Give Us Your Portfolio Tips & Win a Carbonmade Whoo! Account
Your portfolio is one of the most important promotional tools you have, no matter what kind of freelance work you do. It’s one of the the first things that a client will look at before choosing you for the job. You’ve got to make it good.
Three tips from Carbonmade‘s co-founder and design guy, Dave Gorum, to get the ball rolling:
Quality over quantity.
I understand the desire to have a robust portfolio, bursting at the seams with gold star work. Fact is, the majority of folks can’t pull this off and it’s not something you can fake. A thin portfolio with a few solid pieces never turns me off. Looking through 20 ad banners does.
Show off your potential.
Apart from talent and expertise, potential is the biggest thing I look for. It’s not as tangible as the other two, but you can design your portfolio around it. Highlight your most ambitious pieces. I drool over the prospect of finding and hiring a designer with untapped potential.
Don’t make me ask.
Nothing drives me battier than looking through a portfolio of top shelf work and having no idea what you did on each project. See, I’m lazy, and playing 20 questions seems like a big hassle. Be up front with me and I’m that much closer to hiring you.
It’s your turn to tell us what makes your portfolio a success. Tell us your portfolio tips in the comments, and the best three tip-givers will win a free Carbonmade Whoo! account. Whoo! is Carbonmade’s premium offering, giving you room for up to 50 projects, 500 images and 10 videos in your online portfolio–without the hassle, money and time you’ll need to spend getting your own designed, coded and live.
The rules are as follows:
- Envato and Carbonmade staff are not eligible to compete.
- Entries must be submitted by 9am on Friday the 30th of April, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
- Judging will take place at the end of competition. The winners and their tips will announced on the site.
- Only one comment per user–if you submit more than one, your first comment will be considered your real entry.
- All decisions are final.
- Comments that are taken down for any reason are not eligible to be counted.
Put your two best pieces at the start and finish of the portfolio. The first image can make or break whether someone keeps viewing, and the last image is the last impression you leave with them. Plus, they might leave your portfolio open while they are taking notes, etc. so you want something fantastic to sit there staring at them!
Engage your audience. They’ve scrolled through countless galleries, make yours memorable with a good user interface if you’re capable. Just as long as you have the work or potential to merit the attention of course ;D
If you were part of a team on a particular project, say so and don’t claim credit for work that you may not look like you could pull off by yourself. If they hire you and you can’t perform to that level, you’ve lost a potential long term client over one job. Being able to show how you were an integral part of a team that achieved a goal is far more important that solo ‘star’.
If you do any type of coding or dev work, put snippets of code in your portfolio next to the design piece. I’ve gotten so many compliments AND clients over the fact that I show off my code. It’s unique and it shows you care about your structure.
Here are a few from a photographer’s standpoint:
1) If you’re showing photos, don’t make people turn the book to view a photo. If you’re doing a portrait orientation book, don’t make your viewer rotate the book to view the photo. Ease of use is priority one.
2) Further, if it’s a horizontal layout in a portrait sized book (e.g. 8.5″x11″ upright), spread the image over two pages at 17″x11″.
3) Consider investing in a good-quality book, but the work should be as good or better than the book. A nice book with crap work does nothing for you.
4) Bigger is better for photos.
Successful portfolios should include a variety of projects to show the freelancers’ versatility. Even if your creative skill isn’t visual (mine is writing), a portfolio needs to look professional with high-quality scans. Most writers use PDFs instead of jpegs, because they allow the reader to zoom in and out more easily.
Provide some case studies in addition to some regular pieces. Give a little more info about specific projects, and how you handled issues or important aspects of the design or development process. This will let potential clients know that not only can you design, write, etc., but you can solve problems for them as well. Doesn’t hurt to throw in a few testimonials either.
