w+k 12 application

W+

K12

CLARE JENSEN

Yeah that starry eyed

chick right there.

SUP MY NAME IS CLARE

My name is Claire. Yeah it’s actually without an

i but everyone misspells it anyway. Being ‘Claire’

doesn’t bother me much. It often serves as an

excuse to play someone else for the day (‘Clare

why are you acting this way?’ - ‘It’s not my fault,

Claire can be a real bitch sometimes’). Who is

Claire? Claire is a french prostitute who enjoys

reading literary magazines and eating pears

between calls from struggling Persian artists. No

big deal.

I have never blamed the world for spelling my

name ‘Claire’, in fact if I were out in the world and

saw ‘Clare’ scribbled on a sheet of paper I would

have assumed it was misspelled too. Sometimes I

think my parents may have actually had it wrong

all along and my name was misspelled because

they were filling out my birth certificate too

quickly. In fact, I would be convinced that was

the case if it wasn’t for the fact that I am the sixth

‘Clare’ on my mom’s side of the family.

My family is one of those that has eight people

all named the same thing. But they aren’t named

after one another making them Peter II or Paul

IV because that would be way too easy. It usually

bounces from generation to generation with no real

pattern. I have grown up referring to my cousins,

aunts and uncles as ‘Big Peter’ or ‘Little Margaret’.

Is tradition the reason for this naming ponzi

scheme we have going on? Possibly, but I am under

the impression that its due to a lack of creativity.

It probably goes like this - baby pops out ‘Shit we

forgot to pick out a name.’ ‘How about Margaret? It

seemed to work well the first six times it was used.’

And that is what lead me here, to W+K 12 - to

avenge the repetitive and mundane naming

scheme of the Swanson/Jensen family and break

free to greener pastures. With some creative

thinking, a lot of hard work and a little luck I will

be naming my first born ‘Tinker’ or ‘Pookie’.

It’s not a

casserole silly!

WANT TO LEARN A LITTLE MORE?YOU BETCHA

I am a Minnesotan but I currently live in the land

of traffic jams - Los Angeles. I have worked in

a variety of creative positions from freelance to

newspaper design. I am currently working at the

Los Angeles Times in design on the five features

sections.

I like tator tot hot dish, desk toys and being

outside. I bring my sketchbook and my Sigg water

bottle with me everywhere. Above all, I like to

make cool things. I don’t let medium restrict my

ideas and ambitions and I am ready for a new

challenge in Portland.

I AM FROM MINNESOTA

WANT TO LEARN A LITTLE MORE?YOU BETCHA

I PLEDGE MY NEXT YEAR TO

TWELVE OTHERS

I raise my hand to pledge my allegiance to the Society of

12 and all that it represents. My nights will be long. My

creativity and ideas will be challenged. I will create. I will

innovate. I will drink coffee.

I PLEDGE MY NEXT YEAR TO

TWELVE OTHERS

I AM READY FOR A NEW CHALLENGE

I have climbed the holy Mt. Hood. I have cooked a

turkey and I have designed pages on the strictest

of deadlines. Now I approach those at W+K to

attempt my next great challenge.

In the face of all odds, I will tackle the impossible

with the bravery of a bear and the help of 12

others.

And when is all said and done ...

I will tattoo these sacred

words to my arm.

I AM READY FOR A NEW CHALLENGE

I HATE CUBICALS

I am ready to return my cubical for

a 13 person table. Because really

how can you get any real work done

when you can’t see your neighbor.

I like to get down and dirty

with projects.

I LIKE TO MAKE THINGS

I WANT TO WORK

WITH KILLER

PEOPLE

Enough said.

I can hang at

both first and last

Thursday ..

I LOVE PORTLAND

A Brian’s Bowl at Por Que No, the saturday farmers

market at Portland State, ice cream at Salt & Straw

and of course drinking chocolate at Cacao - just a

few things I love in Portland (and not so strangely

all related to food ..) This Minnesotan is ready to

move to Portland. My bike is ready, my bag packed.

I can be there tomorrow.

I AM A HAND MODEL

Yes I know - you’d never guess it if you saw me

walking down the street but if you took a peek at

my phalanges you would know I was destined for

greatness.

What have I done? Well at the LA Times I once

held a plate of juicy brats for a feature on

tailgating. To me that means my fingers must be

extremely tasty.

