10 Tips On Creating A Design Portfolio, From 10 Yetis Public Relations
In the crazy world of design your portfolio is everything. Not only can it gain you new clients but it can also help you to increase your profile and gain publicity, exposure and respect from your peers.
If you're a freelancer or a small company a website is the first
place you should think of putting your portfolio. It's accessible
from all over the world, affordable to set up and really easy to keep up
to date.
It also means that others can link to your work doing your promotion
for you and potential clients can view it at their convenience and on
their terms.
If you update it regularly it can also provide clients with a warm fuzzy feeling that you are up to date with the latest technologies (especially important if you are selling web design), and that you are ambitious and hungry for new challenges.
So what are the rules of having a good portfolio?
1. A portfolio has to be interesting and enjoyable
Whether you're a print or web designer, flash developer or illustrator, you are in the creative industry so showing your portfolio to the world in a creative way is essential and is just as important, if presented well, as the pieces it contains. There's nothing worse than looking at a bog standard portfolio presented in the most obvious way possible. Surprise people, don't let them second guess you. It's important both in the presentation of the portfolio as well as in the work that it contains that you show how far your creativity can stretch whilst making sure it appeals to as many people as possible.
2. Keep it simple
Following on from the above point it's very easy to get carried away creating a portfolio that is overly complex in an effort to show off your creativity. This is a big no no, you need to make it as easy as you can for the client to see your work and to see as much as they can in the shortest time possible, whilst also allowing them to delve deeper if they wish. Simplify the presentation, try to think from the clients point of view. If the tiniest thing can stop someone from viewing your work, such as a file taking more than a couple of seconds to load, or even having to click back a couple of times in a browser, then you'll find the majority of people won't bother. Ask other people to look at it and if you can, watch them so that you can see how they approach it and if you need to change anything. Asking for critique on an open forum is not everyone's cup of tea, but ask people privately and they'll be more than willing to offer their opinions.
3. Keep it up to date
Design moves quickly and you need to show that you can keep up with the current trends whilst retaining the individuality that will make people come to you. Make sure all your links work. Regularly refresh and remove old and tired work.
4. Keep only your very best work
This is probably the most important point. People don't need an
excuse to say no to your work, one bad piece of work in your
portfolio can prevent you getting a job so don't add any filler
pieces just to make things look neat.
Be specific about what you put in your portfolio, never have anything
less than your best. Three or four strong designs are much better
than 10 half arsed designs. Don't put so much in that someone will
get bored of your work, leave them wanting to see more.
Learning to critique your own work is something that comes with practice. You need to be objective when choosing what pieces to keep in, just because you've spent 10 hours on one piece and 2 on another doesn't mean you should keep the former. It often helps to get the opinions of others and if you can't judge objectively then there's always plenty of other people willing to do so.
5. Make it good all the way through
Sticking with the last point, it's got to be good at the beginning as well as the end so if you are showing things linearly make sure you don't do things in order of best to worst, surprise the viewer each time they look at the next piece.
6. Make it stand out
Marketing managers and decision makers look at portfolios all the time so yours needs to stand out. So many portfolios follow the same format you need to make sure yours makes an impact (I'll be doing another newsletter on this shortly). Designers are ten a penny so if a potential client doesn't see anything immediately that they like then they'll just go back to google and find someone else.
7. Show your personality
Give your portfolio some personality. Let a client can get a feel for the way you like to work so they can see if it fits in with their own style. Just as your clothes can give a first impression of how professional you may be, the way in which you chose to present your portfolio can say this too. This is especially important given that many of your clients may be half way across the world and never meet you in person, so any indication to your personality will reduce their effort in deciding whether or not to chose you as well as helping to build up a relationship.
8. Make sure stuff looks great in print
A website may be first port of call for the majority of people but if you go to meet with a client, pitch for prospective work or even send out your folio in the post and your print work isn't up to scratch compared to what they've seen on screen then you're stuffed. Clients love to see printed work and word will always get around if someone sees a good book.
9. Don't be a jack of all trades
Don't assume that because you are a print designer you are also a web designer - if you can't design for the web then use a professional. People naturally assume that designers can traverse all mediums from illustration to flash websites and print, not realising they each require a vastly different skill-set. Recognising your own strengths and weaknesses will go a long way to making you look ahead of your game.
10. Target your intended audience
Finally, if there's a particular industry that you aspire to design for then make sure you can show that as your strength. When planning your portfolio it's important to work out who the audience will be and what you are trying to achieve. If your a flash designer then you should strongly consider a clever flash portfolio, if you're interested in working in the fashion industry make sure your portfolio shows some examples of that.
If your area is illustration then decide whether you're better off sticking to an individual style or whether you should show your flexibility. Larger clients will often commission the work of a particular illustrator because they have seen their style before and want something similar. Fashion led companies also prefer to pick illustrators with an original style whereas smaller companies will want to see that you can be flexible to their needs, so you need to show a more diverse range of works.
So there we go, simple really?
As always, get in touch if you have any questions, I love looking at others peoples portfolios so let me know if you've put up some new work and of course feel free to look at our own portfolio and let us know your thoughts. We've also got an awesome public relations team that are always willing to advise on how you might be able to get publicity.