Separate your print and digital in to two portfolios, choose just the great pieces, talking about the print ones, print it in great papers, and do all the finishes that they have, make it tangible and unique, make this portfolio as the best packing ever, make it feel an experience to watch it, and in the part of Digital make it to, make the portfolio interactive, interesting creative another unique experience too…
If u don’t understand, i can write it in spanish XD
I am a makeup artist/hair stylist and I’m just printing out my portfolio for agencies now. The best advice I’ve received and since passed on is:
1. Go to mentors or seniors in your field and have them weed through it before you show it to potential clients. Don’t get sore if they tell you to remove your favourite piece. Sometimes it’s difficult to separate personal emotion from objective opinion. People with no emotional attachment to the work can do that easily.
2. Understand your client and edit your book accordingly. I would never show my fashion book to a bridal client because it would scare them. I would never show my bridal work to a fashion agency because it would bore them.
3. Show work where everyone on the team was a strong as your own work. In my case of being a makeup artist/hair stylist I would rather show simpler makeup on an excellent model shot by a great photographer than fantastic/elaborate makeup on my friend, shot with her cell phone.
4. If it’s a portfolio interview (as opposed to you dropping your book off), get a manicure. No one wants to see snaggle hands turning pages.
Look approachable. Have a friendly bio (doesn’t have to be your entire life history), a nice, professional photo of yourself and an ‘available for work’ tab. Above all, make sure it is easy for people to contact you.
Engage the user viewing your site, place a introductory header message or a slideshow gallery to keep their attention on the page. Make sure you show work that is relevant and a good range of different styles. Also place on an easy contact form, so that they can easily shoot through any comments or questions quickly.
Use the aimed navigation behavior of the potential customers : they are attracted by something they are looking for and usualy click on items they identify with (it can be subconscious) : provide a big range of different work references so the user can identify easely to one of them. The aim is that the customer can find in your portfolio the kind of product they want to get.
1. Clean layout
2. Clear subdivision of category
3. Only the best work
4. Only the most “original” work
5. big is best ( size of )
1) If you work with webdesign your portfolio it self is The first piece your client will See and react to. Make it perfect and implement everything you know into it. jQuery, java php whatever implement it in a nice way. Just DONT over do it.
2) Be original! A portfolio that sticks out dont just make your client remember it, it might also be featured on one of The many webdesign showcases on The web = more publicity.
3) Blog! a Blog makes The visitor stay longer and The chance for him returning is alot bigger if there is new stuff often.
Try not to place your portfolio in what i call ‘guess mode’. Many portfolios have an array of thumbnails which require a click to view the full size version. Many times these thumbnails are small, cropped, and just don’t show your talent. People have to click and ‘guess’ which image / item looks most interesting.
My advice: Place only a few (your best at the start) large versions of your images on a single page, and let the user view them and click next to get to the next page of large images. Either that or simply use a slideshow type display where the user can flip through your images in all their glory.
If you’re a print designer take a small box with actual print items loose so they can be handled, and people can see them in their real context rather than as printouts trapped behind plastic.
Here’s my set of tips on portfolio-building as a freelance writer:
1. Choose only your best pieces, those that you know will catch the client’s attention and that showcase your talent and skills the most.
2. If you’ve written content for a website or for several websites, pick 3 or more that you’re proud of and direct the potential client to areas where the content you’ve written can be found. Make sure that you provide references in case the client would like to contact them for additional feedback.
3. You can also provide 3 or more original pieces that garnered recognition, praise, and compliments from fellow writers, mentors, etc.
4. If the pieces are compiled in a website or blog, make sure to include brief, straight-to-the-point descriptions or background info for each with enough details to satisfy your potential clients.
5. Make sure that the portfolio items reflect what the client is looking for such as writing style, article format (product review, press release, etc.), and the like.
6. Add a nice professional About Me/Us page. Add a little personal touch to it if you believe this would boost your chances of catching your clients’ attention. What’s being emphasized here is giving interesting and comprehensive background info about who they are potentially hiring for their writing projects.
7. This may be my OC self talking, but I always make sure to test the links of the web pages of my portfolio items before giving them to the clients. Some find it a turn off when they’re given a link that has a big “Page Cannot Be Found” on it.
