graphic design portfolio
A strong graphic design portfolio is your ticket to succeed professionally. It’s the visual representation of everything you have achieved so far and a symbol of where you wish to be in the future.
Bringing your graphic design portfolio to the attention of growing industries, helps you know what to include and what to remove. Let’s show you how to create a graphic design portfolio that will make your clients always want you.
Including good stuff into your graphic design portfolio
If you expect to know what to include in your graphic design portfolio, here are some simple tips.
When creating a graphic design portfolio, you need to ensure that each example shines and displays a wide range of your skills and abilities. This means that if you are at the beginning of your career, your portfolio can be short and sweet, a single page of really strong projects that you are proud of. Don’t force people viewing to browse through dozens of designs before finding good stuff.
Keep in mind, though, that not all of your samples need to be exciting — a well-done business card or landing page design may not be the sexiest product, but it still shows a potential client the variety of work you can produce. And not every example has to be a job you got paid for — feel free to include that poster you made for a Project or illustration of a friend that you have created in your leisure time – but make sure to tag it as self-initiated.
In terms of what to leave out: any projects where you are not happy with the final product. Experienced graphic designer sometimes agrees with a client to keep them happy and match their vision. It does not worth your sleepover.
But when it’s your portfolio, there is only one chance for your best job. You might be tempted to add a story explaining that you didn’t like the hot pink shade the client asked for or the font you couldn’t convince them to — don’t. Let the work be alone. Explain customer requests will make you cheap and petty and can send customers away.
And don’t add multiple samples of the same product style. Once you have created like fifty logos, choose the top five. Maybe add a logo for real estate and another for a sophisticated luxury clothing boutique.
Once again, the most important points for your visitors to your portfolio should be your skills and reach. Skip examples of where you have worked as a team and were not direct to the execution of the final project. Sure, maybe it’s a great design, but if someone illustrates it and a customer asks you to make something similar, you can’t fulfill their order.
Consider the format of your graphic design portfolio
Research the site you plan to use to host your graphic design portfolio. However, your best take is a platform that allows you to create a profile and upload samples. Any option chosen, make sure the page not only allows a highly visual site but also your aesthetically pleasant job.
A gallery-style page with lots of small items can work well for logo designs, but if you’re a photographer, your photos need to be displayed on full screen to make an impression. A lot of portfolio sites offer templates and plugins with lightbox galleries designed specifically for photographers. If you work in different styles or formats, arrange them in an easy-to-navigate mini-portfolio.
See your portfolio as a story. It must deliver an explanatory arc with a beginning, middle, and end, with the strongest work supporting the beginning and end. Anticipating the good stuff can leave a customer with a bad impression as work slows down or weakens as it clicks.
In another way, allowing your best job to come last time can mean that a busy HR manager or graphic director cannot even find the samples you want to see. Captions or explanations should be short and precise. Allow your work to speak for itself customers will contact you with questions. Any writing in your graphic design portfolio should be sincere and confident.
If you choose to include longer stories like About or Bio, keep them on topic and avoid disjointed thoughts. Clients don’t need to know everything about you before they hire you. Ensure your contact information is easy to locate, complete and current.
It’s good to have in your mind that your portfolio is only part of your online presence as a graphic designer. Remember to add your social media credentials. Social media can be a great way to build your brand and provide the necessary human element that can lead a client to hire you.
Cultivate social media streams that connect and interact with your portfolio – maybe retweet a web poster you created for an event, or use your Instagram feed to showcase work in progress, eliminate concepts, and even mistakes. Applications such as HyperLapse or other timelapse programs show the workflow on a large project in a pleasant and concise format. Link to your portfolio to view the finished stuff.
Social media can also be used to show who you are. If you are involved in a cause or you did the pro job, talk about it. Create content that sends people to your portfolio while engaging with who you are as a person. Remember: If you decide to use social media in this way, keep your professional flow. It’s okay to tweet a picture of your cat on your laptop – who doesn’t love a cute cat picture? – but keep your conversation and your customers’ frustrations private.
The last thing a prospective client wants to see is someone who is difficult to work with or not discreet. And for privacy and security, keep some social channels open and others private, like your personal Facebook page (which should be home to all your other cat photos).
Remember: it’s alive!
A portfolio is not a fixed thing. It’s like a living being evolving as you evolve. One of the largest feelings in the world is to reduce the portfolio, eliminate waste and padding, and include more relevant current content. Regularly update as you improve your skills and change to focus.
As you gain experience, you can update your portfolio to reflect the type of work you want to do the most. If you enjoy designing landing pages and want to design them every day, make them the cornerstone of your portfolio and bill yourself as the expert an art director or hiring manager can’t put aside for the next job.
See also why it’s hard to get a graphic design job
Conclusion
Your portfolio should look fresh, human, and carefully selected. When done right, potential clients or employers will get a strong sense of who you are as a person and professional – and your work will shine. Hope this helps. See you next time! Please try to support vdtips by sharing this post thanks.
