How To Set Your Design's Apart From Other's.

Recently, I've been working hard on new designs and artwork as the time came closer to portfolio submissions for university applications. I learned two things while doing this. The first thing that I learned was that portfolios are hard work and take more time than I originally thought. But most importantly what I learned was how to set myself apart from others in regards to my work. In my experience with applying to university for architecture specifically is that there are way too many applicants and not enough spots in the program. It's a battle of who has the best grades, the best designs, and who is the best fit for the program. I knew that if I wanted to be considered, I had to stand out from the crowd of other people just like me who all want the same thing I did. I had to learn how to set my designs apart from others. Right away, we can rule out the first thing you should NOT do in order to accomplish this, which is copy other's work. It's fairly self explanatory that you're not going to stand out if you're the same as the people around you. This does not mean that you can't draw inspiration from other's and make something of your own from it. I personally use all kinds of sources for inspiration. I look through design magazines, read up on a specific building or architect, as well as use online sources such as Youtube and Pinterest. The trick to standing out is being able to take everything in your mind and transforming it into something useful and well designed that only you could come up with. Think about what you see in the real world, be critical of the things that surround you every day and think to yourself how that thing could've been designed better so that it would make your like simpler. Get into the mind of the person who designed it. Why do you think they designed it this way? What would you change about it and why? Personalize everything to how you would want it. Having this personalization in your designs makes it unique to you meaning nobody else will have it. Now you're probably thinking "okay, so now I've got my own personalized design, but who cares", and you're right, nobody cares. This is where the next step is important. The next step for standing out is to get people to notice what you've just done. You've got your hands on a design that you created by taking what a 'normal' person made and being critical of every aspect of it. You haven't just got a good piece of design that we already have in the world, you now have a good piece of design that you just improved from what it was before. Make sure your design shows this off in order for it to get noticed rather then something else. The last step in order to really set your designs apart from others is to focus on what you know how to do best. If you're good at painting, make paintings. If you're good at drawing, draw something. If you're good at photography, take pictures. Using the medium that you're strongest and most comfortable in means that whatever you come up with, it will already be some of the best work you can make. Combining this with the first two steps will ensure your designs ire set apart from the others. For me, this worked very well, I applied to five different universities and was accepted into all of them except for my last choice. For my top choice I was one of nearly 2000 applicants, but managed to be one of the 70 that got accepted. This goes to show how setting your designs apart from other's matters.