Designer Portfolio Guide

7/27/2019 Designer Portfolio Guide

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A portfolio represents how a design

er visually andverbally approaches a problem, and how this relatesto the intended audience. Anything that helps me tounderstand that process is great.

-Steve Liska

PORTFOLIOS


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Creating your portfolio is an extensive design project in itself,

and should be treated as one. A memorable portfolio cannot be

completed in a day. In fact, your portfolio is one of the on-going

projects you will be continuously revisiting throughout yourentire design career, so understand that your portfolio is your

marketing tool, talent showcase, and an experience by itself.

By understanding this, you become aware that in creating your

portfolio you are creating a brand of your name, with the

products being your designs and skills and the portfolio being

the point of sale system. Through this understanding, we can

tackle the creation of both an online, web-based portfolio and

printed portfolio, through a client-based perspective, where you

are the client, and you need a point of sale system designed to

attract customers and captivate them to the point where they arecompelled to contact you because they have confidence in your

services and that they will have a healthy and mutually beneficial

relationship with you.

A great portfolio will serve its designer by telling your story,

expressing your personality, showcasing your skills in both

their breadth and depth, and displaying your process and f inal

products. And since you are the client, the process of research is

natural because you know more about yourself and your unique

personality and sense of expression than anyone else. As well,

the process of revisions will be streamlined because you are

probably your own harshest critic so revisions will naturally occur

for the purpose of making the viewers experience of your work,

skills, and personality more authentic. Asking for other design-

ers and professors to review your portfolio is a fantastic way to

get creative feedback, especially as the professors are incredibly

attuned to noticing the details of the t ypography, layout, content

hierarchy and organization, flow, color system, photographic

quality, body copy, piece selection in terms of range and quality,

and creative presentation of the portfolio.

Writing out the Creative Brie

The first step in creating a design portfolio is completing a

creative brief for yourself. As you are the client of your portfolio,it is important to write out a creative brief to clearly understand

the design problem and direct your attention to how you can

solve this problem.

To have a more complete understanding of your portfolio, and

how it uniquely addresses your marketing and branding strategy,

write a projec t summary, establish an audience profile what

constitutes your typical c lient or hiring manager describe

how you plan to set the tone and perception of your portfolio,

determine your communication strategy, and create your target

message that the audience with leave with after experiencing

your portfolio. These components will provide a foundation for

your creative brief to support the creative direction you take in

expressing what you have to offer through your portfolio. From

this brief, decide whether you want to tackle your printed and

pdf portfolio first or if youd rather start by designing your web

portfolio, or if you want to take them on simultaneously.

Physical vs. Website Portolios

Printed portfolios have their advantages in being able to give

someone a physical object that they can touch and see in the

real world. The true power in a physical portfolio comes after the

layout design, in choosing the paper type and weight, the design,

material, and dimensionality of the cover, the binding, and

designing the physical user interaction.

Portfolio websites are advantageous because they allow

you to display interactive web designs, video and media work.

They are accessible from all parts of the globe, expressing your

designs to clients and hiring managers from all over the wor ld.

Creating Your Post-Undergraduate Portfolio


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PHYSICAL PORTFOLIOSThe Purpose o a Physical Portolio ........................ 3

Beginning Your Physical Portolio ........................... 4

Grid, Layout, & Dimensions ......................................... 5

A Cohesive Personal Experience ............................... 6

Cover Pages and Binding................................................ 7

Packaging and Casing....................................................... 8Content Organization ....................................................... 9

Presenting a Redesign ...................................................... 11

Showcasing your Photography ................................... 13

Dealing with Three-Dimensional Designs ......... 14

Motion Graphics and Interactivity ........................... 15

Presenting Websites in Print Portolios ................ 16

Ending Your Portolio ........................................................ 17

A Note on Leave-Behinds ................................................ 18

WEBSITE PORTFOLIOSThe Purpose o a Website Portolio ......................... 19

Types o Online Portolios ............................................. 20

Formatting your Best Designs or the Web ....... 21

Grid, Layout, and Navigation Planning................ 22

Crating your Logo, Tagline, and Branding....... 24

Creating a Cohesive Theme ......................................... 26Welcome Screens & the Home Page ....................... 28

