Creating a Portfolio (Infographic)

An artist, no matter what type of work you do, will at some point need a killer portfolio. I recently pieced mine together. You want to put all of your creativity into your portfolio, show incredible workmanship and present your work well.

First, the story of my "book" and a break down my thought process ... in an illustration form of course. Then more tips and material ideas after the graphic.

Material Ideas

Pioneer 12-Inch-By-12-Inch 2-Tone Cover Scrapbook Binder, Black on Brown

HP Everyday Photo Paper, matte (100 sheets, 8.5 x 11-inch)

Canon PIXMA MP510 All-in-One Photo Printer (1450B002)

Tips and Tricks

• Your portfolio should tell a story. The story of your career, work, and what you hope for in the future.

• A strong and simple layout is important. You want the work to stand out, nothing else quite as much.

• Any text, descriptions or labels that you may choose to include should be tightly written copy, spelled correctly and grammatically sound. This is very important. If you think you'll need dates and specific details about a work, consider using some kind of labels.

• Consider works that fit your audience. If you're talking to a firm that does a lot of a certain type of work, then make sure you have an example of that.

• Show your range, but make sure it's all work that you'd be willing to do again. That's the kind of work you're likely to get with your presentation.

• Materials and work should be as high quality as possible within your budget

• Consider a flow that starts and ends with the best works for maximum impact. Make sure the flow from piece to piece has contrast. You don't want all of your presentation running together. Each turn of the page should be a new surprise for the viewer.

How to Make Your Graphic Design Portfolio

If you're working steadily in a graphic design job or just starting to look for work, it's always a good time to have an up to date portfolio. The hard part is to figure out how the pieces fit together. I've already discussed the basics of what should go on the pages in Tips for a More Perfect Design Portfolio, but building a perfect portfolio is a process that continues over and over again throughout your career.

Art Presentation Book 11x17

Books

Building Design Portfolios: Innovative Concepts for Presenting Your Work (Design Field Guide)

Building Design Portfolios by Sara Eisenman tackles how to build your portfolio and, for hiring managers, it tackles how to look at portfolios critically. It contains a series of interviews with leaders in the field, provides inspiration and shows real world portfolio.

Graphic Design Portfolio Strategies for Print and Digital Media

Graphic Design Portfolio Strategies for Print and Digital Media discusses portfolio building for graphic design students. How do you take your student work and present it for employers, graduate schools and fellowships? This book tackles that question with illustrated examples of successful student portfolios.

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design is another book helping students transition into becoming professionals. This puts the portfolio in the context of resumes, interviews, and cover letters

Articles

12 Steps to a Super Graphic Design Portfolio from Youthedesigner.com starts us off by telling us about the case. Choose carefully and consider how you want to present your work. My tip would be to think about yourself in an interview or with a client. Find a case that fits a style of presentation that works for you. My own portfolio is a leather case with sheets of thick photo paper printed pieces. Especially for interviews with multiple people, passing around the works in my portfolio and letting people handle them and really look at then has went over well. These were designs for magazine layouts so it mimicked the original experience.

AIGA has a great article on "Presenting your portfolio by Steff Geissbuhler of Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. It's both from the point of view of someone who hires designers and from a design who has been there himself.

Brian Scott writes in "How to Create Your Freelance Graphic Design Portfolio" that you should include your best work and only your best work. I agree. It's better to show five perfect pieces than to show eight that include work that you aren't happy with. Your enthusiasm about every piece in your portfolio has to be there.

Tips to Create an Effective Graphic Design Portfolio from Twit Taboo emphasized the importance of variety. Show off different concepts and skills in your work. I'd add that you should make sure that each skill is somehow relevant to the specific position and company you're applying to.

Update on Friday, September 3, 2010 at 2:11PM by Brian E. Young

For more portfolio tips, see our  "Creating a Portfolio" infographic.

Portfolio: 11 Magazine Designs

Having transitioned more heavily into magazine design for the Baltimore Sun Media Group's Magazine Division in the past few months, it seems like a good time for a new portfolio post. I'm the graphic designer for Maryland Family Magazine and Howard Magazine which are trying to capitalize on the hyperlocal media trend.

In many cases, such as in the Momnesia photo, I helped further develop the photo concepts and art direct the shots to some small degree. The photographers are excellent to work with and really deserve all the credit. For the most part, I just try to tell the story with the design and hope the ideas comes across.

Howard Magazine Editorial Design: Kids Count

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Preschool Listing

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: The Importance of Preschool Volunteers

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Preschool Listing

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Can your newborn hear?

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Best of Dining 2009

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Momnesia

Howard Magazine Editorial Layout: Who was Claudia Mayer?

Baby Steps Magazine Editorial Layout: What's the difference between age 3 and 4? Plenty!

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Private & Parochial Open House Guide

Maryland Family Magazine Editorial Layout: Family Favorites Ballot

Portfolio: To Your Health 2009

To Your Health Cover

For the design last month's publication "To Your Health" (Patuxent Publishing/Baltimore Sun Media Group), we ended up using a stock photo for the cover. For the feature story inside, "Counting Sleep", I created an original illustration:

"Counting Sleep". Original Illustration by Brian E. Young.

Compare it to last year's edition where I used very different design elements and colors (oranges and greens). I still decided to use a consistent color and font scheme throughout this edition.

Tips for a More Perfect Design Portfolio

Trying to put your best foot forward in your portfolio is a task all designers strive to improve at. Here's a guide to get your started.

photo credit: Unhindered by Talent

Select the best of the best. The number of pieces in your portfolio will vary from person to person. However many pieces you decide to include, make sure they are all great work. The order counts too, make the first and last pieces the best ones to start and end on a good note. The first and last impressions are the ones they'll remember most. Don't put in things just because they are your personal favorites. If they are not appropriate for the reviewer to see, they should be removed. In the end, you will be better off having seven impressive and appropriate designs rather than twelve pieces at different quality levels.

Look at the work of other designers; don't live in a vacuum. We all want to be original, but you need to know the trends of the day. You need to know what's going on in the world. Be both critical and encouraging about what other designers are doing and reflect on that when you put together your portfolio. Imagine that these are the designers applying for the same gig as you and how you would tell an interviewer that your approach is the best.

Consider something unexpected. I've included paintings in my portfolio to emphasize that the computer is just a tool and that I have some insights about composition and scale that other designers might not have. Consider showing a skill you have and be prepared to explain why you feel it's appropriate to your portfolio and to the position you are applying for. You might have sketches that provide insight to your process. Maybe a very professional photograph that you took. Or just something with such a great concept that you can show off and show that you are just that creative. Just remember the earlier tip that anything in your portfolio should be as perfect as possible. If it's sketch it should be a great sketch that would hold up to anyone else who had one.

Creativity is good, but don't let the portfolio itself overshadow the works within it. You want your portfolio to be clean and present the pieces you have to display. Whoever looks at it should feel the clear focus on the individual pieces and not how they are presented. However you choose to display portfolio, make sure you choose something that you can easily edit. You'll want to add new pieces and take out a few too depending on who will view it and what tasks and skills you are emphasizing.

Everything is more than the sum of it's parts: each work displayed should show a greater understanding. A piece might show your understanding of a particular business, depth of research and other skills that aren't directly related to design. If you are showing your portfolio to a medical related magazine that you want to work for, that freelance dentist project might be the one that clinches it.

The perfect portfolio is impossible. Your portfolio is an ongoing and evolving collection of works. Accept that it won't be perfect, but continue to make it the best that you can.

More information

You might want to check out Building a Strong Design Portfolio, a question and answer session with Nomi Altabef, Associate Education Director at DesignMentor Training.