There are of course many more tips that I probably haven’t applied to my own portfolio yet, but these 7 tips have proven successful for me when applying for jobs so far.
In every freelancer’s life there is one project in which he/she has given everything and gave his absolute best in all the nooks and corners…Under portfolio page that project shud take precedence no matter how old it is..Moreover you should also highlight what was your contribution on this project..whats the challenges faced and how u have tackled it..one should take care that you dont end up writing whole book..simple, crisp and clear description will attract more attention..if its possible in the end show client’s remark on that particular project…After all the their is beauty in simplicity
Keep the design of your folio clean and simple – allow your work to breathe and speak for itself. Don’t be afraid of white space!
It’s all about the frame.
Art galleries spend hundreds of thousands of dollars presenting their artwork just right… whether it’s the angle of the light, or the whitespace around the art, or the frame it’s in. The same goes for a portfolio… you are the curator and you can make even a halfway-decent piece of work look amazing by presenting it well.
The first thing is to have one. By that i mean start on it. Don’t think i don’t have the time for it, or i will never be able to finish it. The truth is that you never finish it. It that one project that never ends. and it shouldn’t. It should keep growing with you, not by size but by value.
Your portfolio is not only the best work we do it is also a little window to YOU. It should reflect on you, your thoughts, your character. It’s your point of view.
In a way the portfolio is like “the ticket to see the world through your eyes”
You know your work is good. Otherwise you would not be presenting it on your portfolio. I believe one of the most crucial aspects of a portfolio is personality. Be up front about your loves & passions. An emotional connection to your work will do wonders.
1) For each realisations, show us details about what you have worked on (for teamwork) and, please, let us see the Website itself with a link and not juste a picture!
2) The portfolio design should speak of itself to present your personality.
3) We need to feels the human behind your portfolio, add pictures of yourself, a contact form, news or even just some updates
I think this is some easy-to-follow tips for a good portfolio.
Have a nice day.
Rather than repeat many of the excellent tips above, I’d add: put in samples of the kind of work you’d like to do more of. If you have nice samples but they are of the type of work or client you don’t enjoy, then don’t include them. In essence, this is a way for the clients/projects you want to “self-select” you.
Try to use recent work; awesome pieces are great even if they are older, but recent work shows off the level of your current skills.
What you show is what you get.
So don’t show any type of work you don’t want to do. And if you’re hoping to get a specific gig like photographing John Deere tractors for a big calendar shoot, well then you better have some pictures of tractors in your portfolio!
It is good to show your versatility, but if your breadth of work is too wide it can be detriment to show it all. For example I am a Graphic/Web Designer and UI designer. For clients looking to hire and experienced UI designer showing them posters and logos can give the impression that I was not formally trained in interaction design.
To handle this I have a web site for my Graphic and Web work and a separate site for my UI work. Some examples can be use din both, but by separating the two disciplines I can give the viewer and more consistent image of myself. depending on their needs.
Usability:
Assume that the people looking at your portfolio are the busiest, most disorganized, and impatient people on the planet. Design your layout and navigation around this assumption!
Hit them hard with the first thing they see, then make the rest of your work easy to find, click on, and understand.
While perhaps not a tip per say, it’s a piece of advice. I am not a contracted artist or anything, but it is how I feel, and while I know I probably wouldn’t be able to compete with the other people here anyway, I would certainly not mind pitching in for whomever in need. Here goes:
I don’t think you should stress about things. Take it easy. Let the portfolio work take its time: most of the time, it has no deadlines, so relax and do your best. I don’t think any employer would care if you could finish an artwork in five minutes if it has a lack of standard anyway.
I also think that the portfolio, while there to interest clients, is as much for yourself as anyone else. I know I have spent many evening trying to filter out the photographs I like best from my library. It’s hard – but by doing it, I am certain you’ll notice that it feels satisfactory afterwards.
1. If you had designed/developed a site, include a link to it. I don’t want to search in google it’s name only so I can see the way it works.
2. A short description with you role on the project, should suffice. Do not write under your portfolio a whole book about the project. If you must, you can write a case study about how you developed the site and make a blog post.