Designing Your Portolio Pages .................................. 29

Personalizing Your About Page .................................. 31

Providing an Unorgettable Experience ............... 32

Downloadable Resume and PDF Portolio .......... 33

Making yoursel Easy to Contact .............................. 34

Building Trafc and Getting Noticed ..................... 35

Blogging and Social Media Presence ...................... 37

A Quick Preview of Whats to Come


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The purpose for having a physical portfolio is not necessarily

to have a case or book that displays your skillful designs, but a

presentation and storytelling tool. Of course, a large part of your

physical portfolio, especially if it presents a smaller quantity ofdesigns that were all large and challenging projects with plenty

of process displayed alongside it, would be then to display your

skillful designs. There are plenty of skillful and genious

designers out there, however being talented is not what gets you

hired. The client and hiring manager are interested in you and

your relationship to them. Of course, they care about your

portfolio, and having a poorly-designed, generic, or even

nonexistant portfolio will cost you that job opportunity. Most

interviewers ask you to come in because they have seen some of

your work you sent and were interested, or had you recommenedfrom the design community, and now they want to know what

kind of designer and person you are.

The printed portfolio can take on many dimensions, layouts,

configurations, binding styles, and surfaces. With your creative

brief, begin brainstorming ways to express the targeted message

you want to the audience through the communication strategies

you determined, and any others that come to you in the process

of communicating that message.

Start with Sketches

Once your brainstorming starts producing some compelling

directions or when you hit a brainstorming roadblock you

can start sketching out some of your ideas, experimenting with

dimensions, the grid, cover design, and beginning to select the

pieces in your collection you would like to showcase as your best

designs. By sketching out ideas, creating a storyboard of your

portfolio, you begin to play with your overall portfolio organi-

zation, the order of the pieces you choose, and themes of thelayout, such as rules, type size, positioning.

The Purpose of Your Physical Portfolio


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Limit the selections to your Best Designs

When selecting pieces for your portfolio, limit your selections to

only designs that you are proud of, expressing the range of skills

and projects related to the specialties and variety intended for

your client or hiring manager. Limit these selections to six to ten

designs that display your breadth and depth in design skills and

thinking. Including too many designs will detract from the ef-

fectiveness of the ones you are most proud of, and will mean you

are more likely to include poor designs that you are not proud of

or did not complete to the same quality and level of skill as the

best designs, so be selective and scrutinize your work. Know that

most hiring managers will spend 10 seconds to 1 minute f lipping

through your portfolio, so only show them the best designs thatwill engage them to spend more time to delve into your work.

Start Strong, Finish Strong

The order of your pieces is extremely important, and you should

make sure to choose your two best pieces and display them first

and last, making a powerful first impression and a lasting final

impression. In between the first and last pieces comes your

creative ordering of your selected pieces. Choose an order that

works for you, where the ordering takes the viewer on a journeythrough your design work, telling your story with changing color

schemes, styles, and formats. Showing your range in design

among different mediums and also your range within one

medium (i.e. posters, business cards, envelopes, books are all in

the print-on-paper medium) is one organizing constraint.

Choosing Your Best Designs

Dont put anything in your portfoliothat youre not proud of.

-Tim McNeil


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Prototyping Dimensions and Layouts

With your selected pieces in the correct order, it is time to

begin experimenting with page dimensions and layouts.

You can begin selecting appropriate dimensions and layouts

by getting multiple pages of dif ferent sizes from a copy shop,

printing and cutting your designs to size, and moving them

around over the various page sizes, and seeing how your

design is presented on the page. Print out dummy tex t that is

approximately the type size, style, and treatment of what your

page text will be once you have made it and arrange that on

the pages too, along with selected sketches, brainstorming,

and other forms of process that led you to creating your final

designs. Physically prototyping the dimensions and layouts isimportant because your portfolio is a physical piece that the

viewer will be interacting with, and feeling the size and weight

of the page and where the elements are located and in your

visual span gives you an intuitive and direct vision of how

your final design will look and what sensations and cognitive

thoughts it will inspire in the viewer.

Once you have several of these quick mock-ups arranged,

ask other designers and your professors to give you feedback

on the piece selection, piece order, spread layout, and page

composition. Ask several non-designers to give you their

feedback too, as your clients will look at your portfolio, and it

is in your best interest to ensure that both designers and

non-designers can easily navigate and understand your story.

