The entire program at The Portfolio Shop is "learning by doing." All workshops at The Portfolio Shop meet once a week for eight sessions and build upon one another in sequence. The workshops are offered on a quarterly basis, on weekday evenings or weekends, so you can have a job or even have a life while you’re learning at The Portfolio Shop.
In this fundamentals class, you'll be armed only with a pad, pencil and your imagination. Not sure you want to be a writer or an art director? It doesn't matter yet. Have you taken a few classes already, or none at all? That's fine. Right now your focus is on learning what an advertising idea is, and how to strategize and brainstorm in order to create ads and integrated campaigns.
Real campaigns are dissected in order to be appreciated from a business, strategic, media, and creative point of view. Through weekly in-class exercises, home assignments and critique, the craft is taught, and a beginning collection of single ads is the result. The focus of Concepting I is on the most fundamental medium: print.
Instructor: M. Berliner. Class limited to 14 students.
Prerequisites: None.
Cost: $895 (Special Introductory Rate: $795)
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill (near the corner of Franklin St.)
Weeknight Session:
Thursday evenings, Feb. 18 – April 22 (no class 3/11 and 4/1). 7 – 9:30 p.m. REGISTER
Weekend Session:
Sunday afternoons, Feb. 21 – April 25 (no class 3/7 and 3/28). 3 – 5:30 p.m. FULL
Students dive deeper into full campaign development. With the help of the instructor, students begin to determine which of their ads might become "portfolio worthy." In this class, there is an intense level of idea generation to get to the best ideas, and a focus on turning single ads into campaigns. During this class, students will announce their interest and intended focus on either copywriting or art direction.
Instructor: TBD. Class limited to 14 students.
Prerequisites: Concepting I or permission of instructor.
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill
Permission of the instructor is required to join this third class in the series (some students will be encouraged to repeat Concepts II in order to be strong enough concepting on their own before joining with a partner). In Partnerships and Portfolio, student activities mimic the real-world collaborative structure of art director/copywriter partnership. You’ll brainstorm together, help one another improve your assignments, and collaborate on development of campaigns from strategy through computer-comped executions.
Instructor: TBD. Class limited to 16 students.
Prerequisites: Concepting II
Session: Fall 2010, dates TBD
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill
Advanced Portfolio - Copy: This class is offered after the completion of the Partnerships class, to provide burgeoning copywriters with the in-depth instruction they need to succeed in the contemporary marketplace. Students engage in exercises to stretch and develop many voices in their writing, and learn the techniques required of various media such as the web, television, long-form print and video, and radio.
Instructor: TBD. Class limited to 14 students.
Prerequisites: Partnerships and Portfolio
Session: Winter 2011, dates TBD
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill
This class takes art directors from the Partnerships and Portfolio Class and places intensive focus on the creation of attention-getting, dynamic layouts for their portfolios. Students will learn how to decide media formats, explore type styles and fonts, and learn how the elements of typography, photography, illustration, space and use of color, all impact advertising design. NOTE: This is not a technical computer class. Students must have working knowledge of Adobe Creative software such as InDesign, PhotoShop and Illustrator.
Instructor: TBD. Class limited to 14 students.
Prerequisites: Partnerships and Portfolio
Session: Winter 2011, dates TBD
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill
This course for both copywriters and art directors teaches how to develop ideas for the interactive space that can be shown in their portfolios, and is highly recommended in order for a student to be competitive in today’s market. This class will be open to students who either have completed or are currently enrolled in Advanced Portfolio level classes.
Instructor: TBD. Class limited to 14 students.
Prerequisites: Partnerships and Portfolio
Session: Winter 2011, dates TBD
Location: Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce, 104 S. Estes Drive, Chapel Hill