3. Include images and offer an easy way to see them.
4. Portfolio can be a great place to spread out some testimonials from happy clients.
These might be obvious but here goes:
1) A portfolio of 10 solid pieces is better than a portfolio full of 20 solid mixed with average pieces. In other words, only keep the best on your portfolio.
2) Put your very best (out of the already solid pieces) in the start and finish of your portfolio. This was a tip from my old animation instructor in college.
3) Don’t let your portfolio design outshine your work. Nothing is worse than seeing an awesome portfolio with mediocre content.
4) Presentation is key. Get rid of the clutter.
Some of the best advice I ever got was from a college professor: “Make your portfolio YOU and the folks who aren’t impressed with it you probably wouldn’t want to work for/with anyway”
You here it all the time, “keep your portfolio concise, show only your very best work.” But how do you decide what stays and what goes in a portfolio? Here’s a technique that I like to use.
Show your portfolio to someone, ideally a person that knows the industry, a trusted professional or art director. Give them time to thoroughly browse your work, and then close the book (and or laptop). Ask them for some general feedback, and then ask them to describe the images that they remember and that stick out most in their mind.
If they recall an image, it’s a good indication that that piece should stay in your portfolio. If they remember it then, there’s a better chance that it will be remembered when an agency is looking to hire someone for work.
Do this process over and over again. The images that are remembered are the ones that will help you stay in the minds and conversations of potential employers.
- A good thumbnail with a lightbox script attached to it, and you got to make sure you enables the arrows.
- Make a copy of the website and put it onto your website so the folks that are going trough your web portfolio can try out the website on your site, without having to go to the original site (this will be better because, then if the clients changes their website your newcoming clients can see the website as it was and still test it).
- Make a detailed explanation of what tools you used to create and design the website, and also make a little “story” that tells the conversation you had between your client and you.
I suggest putting some top notch work in at the beginning to really grab that attention of the view, but it should also be recent work. Even if something is your best work, don’t put it at the beginning if it is 5+ years old. Keep everything current. I also prefer adding info along with an image. It can be what you did in the project (if you were on a team) or what camera settings, etc. Or better yet, write a longer blog post on the process and have a link next to the image for those that are really interested.
And make sure all images are at their best quality and of good view size. It doesn’t make sense to have an image that has bad compression artifacts or a huge watermark in the middle. Nor do you want a viewer to have to squint to see detail.
Only show work that you want more of!
PS. I don’t think I’m eligible to win, as I regularly write tutorials for Vectortuts+, but I at least wanted to share a tip!
Your portfolio is guaranteed to piss someone off. Whether you end up interviewing with a persnickety older fellow who only wants to see three samples at 8.5 x 11 size perfectly placed, or a young guy who just wants to know everything you’ve done and couldn’t care less about sizes matching.
However you end up putting together your portfolio, have a reason and be prepared to defend it. Whether it’s that you have three pieces you are exceptionally proud of and cover your abilities precisely, or ten pieces you feel are necessary to show the full range of what you can do. I tend to trend towards the less is more argument, and focus on what you like to do the most, but you know your work and you are the best judge of what you should show.
If you want some input from a few opinionated fellows before job-yielding interviews, call a couple of firms up and ask for an informational interview. Designers love seeing new talent, and several really enjoy sharing their thoughts on portfolios.
Good luck, new grads!
The best thing I could give advice for on any portfolio is be organized, not only with your digital/online portfolio, but with your offline portfolio as well. You don’t need 30 or 40 pieces to show what you can do, but only a small number 2 or 3 demonstrating a particular item/skill set (e.g. logo design/corporate identity). If you are really wanting to have a large number of items in your portfolio, consider creating a secondary portfolio for people who might want to see more (or you can mention that more works are available to view).
As far as I’m concerned, there are two things at stake: first, if someone can’t get the feel for the work you do within a small number of your best pieces then chances are they are not looking for what you offer; secondly, if you feel that you need to show every piece of work that you have since the dawn of time you may not allow your potential employer or client to see the work that will land you the job.
