Spec work and portfolio concepts
The intersection between working in a creative field and being an academic has been really fascinating and rewarding. There are no readily available titles that fit me perfectly from the start, so I have had to (and continue to be in the process of) discovering where I want to head career-wise. I am deeply passionate about culture, literature, and art, as well as the curating and mediating of these subjects in meaningful ways, and I think there are many avenues that I could take, that would lead me to a fulfilling career.
My goal is to make culture more accessible and engaging by thoughtfully framing and curating topics through various events and projects that actively involve public participation and interaction.
In the process of looking for job opportunities that offer these elements, I have made some mock-up posters for project ideas, that I would like to share here.
Promotional mock-up for cultural institution
I made the two first posters as part of a job application for a position at a library.
The first poster is an advertisement for an imagined reading club, that focuses on books that deal with themes of climate change and nature. The poster features two books: The Emissary by Yoko Tawada (2014) and Jordisk by Theis Ørntoft (2023.)
The second poster is for an event I made up for the purpose of the poster. The imagined event focuses on local authors and celebrates the local artist scene.
Spec work for language center
The last two posters were made in a pitch to a language school. I am passionate about language learning and I would love to contribute to the development of new and engaging methods of learning and engaging with a target language.
The first poster here is a promotional mock-up poster for a french-language workshop, where learners can engage with French through making comics. Comics are an essential part of french and belgian culture, and the workshop encourage learners to increase their vocabulary and writing skills through a medium they are sure to come into contact with more on their French language journey.
The second poster is a bit different, as it is advertising a German language poetry and writing workshop. As a German student myself, I know how the language is often made fun of for sounding harsh and mean. Encouraging B1-C1 learners to engage with a more poetic and flowery version of German is a great way to increase vocabulary and practice writing. Furthermore, engaging with german poetry is a great way to introduce the softer side of German found in, for example, romantic literature from the 17- and 1800’s.
I hope you enjoyed this little look into what I’ve been up to lately! Thanks for reading, hopefully more blog content is coming soon.
