By Alex Pugh

The Book of Strange New Things

It’s that point in the course where everybody’s books are beginning to take shape. It’s interesting to see the different ways in which the portfolio’s coalesce, the layout and content hopefully reflecting the character(s) of the team. 

I’m currently flying solo. It’s arguably more work, but it’s far more rewarding. The work is purely my own. That is, it has come about through discussion and ideation with many different people, but the final decision comes down to me. 

I’ve made a portfolio before. I took an Art Foundation course ten years ago. The idea is to have a portfolio of work to show universities what you are capable of. But the portfolio in this instance was different to the one I now have tethered to me in advertising.  

The Foundation portfolio was an end product, a full stop, the result of almost a years worth of teasing out different techniques and styles. The advertising portfolio is quite different. It is never complete. It should constantly be updated, an accurate reflection of where you are in your creative journey. You live and die by your book. 

I think this dichotomy accurately reflects the different attitudes I held before and after I started at SCA. For me, whilst making and studying art over the years, there was very little discipline or structure. If I had an idea I made it. SCA is all about process. You make ideas come forth and then you select the most promising ones. 

Our books are a process in action. They are not a terminus. They are a river.