Portfolios are a sum total of a designer’s work, making them a designer’s most precious possession. We’re all connected to smart devices today and have at our fingertips the ease of sharing our work on various social platforms, to give it maximum visibility. But if everyone has access to doing this, what more can you do to stand out? Whether you are a design student who is fresh out of one of the best design colleges in India or an experienced designer looking for a job change, there are a number of things you can do to make your work and presence in the design industry unique.
An impressive design portfolio is one that tells a story, inspires others, and is filled with creativity and original ideas. Creating your portfolio will be one of the most significant tasks of your career in graphic design.
Here are a few tips on how to put together your best work to win over potential clients or recruiters:
1.Have Clarity on Your Purpose
Deciding the purpose of your portfolio is the first and most important step in creating one. If finding a job is your objective showcase the kind of work you want to do more of and any projects that support this kind of work. Refine your resume to highlight relevant skills and strengths that make you an ideal candidate to prospective employers.
2.Be Thoughtful About What To Include
Your portfolio isn’t a collection of everything you’ve ever worked on. Go through all of your pieces of work, choose only your best work, something you’re truly proud of. When you select pieces using this approach the resulting portfolio will be one that is clean and simple. People have short attention spans, so make your portfolio easy to navigate and view.
3.Show your versatility
Each designer has their own style and signature; this should reflect in your portfolio. While you choose your strongest projects, make sure they represent the full breadth of your talent as a designer. This can get tricky at times because it could come down to choosing projects based on their quality versus range of work. Curate pieces that demonstrate variety and at the same time flow together well.
4.Humanize your portfolio
Snaps or videos of you working on projects give the client or potential recruiter a chance to see the active energy and talent you bring to your work. If you have examples of situations where you solved a business or social problem creatively, you must mention it in your portfolio. This shines a light on your ability to turn challenges on their head which makes for compelling storytelling.
5.Mention the process behind the work
A graphic design portfolio should be more than just a visual collection of your work. A good way to add authenticity and context to your work is sharing the thought process behind the project. You can do so by talking about the starting point of the design process, what kind of challenges the project brought and what its requirements were. You could conclude by stating how the final design solution fulfilled these requirements.
A powerful graphic design project isn’t only about beautiful visuals. It shows how the creative process led to finding successful design solutions to real-world problems. These insights enrich your portfolio projects.
6.Pick the right online platform
There are a number of website builders which make it fairly easy for anyone to create and manage their own graphic design portfolio website. WordPress is among the most common ones from these. Choosing a platform that focuses on building online portfolio websites would give you a lot more options in terms of showcasing images, videos, layouts, themes etc. that are best-suited for online portfolios.
7.Create your brand
Designers are often working on creating, enhancing, and evolving brand equity for clients using different creative mediums and projects. But sometimes you forget to do the same for yourself. Create your brand and present it through your graphic design portfolio. You can do so by designing a logo for your personal brand. Support this logo by maintaining a consistent visual language for your portfolio website and resume. This is something you can start working on from the time you undertake graphic design courses in India, using inputs and feedback from your peers and fellow design students. Your brand identity is meant to be a statement on the kind of designer you are. Be mindful of this while creating your brand.
8.Organise your work
Sequence your work in a way that tells a story and builds a strong case for you. Your portfolio website should present all your work visually in a sequence designed to make an impact.
Also see that you organise your work by category, type of media, industry, or chronologically. You can use tags to filter projects, so it is easy for a client or employer to find the relevant work samples they are looking for. Whatever way you choose, make sure that the end result is approachable and easy to navigate.
We hope you found these tips helpful and wish you the best in building your own design portfolio!