Drating your Grid

Begin drafting your grid from the layout mock-ups that were

successful. Your grid will unify your portfolio by giving it a

consistent structure that is flexible to adapt to each spreads

layout needs and guides the eye in understanding the page.

Grid, Layout, and Dimensions

Explore all kinds of different portfolios.

There is a wide range of possibilities to be inspired byin creating your own uniquely.

-Susan Verba


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Styles, Themes, and Color Schemes

Once you have addressed the layout, dimensions, and grid of

your design, it is time to experiment with the graphical style

of your printed portfolio. Experiment with creating a few main

avenues of type styles, expression of hierarchy, color schemes,

use of rules and bleeds, and even alternative ways of navigating

through your portfolio, such as opening fold-out three and four

page spreads.

Once you have created a set of cohesive, personal and expressive

themes, it is time to prototype them by creatively applying your

styles to page layouts that have been refined by your new grid.

Maintain cohesion throughout the portfolio by applying styles in

a consistent way among the different types of pages and the con-

tent within those pages. This themes open graphical expression

of your design values and skills gives the viewer a stimulating

experience, helps organize your portfolio, and cues them into

your personality and how you relate to the design world.

Do not forget that, first and foremost, your portfolio pieces and

process should be the main message you are communicating.

Simplify your styling so that it complements your work, rather

than competes with it. The purpose of your portfolio is a point

of sale system of your services, a communication platform withwhich you can tell your professional design story visually and be

direct about your process and product.

A Cohesive Personal Experience


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We Judge a Portolio by its Cover

While you are thinking about style, its time to think about your

cover and how you will be packaging this por tfolio. If you plan on

doing a portfolio book, there are many ways of binding the book,

and you should experiment with cover designs and materials

that speak to you. Visit websites like Lulu.com and Blurb.com to

submit your materials for relatively cheap printing and binding.

Displayed here are just a few examples for inspiration in putting

together your portfolio cover and binding it.

Cover Pages and Binding


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The Creativity is in the Case

The packaging of your portfolio is another option to consider.

Many designers go for two different approaches, the book bound

portfolio with a sleek case or the box of designs mounted to

matte board, or other materials. Craft is essential in all aspects

of portfolio design, but will be exceptionally important on the

casing. The casing is the clients f irst impression of your work

and your design standards, and if your casing is sloppy, cumber-

some, or ill-suited to your type of design, you will not get hired.

Packaging and Casing


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Content Organization

Organizing Content on each Page

The pages of your port folio will have plenty of information on

them, and youre responsible for the organization of the copy

and graphics, as well as their content. Each of your projects,

whether displayed on a single page, across a spread, or across

multiple spreads if the scope of the project is big enough that

you need multiple pages to display the project, should include at

least the basics below of defining the project briefly, displaying

process, and presenting the final design.

These information sections, with a few others, are shown in this

example from a UC Davis alumnis portfolio at right.

1. Define the project and the design problemInclude the projects title, client, the design problem

that you solved through this project, and any necessary

background information

2. Display brainstorming and sketches

Show people your brainstorming, mind maps, word lists,

and sketches. It informs the designers of your process and

the non-designers that youre thinking.

3. Show prototype designs

Introduce your prototype submissions, depicting that youunderstand the process of working with a client, and that

your finalized proposal nearly always requires revisions.

4. Finalized design

Present your finalized design on the page where it can be

clearly understood to be the finalized design, and the one

chosen by the clients.

(5.) (Optional) Alternative final submissions

Exhibit your alternative f inal submissions (if there are any),

showing that you proposed several options for the client tochoose from, all of which of strong design.

Having reviewed and presented many portfolios myself, I found that the most compellingpresentations are ones where designers are unafraid to share their processeven if itmeans including work that is incomplete or unpolished.

-Cavan Huang


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Clean Technology Club

Original Logo Submission

Problem: Create a logo or the Clean Technology Club that refects thepurpose o the club, which is to educate the community about cleantechnology.

I entered this logo as part o a design competition created by the CleanTechnology Club, which is run by students o the Graduate School oManagement at UC Davis. Ater my design was chosen by a panel o

judges, I continued to work with the Clean Tech Club to make additionalchanges to my entry. Together all the elements o the logo; the sun, the leaand globe communicate clean technology, sustainability and community.

