Natural speed please
There were a lot of intending designers at the site.It was my first time to see those students. I asked them to show their portfolios. Their portfolios were wonderful, and I felt embarrassed because the one I made extemporaneously was nothing like as good as theirs, but one question arose at that moment. Indeed, their portfolios were fabulous and could express how wonderful their skills were, but they were not conveying what they were. I thought that what we should convey first was not our skills but our personality. As you know, most of the Japanese companies have been adopting a lifetime employment system. Under such circumstances, most of the recruitment staffs pay the most attention to whether the applicants can bring long-term benefits to their company in the future or not. So, they tend to give first priority to what they are. I came up with an idea that if I concentrated on conveying what I was with my portfolio, I might be able to beat other applicants who have excellent skills.
The important thing was how attractive my personality was. At that time I had read a book which said that those who had apparently-opposing personalities attracted many people. For examples, Takeshi Kitano, a comedian always makes snappy jokes, while he is internationally famous as one of the finest film directors in Japan. This apparently-opposing personalities have been attracting many people.I decided to make my portfolio consisting of my two aspects. Generally speaking, those who want to be designers tend to be considered that they have great sensitivity but are not good at logical thinking.
I majored in visual communication design, but since the department I belonged to was technology I decided to show my rational aspect to the interviewer that they expected to see from my background. This was a point to differentiate myself from others.
