PORTFOLIO PIE

CHAPTER 1 – PROFESSIONS
DESIGNING A DIGITAL PORTFOLIO

Several years ago, I created a digital portfolio. And yes, it was HORRIBLE. I had asked myself, “When will I learn to really design a digital portfolio?”



Well hot damn.

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The first thing that I immediately related to was what Cynthia Baron said about job description titles. When writing my resume I ran into this same problem. Do I call myself a graphic artist? Digital designer? Graphic designer? Animator?

HOW ABOUT: Digital Graphic and Animation (that can be Interactive) Designer

Just writing ‘Digital Designer’ might limit what one views you to be capable of. So you should always be careful when saying ‘Digital Designer’ to include somewhere with it, your other capabilities.

This also applies when looking for jobs. If you type in a search for a ‘Graphic design’ position, you might accidentally overlook the ‘Digital Design’ job that would have made you millions of dollars, a private jet, and the cure for cancer.

I’m very pleased that Baron is taking such a direct, blunt and to the point approach to explaining how a portfolio should be put together. I had hoped for something this professional when learning to design my own portfolio. For example, she explains that you can’t give yourself the title of interface designer (or any other title) if you truly do not have the capabilities and knowledge of interface design.

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PORTFOLIO INGREDIENTS:



Bake for 1 hour and you’ll get your very own portfolio pie.
(Hopefully my portfolios look better than my apple pies.)

VARIETY
Having different mediums of your art that are too diverse is good to show all of your abilities, but it might imply that you haven't found what your best at and excell at. I suppose what she's saying is to keep various types of your work, but to make sure that you have one defining aspect that shows what you do best.

STYLE
"For some professions, an identifiable style is nothing short of a requirement. For others, it's intrusive, like an out-of-tune voice in a chorus, because it gets in the way of a client’s message.”
Having your own individual style is important, it helps people remember you. However, what I think she’s saying here is that if your style doesn’t represent you in a good light, it will not benefit you. For example if you have a style that relies on morbid images, and that ‘goth’ look those high school kids are into, the client that’s hiring might have been looking for a more sunny personality and less piercings.

TECHNOLOGY AND CRAFT
If you have poor artistic ability contributing to the creation of your portfolio, or there’re bugs, this is NOT the place to have them. It’s almost like an English major not using spell check. It shows that you’re not professional, and not an expert at what you do.

PROCESS
How you go about problem solving is something a company might look for in someone they hire. So showing the PROCESS in which you came up with your final piece might be informative. Have several pieces of the steps you took while creating it.

CONCEPT / CREATIVITY
Oh the tastiest of ingredients. And the hardest to find. How you present your work, and how creative a manner its done will earn you ‘bonus points’ per say. It’ll help them remember you, and realize that you’re a really creative person. In other words you don’t want this to happen:

Manager: "Hey, where did that PDF portfolio go of whats-his-name?"
Worker: "We have tons…What did it look like?"
Manager: "It was rectangular…was in PDF format…ah, forget it."

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Baron continues to explain in detail how each form of art should be presented, and for what purpose (college admission, fine artist, or exhibition).

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HOW TO BE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL


You…mean I can keep it? Awesome.

CHAPTER 1

“Visual language uniting harmony and balance, color and light, scale and tension, form and content. But it is also an idiomatic language, a language or cues and puns and symbols and allusions, of cultural references and perceptual inferences that challenge both the intellect and the eye.” – Jessica Helfand, American designer and writer.

This single quote really does say a lot about graphic design. Balance, colors, contrast, size, content all are an essential parts of graphic design.

Shaughnessy explains that having ‘ultra-sensitivity’ towards design is necessary. Being very critical of your work, being very observant around you will help with your design. Taking in all that you see will add to your creative pallet. Next time you have a blank page sitting in front of you, you can think of everything you’ve taken in, and maybe incorporate it. He compares it to safe-crackers who have to be ultra sensitive to open a combination lock. But instead of opening a lock, we’re opening C-R-E-A-T-V-I-T-Y! :D :D :D

CHAPTER 2 – HOW TO FIND A JOB

If only it would be as easy as reading a chapter in a book, but at least this’ll help me get a job.

He states "...the reason you go to school is to learn how to learn.". By this he means that in whatever design job you get, what you learn will be most important. From each job you have, you learn new things and you can incorporate these new things in your portfolio.

I love the humor used in this book. "Design studios are a mixture of slave camp and enchanted playground..." By this he means that there will be many many hours in which you put into this. However, working together and creating something really great is a joy.

A big thing the author stresses here is NETWORKING. I went to a seminar a few months ago about networking, and really the only jobs I've gotten a reach at are those through networking.

when you look for a house - LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
when you look for a job - NETWORKING NETWORKING NETWORKING

A good idea that the author sugests is to leave behind something. An item like a mug with your logo on it to help them remember you. Its just one more chance for them to think of you again and hire you.