Modeling career aside, I have worked on putting

together photo shoots to illustrate stories in

the paper. I like collaborating with a wide group

of people with varying specialties and ideas in

order to achieve photographic greatness. And

if somehow my hands make it in the shot, don’t

blame me they were destined for a life of fame.

Manicured perfection!

THE CREATIVE SUITE AND I ARE

LOVERS

We met in high school in photography class. At the

time I wasn’t interested. He was complicated and

often harsh - ‘Could not complete your request

because of a program error.’ ‘You bitch!’ - but

as often things do, opposites attract and I have

learned to cope with the constant version updates

and sometimes unspeakable tragedies.

While I use AI, PS, and ID (and have met DW

and FL) they are never the solution to a creative

problem - only a tool in achieving it. I am a firm

believer in my sketchbook and it always holds

my first few drafts of a project as well as multiple

sketches of eye glasses.

I LIKE TELLING STORIES

Sometimes I tell stories with

sock puppets. Sometimes that’s

just the best way to do it.

I LIKE TELLING STORIES

Design, journalism, advertising, art. It’s all about

creating a story, setting a scene and engaging your

audience.

As a designer at a newspaper I interact with all

kinds of content and tell many different types of

stories. Telling a story about the political election

takes a different form then telling on about Justin

Bieber. No matter the story - I can tell it. And with

swagger too.

I HAVE A KNACK FOR FINDING FREE FOOD

I HAVE A KNACK FOR FINDING FREE FOOD

If you are out there,

I will find you.

I AM IN LOVE WITH TYPOGRAPHY

Don’t judge me.

(G

otham

is sexy)

I THRIVE ON TIGHT DEADLINES

I THRIVE ON TIGHT DEADLINES

If you are at all familiar with how a newspaper

functions you know that deadlines are key. You

miss a deadline and the paper may not come out

the next morning. Working in news is a constant

flux of trying to work quickly and creatively under

extreme pressure. You may have come up with the

cleverest design of your career but if Steve Jobs

dies or a presidential candidate is chosen, your

design is no longer brilliant.

While at times it can be extremely frustrating, I

love working against impossible odds. I don’t mind

working late into the night reworking an idea until

it is perfect because if I didn’t have some sort

of incentive to finish I would never get it done.

Literally, I have eight large drawings under my bed

just waiting to be finished.

SAMPLES FROM MY PORTFOLIO

SAMPLES FROM MY PORTFOLIO

For my senior capstone project in advertising, I worked

with a small group to put together a campaign for a local

sneaker customizer, C2 Customs. While the campaign was

purely for exercise, we worked with real goals and budget

limitations. We were given the task of developing a world-

wide social media campaign on a very tight budget which

aimed at increasing C2’s social following and relevance in

the sneaker sub-culture. The social scavenger hunt would

ended in a custom sneaker release. I worked on the creative

on the project as well as all the print and presentation tools.

Political feelings aside, the Republican National

Convention two page spread was a pivot project in my

time at the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

With content constantly in flux and photos and stories

continuously being swapped out, being prepared and

flexible was a must. Print deadlines fell at 10 pm and

midnight which meant the convention coverage wouldn’t

be finished by the first deadline. This also meant that the

midnight design would be completely different from the

10 pm design. By working closely with photographers and

editors, as well as collaborating with other designers, I was

able to create successful pages while still making deadline.

C2 CUSTOMS

RNC COVERAGE GMA’SGIRDLE

There are numerous times

when stories are without art.

‘This isn’t your grandma’s

girdle’ was a chance to

illustrate the story in a

creative and eye catching

way. By combining unique

elements of the story and

spending days searching

through archived photos I

found the perfect solution.

MAY TERMAs the lead designer for the Department of Art at

the University of Minnesota, I was almost exclusively

involved in only the design portion of a project. But when

developing the classes for the May term program, I was

given the task of raising awareness and excitement on

campus for the unique class offerings. The final execution

involved community events and print postcards and

posters. When developing the print design, I pulled

inspiration from the classes themselves and wove them

together representing the program as a whole.

APPRECIATIONTo thank the donors for art scholarships, I worked with the

chair of the Department of Art to create a print booklet

that served as both a thank you and an invitation to the

upcoming student art show. From concept, to content and

design, I worked on every piece that went into the book.

The finished booklet was sent to 250 donors and was later

used as a recruitment tool in order to encourage future

scholarship donations.

For more photos and other portfolio clips visit clarejensen.com

I AM READY TO DRINK THE KOOL-AID