Alternative Logo Ideas

Finalized Design

Clean Technology Clubat the University of California, Davis

Description of client, problem,and solution

Brainstormingthrough mind maps.

Display of final variations! Excellent.Shows you have a well thought-outvariety to choose from

Display of final design in aprominent location

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Great display ofprocess with sketchesand development!

Example rom 2011 Design Alumni


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Presenting a Redesign

Organizing content o a project Redesign

Organizing the layout of a graphic redesign, whether that is

a redesign of logo, promotional material for a recurr ing event,

redesign of a website, redesigning the graphic standards for a

client, or redesigning an information graphic, all include the

basic organizational content for each page. However, there are

a few elements that are specific to organizing your project when

displaying a redesign.

These organizational elements are depicted in this example from

a UC Davis alumnis portfolio at right.

1. Define the project and the reason for the redesign

Specify what is ineffective with the original design and whythe redesign is necessary, and how your redesign addressed

the issues to solve the design problem.

2. Display the original graphic

Show people the original graphic that you redesigned.

Position the original graphic nearby the final redesign so

the two are easily comparable, stimulating the viewers to

compare original and redesign for themselves.

3. Organize prototype designs in their progression

Introduce your prototype submissions in a systematicorder from first prototype to most similar to final redesign.

4. Finalized design

Present your finalized design in a location where it can be

clearly understood to be the finalized design, and easily

comparable to the original chart.

McNulty

Identity

The oshore construction company required a fresh identity

to modernise their image. Visuals were architecturally

inspired and these were selected as the strongest proposals.


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Description of problem anddesigners solution.

Draft redesignsand progression iswell ordered.

Showing original in comparison with theredesign organized for quick comparisonand to hold your attention.

Page layout needs work and doesntcorrespond with other portfolio pagescontent flow. Eye moves according toarrow at right.

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Example rom 2011 Design Alumni


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Inner Beauty

Myself

Film Photography B&W

I have always been passionate about interior spaces, mainly, restaurants. Capturing these

rare moments in black and white brings back a nostalgic feeling of eras past.

Title:

Client:

Medium:

Wistful Photography

Showcasing your Photography

Refne your Photographic Images

Unless the only pieces you are presenting in your por tfolio are

illustrations, logotypes, symbols, web designs, and typographic

treatments, you will likely be presenting photographic images.

Photos are a fantastic way to add context to your designs, to

vary your visual storytelling, and to display your photographic

skill . Select your most professional, well-designed photos that

express the perception and tone derived f rom your creative brief.

After selec ting your professional quality photos stored at large

sizes, with a minimum of 300 DPI and placing them on the

page, it is time to edit these photos to complement your theme

and visual strategy. Make sure to transform the color mode to

CMYK for accurate color matching when printing. Adjust the

levels, brightness, contrast, color balance, saturation, and resize

or crop the image so that it matches your similar photographs in

your portfolio and your visual theme.

Full Bleeds and the Paper Canvas

The power of depicting beautiful, professional photographs in

your portfolio comes not only with editing the photographs to

bring out the vibrancy of the colors and the dynamism with the

right amount of contrast, but with how they are handled on thepage. Your portfolio page becomes the paper canvas for your

photographs, and bleeding the edges of the photo frees the

viewer from the frame of the margin, granting a personal

experience of your photo. Experiment with cropping photos or

joining them side-by-side or in a grid-system, and find other

ways of using photos on the paper canvas to create dynamic

compositions depicting your designs.


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Presenting three-dimensional designs on a two-dimensional portfolio page is challenging and

requires you to show photography of the design taken at multiple angles that showcase all of the

intricacies of your design.

Considering the Background when Photographing your Design

The challenge lies not only in photographing the three-dimensional design at angles to showcase

the salient charac teristics of the design which should be the focus of the photos but also

in considering the background your photo is pairing your design with, and how appropriate the

background is in relation to the purpose of the design. When photographing product designs

and small-scale models, use a light-tent to distribute light equally around the design and provide

that soft, warm-white background used often in product photography. If your are photographing

full-scale signage, a sculpture, or other large-scale three-dimensional piece, incorporating natural

background scenery to match the scale. For both instances, always color correc t your photos.