Last tip is have friends/colleagues go through your portfolio and help you pick out your pieces. We can sometimes think that our best work is not directly tied to the project that didn’t go so well.
Be agile. Put it in front of some people to get feedback and see how they use it. Make revisions based on that feedback before you blast it out to all your blogger buddies to judge and link to. Be sure to attach analytics so you can see where people are coming from and what pieces are getting the most attention..
IMHO the best portfolio tip is the following: for each item (web, print or logo) include also a few scratches / blueprints / wireframes created for the item itself, during its production stage.
A short explainatory paragraph of text should be there as well.
People must realize they are looking at SPECIFIC WORKS made by you, from the ground up, WITH CLIENT NEEDS IN MIND.
Sorry, SKETCHES not scratches
You’re a designer, so design your portfolio. But use restraint, as it is easy to go overboard with graphics and little details. Try to develop a formatted theme/design that works with all your projects so the viewer can easily see where a project begins and ends, the title and objective, etc. Keep margins consistent and pay attention to what font(s) you use. You’re main purpose should be trying to communicate your ideas and processes quickly and clearly.
Keep it focused. Be detailed in the description of each item because each of your works is like a piece of art; make them feel that way. Try to relate each piece to solutions that you provide, reminding the customer that you can do that for them.
1. Have it laid out in a clear, concise way.
2. Try to have some client information in there – project brief, their site, etc.
3. Contact details on each page (even if it’s in the footer, or header). Got to be clear and easy to see
4. Put a blank page in: ‘You could be here too…’ with some details. quite cheesey, I know, but it might work!
It’s easy to get so excited about preparing your portfolio – you are the client and there are so many lollies in the lolly box to choose from – that you lose your focus. Follow the procedures you would normally follow in preparing a site for a client.
Establish what you want to achieve, who your audience is and what your broad content areas are. Prepare your wireframes, mood boards, functional specs – whatever normally works for you. Enthusiasm is great, trying new tools/images/ideas is great, but don’t lose track of the big picture.
Oh, and no fear! Get on with it. Try not to get too precious about it. Nothing like an update to renew interest in a site. So if you put up that portfolio and realise down the track that you can improve on it, that’s still better than not having put up anything at all.
I am preaching to myself, having fairly recently committed all of the above sins.
Make the portfolio itself something you’d put in your portfolio; treat it like a job. With contents aside, the portfolio design itself is the perfect chance to show people that you enjoy putting in the extra effort to go one up. It also demonstrates thinking out of the square while boasting creativity and originality as weapons of choice.
Both my resume and portfolio have many hours of design put into them. Time and time again, even before we even sit down to talk business, many of my clients first comments have been, “I love how you did your folio.”
There are many things to a successful portfolio!
PDF and/or Print Portfolio:
~ You only want 12-30 pieces in a print or PDF portfolio. These pieces need to have a title, description, and a quality picture of the work. (Why a description? A description is nice to have because it helps the reader to understand the work more. You can also list the awards that the piece of work has won or what it was used for.)
~You want your best work! If you question it don’t put the work in!
~If it is a print portfolio put it in a nice binder or case. You want it to look nice!
Website Portfolio:
~First of all, make a logo. You need a logo to identify your company. Second of all, link you logo back to your homepage on every page you have.
~Design a layout. You want you layout to be nice and neat.
~Contact Info: Make sure your contact information is easily accessed. Don’t put it in the footer of your website where it is hard to find. Also use social networking sites to the fullest!
~An About Me Page: Create an about me page. Include education, work history, interest, etc. Show trust to the readers, maybe even include a picture.
~Services: Include a services page or have a services area. This list what you do. It saves you from getting request for something you down do.
~Portfolio: There is no limit, but don’t include something you second guess here. Also make sure it is things you specialize in. For example, if you specialize in logos try and make the majority of your portfolio logos.
~ Lastly, make sure its easy to navigate through your page. Thats always a nice thing
Show your personality, but don’t get too personal.