FEATURE ARTICLE: Information Design Society to provide LinkedIn headshots soon

Did you know that of the 562 million people on LinkedIn, 40 million are in hiring positions? LinkedIn can be a powerful tool with the right information, connections and profile photo. There are more than 39 million students on LinkedIn, and it takes a good picture to stand out. For this reason, the Information Design Society has created an event to have students looking professional in profile pictures. While the exact date and location is still pending, it is estimated to occur in January and is one of the ways that the group is striving to connect and engage with communications students this year.

“We want [communications students] to feel like we aren’t separated by years,” Emmy Wyatt, vice president of communications, says.

Information Design centers around the idea of combining data and analysis into creativity. Many, like Wyatt, have creative projects on the side and can put their skills to use.

“A stop sign is information design,” Wyatt comments. “You want to be informing users and making sure that things are easy for them.”

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IDS to hold LinkedIn event

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One of the ways they want to go about doing this is by including all students within the faculty. Wyatt says that there are many ways that Information Design connects to other degrees and that is a big reason why they want to include all communications students in the events.

“Across all of the disciplines, across all of the years, it’s just important to talk to people.” Wyatt says.

This event will allow others like Wyatt to showcase their photographic talent, while helping those in the community. For just $5, any communications student can get a headshot taken by an experienced photographer in the Information Design community.

The Information Design Society executive team wants to ensure that everyone is connecting. For many MRU students, freelance will be a huge part of their work. Wyatt says that it Is important to connect across all degrees to build a network. As a vice president of Communications, Wyatt says she has her feet in many “creative ponds.”

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IDS to hold LinkedIn event

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Through photography and social media development, Wyatt creates engaging Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts to attract people to their society. Between herself and her co-vice president, Dawson Diment, they strive to reach a variety of audiences for their events. This year’s events have ranged from hands-on technical workshops to fun events, such as the bowling mixer of last October.

So how do students get involved? It’s quite simple, even if not in Information Design.

“Our current president, Andrew Chase, really wants to create a sense of community,” Wyatt explains. “People think that they can’t get involved but we want to hear from everyone.”

When approached about the idea of the event from a public relations student, Wyatt shares, “I didn’t spend a lot of time in my first year getting to know people. Then I started talking to people and realized that we have a lot in common and I thought, why are we not hanging out and creating stuff together?”

To stay tuned to what else the society has to offer this year, make sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at mru_jds.

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