Welcome to another addition of my column, which has yet to be named. I must apologize before I go into this column. For those who remember, I released a previous column a few months back, and like various other columnists appeared to drop off the planet. Unfortunately, a few issues in life came at me un-expectantly and I had to deal with them, while working on my freelance projects. You need to take life as it comes, and deal with it the best way possible and sometimes certain things are set on the back burner, while more pressing issues are attended to. Now that these issues have been resolved, I am hoping to get back to something I enjoy.
Now that I have apologized, I would like to get into more pressing matters: The creation of a portfolio. For those of you who are experienced, successful web developers and designer this will be old and repetitive I am sure. However, I thought I would pass long what I have learned so far.
Portfolio 1: Under the Sea
This was my first attempt at a portfolio. It was a required piece for school and at the same time was acceptable, considering what I knew. Of course, things have changed, and I look now and there are about a dozen things I did wrong. One of the most obvious is the photo I selected to represent myself. It was a year old, still had a time stamp, my fiancée is in it, it’s at a dance, and I’m drunk. As you were to continue to explore this portfolio, you would learn I used a star wars light saber affect on the rollover of portfolio items, simply because it sounded cool at the time. The pieces that I provided were not easily accessible, and believe it or not, I didn’t even link to my websites shown. In the “About Me”, I was more focused on announcing my official status with my fiancée (although in fairness, I had just gotten engaged at the time). However potential clients and hires, didn’t want to know and didn’t care that I wanted to own my own business, support my family, and live comfortably. They wanted to know my knowledge, employment history, my past experiences, and my education. None of the three I mentioned. The closest I came was saying I was growing fond of flash. Although I did alright on the project, I must say I am glad I never took a point to show that to future employers.
Portfolio 2: Plain, Simple, Effective
Although I probably designed half a dozen portfolios after the last one I showed, this was the one I decided to go with in the end. I’ll admit it certainly did the trick for me. About four months had passed since creating underwater themed portfolio and I decided to take a new approach. Implementing a far more simple design, I decided to focus on what I had to offer at the time. This worked out well for me, getting me my diploma, as I sailed through the Portfolio review, as well as landing me three jobs, including my current one. Of course, this layout, being a year old, has it’s own flaws I can see now. The home page was almost too bland. As I looked at it now, it really doesn’t give too much impression as to what I can do. I provided to sentences, and then my name. It doesn’t exactly force a user to get interested. Also, the contact information followed the same trend. It actually provided less information and accessibility then the former portfolio. I didn’t even provide a mailto link. Then again, it was only minor as the “About Me” was much better this time, not focusing on my personal life, and instead my current web goals and aspirations. Although I touched on previous unrelated jobs, it was done in a manner to show my determination and my ability to showcase hard work. The Portfolio section itself was done far better then my previous site, allowing better user interaction, as well as the ability to actually view my sites! To this date, this is still, in my opinion, one of the better portfolios I’ve done. I’ve thought of only updating this version to show case newer work, however I feel like I have grown past what I have here, and wanted to push myself both design-wise and code-wise.
Portfolio 3: Current…. Disappointment
This is my current site, which I can’t say I am too proud of. As it stands right now, I currently don’t even have a portfolio properly listed. As with most designers, when we run out of time, and have various projects on the go; we ignore our stuff first. This site is a result of that. Due to the rush of things, I don’t even show it to potential clients. I’ve made a list, and went with that instead. Embarrassing? The content is solid, I had three people, two English majors, review it and make sure it all checked out. The coding was solid, as I’ve been told on a few occasions it’s even blackberry accessible. It’s the little things that I don’t like. I feel like the text looks out of place on the home page. I should have used an sans-serif based font. The resume should be up to date, and a pdf instead of a cut together jpg of two print screens. My portfolio should have been finished. I should have taken more time on the articles section. I should have made the Quote Form work properly, instead of basic text. There’s a lot I wish I’d done, and didn’t. That’s why, even with my busy schedule, I am forcing myself create a new portfolio. (That and career advancements).
Portfolio 4: In the Works
I won’t go into details regarding these two layouts today, as I plan to save this as another column in the future. I will, give you a quick idea of what was going through my mind. My past projects, I found to be a little “bland” and I wanted to jazz it up, pushing myself to think of a new creative way to represent myself. I made sure all my portfolio items were present right away, while following a theme that made sense to have them there. As I said, this project will be another column.
Final Thoughts:
I know, I more so, just reviewed what I’d done. However, I am hoping you did pick something up.
- One of the first things I ever learned was that content was important. Your portfolio needs to show you in a serious, professional manner, and not just someone who loves what you do. I know that sounds harsh, but people want to know what you have to offer, and what you’ve done in the past. They don’t care about how much you love it.
- Simple is the safest route. I know, a lot of the time, you hear about needing to push the envelope. However, in my opinion, you need to pick when and why. This is your career, it might look cool to some, but if it’s too busy or complicated, you risk losing more clients and work.
- FINISH WHAT YOU START!!! As designers, we set our stuff aside most of the time. When it comes to your portfolio, you need to find time. Right now, I have six freelance projects on the go. I kept putting my portfolio off, and now I am risking potential full time work and more freelance work as a result.
- Be creative. I know, I also said keep it simple, but you need to find a way to mix the two. Without it, you can be bland, and boring. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who keep it too simple, and their sites lack a professional feel, and don’t allow them to show off their other talents. If you don’t have the “design ability”, I would recommend hiring someone, because odds are your programming abilities would make most jealous.
I hope this helps at least one person in the future. Good luck with the portfolios!