Presenting The Dieline Skin

Part of showing the process of creating the three-dimensional

graphic design may involve creating an exterior skin that wraps

around or bends to become the three-dimensional design.

Present your skins as one of the final stages of your process,

and depening on the project it may be accompanied by a scale.

This confirms to the client or hiring manager that you have the

ability to think and plan in two-dimensions and translate those

plans to succesful three-dimensional designs.

Detailed sketches and developedideas with supportive reasoning!


Brainstorming, sketches, andexperimentation. Excellent!

When taking photos of small3D objects, use a light-tent.Color correct your photos too!

Images at different anglesshowcase the dimensionality ofthe product! Well done!

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Dealing with Three-Dimensional Designs


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All the Kids

The New Humans

Problem:Create a vibrant musicvideo that eectivelyportrays the bandsvision and incorporatestypography, video ootage, and abstract shapes.

Thisvideo was made or The New Humans, a dance/rock/electronicbandbased in Sacramento. What originallystarted asone minute fnal projectwasone o three selected bythe band to be produced asa ull length musicvideo. The song Allthe Kids is allabout having un, dancing, and justenjoying the club scene.

Motion-based and interactive design are challenging mediums to present in a print port folio.

This UC Davis alumnis portfolio spread uses sequential panels to depict change and motion.

Still Frames Depicting MotionMotion-based designs can be exposed in a print portfolio by using the same principle that the film

strip does, or before that the comic strip. By presenting a series of frames taken from your video-

based design arranged in a sequential order, the viewer interprets the changes between the frames,

notices the similarities and observes the pattern through which the differences occur between the

frames, and mentally completes the motion.

Still frames serve a larger purpose in a print portfolio by showing the designers mastery over

composition, by balancing the figure and ground into a dynamic visual experience in the still frames

between the motion.

Great use of sequential panelsto depict movement


Inclusion of process andsketches! And in color!

Comparison betweensketches and final video.Excellent!

Strong choice of largestill shots

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Motion Graphics and Interactivity in your Physical Portfolio


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Presenting Websites in your Physical Portfolio

Although websites are not intended to be viewed on print media,

be ready to have pictures of your websites and talk about them if

they are a part of your design skills and experience that you want

to portray to your client.

Using Panels to Display Webpages

One of the easiest ways to display webpages inlcudes using

multiple panels to showcase the home page and other related

pages. Through this, the user can experience much of the

website in well-designed, still images, that present the websites

identity and showcase the navigation system and other unique

features.


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ContactArianna [email protected]://cargocollective.com/ariazevedo

Ending Your Portfolio

Including your Contact Inormation

Finishing your portfolio with your contact information is

essential to ending your portfolio presentation, especially if

you have sent your portfolio via mail rather than taking it in

for an interview. Leaving your contact information is how you

give them the resource to call you in, if you did, in fact, send

them your portfolio via mail.

Be sure to include all relevant forms of contact for the client or

hiring manager. Include your website, blog, phone number, and

email. If you are catering to a niche-area like motion graphics,

make sure to include your vimeo or youtube channel.

If you did take in the portfolio for an in-person interview,bring a well-designed business card that is cohesive with your

portfolios style, or you can get creative with a leave-behind.


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A Note on Leave-Behinds

What is a Leave-Behind?

Leave-behinds are items within the design community that serve

the purpose of reminding the client or hiring manager who you

are and quickly showing your work again. Leave-behind designs

originated as deal-closers, because if you would leave something

behind that has your name and beautiful design on it and it stays

on their desk, eventually they will recognize it and they will likely

call you, especially if your design concept is great and your craft

is excellent.

Leave-behinds have become so popular that they have

oversaturated the market. Many of your competitors that are

pursuing the same job are using leave-behinds to remind the

employer to call them. However, if everyone uses leave-behindsthey do not become special anymore. When this happens,

the art directors that are looking to hire people have their

desks littered with leave-behinds. This is not good marketing.

The solution: if you are going to do a leave-behind, be smart

when you do it. Make something that really expresses you, that

strikes the client or hiring manager as not just a mini portfolio,

or that has its own utility.

Designer Portfolio Guide

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