small businesses. In recognition for his work, he was named a Platinum Winner by Graphis and was interviewed and featured in the Graphis Letterhead 7 book. He was also interviewed by Print magazine and his work was published in the December 2008 issue. Other recognitions include UCDA, Print Retrospective DVDs, GDUSA Annual, GDUSA In-House Design, American Package Design Annual and Creativity International Awards. He is invited regularly to speak at conferences and has given presentations at regional, national and international venues. Guy is also Chair of the STA Design Inspiration Weekend, an annual forum held by The Society of Typographic Arts. Most recently, he was a juror for the International TypeCon Typography Award and the TypeCon Education Forum.

Panelists:
Alyssa Low, Designer, Eight Bit Studios
Alyssa is a Product Designer and Letterer creating meaningful experiences. Her multi-faceted design experience includes branding and tech solutions for web and mobile applications. Alyssa’s ability to create visual harmony with functional product design led to her being honored with the “AIGA Chicago Emerging Designer Award” in 2016. She has designed for Glamour Magazine, Manduka, Mack Trucks and Underwriters Laboratories.
IG, Twitter, dribbble: @alyssalowww

Bianca Smith, Copywriter, One Design Company
Bianca is a writer who marries personal anecdotes and colorful language to communicate compelling brand messages. As a trained journalist and editor, she is passionate about the entire scope of the creative process—from pitching a story idea through to creating a piece’s social media posts, she is invested in all facets of the projects she’s a part of. Bianca is currently a copywriter at One Design Company and on the Editorial Committee at AIGA Chicago. Most recently, she edited Mouthwash magazine and was the managing editor of Echo Magazine—a nationally award-winning student-run publication—while she completed her BA in Magazine Journalism at Columbia College Chicago.

PJ Macklin, Interactive Deigner, Salesforce
PJ Macklin is an interaction designer who likes making complex systems feel simple and intuitive. He uses his background in digital product design and illustration to create human-centered interfaces that solve problems and are fun to use. At Salesforce Ignite (formerly gravitytank) PJ has led projects in tech, consumer genetics, and consumer electronics.

Before gravitytank, he co-founded Soundslice, a music education platform that renders music notation in the browser. Before that, he designed interfaces for EveryBlock, a website that helped people interact with and learn about their neighborhood.

PJ holds a BS in art and design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He taught HTML & CSS at The Starter League in Chicago.

When PJ isn’t designing, he’s probably playing music, learning a language, or finding a better cup of coffee.
Twitter: @pjmacklin
Instagram: @pjmacklin

Agenda
6:00 PM – Panel
7:00 PM – Q&A

Ticket Pricing
Free

Code of Conduct
By registering to attend this event, you agree to abide by AIGA Chicago Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct may be found here.

Hashtags & Handles 
#Preflight
#AIGAChicago 
@AIGAChicago
@ColumbiaChi

Special thanks to Lauren Meranda, AIGA Chicago Education Chair and Jo-Nell Sieren, Internship & Career Advisor at the Career Center at Columbia College Chicago, and Sarah Faust, Assistant Professor of Instruction at Columbia College Chicago for organizing this event. for organizing this event. We also want to say thank you to One Design Company for the artwork.