Having a magnificently designed portfolio is a must nowadays. We will guide you through the most significant aspect that helps you stay apart from the amateurs and demonstrate professionalism.
Whether you are an experienced visual designer already or fresh out of art college, you must make a good design portfolio. This will serve as your design resume and can also be used to indicate your work ethic and innovative technique.
Whether you’re building a web design portfolio or graphic design, almost the same principles apply, which we will cover in this guide.
The major portfolio trends for 2020
When it comes to building the ideal portfolio, the most significant thing is to get the right fundamentals. That is, comprise only your most excellent works, give appropriate background and detail, revise it frequently, and above all, proofread the whole thing thoroughly.
Sometimes, designers are filled by dread just by thinking of assembling a compilation of their prior works. That is why we have gathered the best tips that any designer may follow to create their design portfolios.
1. Identify work samples to share
While it comes to choose items for your portfolio, quality always comes before quantity. A good portfolio isn’t supposed to be a digital library for every file on your hard drive. Instead, It’s a public showcase to show off your very best works.
2. Add your unique style & personal touch
Strong personal branding is significant to your success. Do not fall back from expressing your exclusive talents and techniques in your portfolio.
Include a robust individual logo or name at the top of the first page of your portfolio. Spend time thinking on your unique style to design and perfect ways to express that in your portfolio. Apart from the approach you take, try to include your brand identity throughout the portfolio.
3. Have a vision in mind
The next step to build a perfect design portfolio is to have an apparent goal or vision in mind. Build your portfolio, keeping this vision in mind. Having a goal while creating the design portfolio will tell the viewers what you can do as a designer, and it will work out well for you. It is significant to adjust this goal according to the exact design project that you generally work on.
4. Limit your portfolio to 3-6 projects or case studies
Case studies can expose your specific workflow and give the viewer a glimpse of your thinking, style, and approach towards projects. Is it always possible to show all of your work? You might have a thorough work history or plenty of large personal projects, but you don’t need to display everyone. An excellent graphic design portfolio features a few projects and presents them well with images and descriptions.
5. Incorporate the latest animation and design trends
As with everything on the internet, it is significant to get on through times and be updated on which style works and which doesn’t. This particularly applies when building a design portfolio. It is best to include or utilize new animation, design trends, and images to make them more attractive.
6. Write story-driven narratives
Try to use a story-driven narrative to describe your case study. This approach will add additional depth to your words and act like a one-on-one discussion rather than a pitch. An apparent story contextualizes your portfolio and provides people a quantifiable cause to hire you.
7. Stay True to Your Passion
When someone is genuinely committed to his/her work, the ultimate portfolio often shows off the passion and attempt put into the creative process. If you are getting confused with all different opinions and guidelines when creating design portfolios, just let go of them. If there is only a single thing you should learn, it can just be to stay true to your passion.
Gone are the days when artists and designers needed to take pictures of each of their design projects and accumulate them into a printed portfolio. Today, design portfolios can be built to supplement, if not to substitute, their printed counterpart. We expect that the guidelines we have outlined will help you build the perfect design portfolio that offers a long-lasting and positive result.