Building a Solid Site

The entirety of college courses and beyond have been working towards this moment. The chance to showcase my work on a platform I design for future employers to see. Whether it’s looking for freelance opportunities or striving for a position, I will need to have a very well done portfolio. 

I perused the internet for articles and blogs on the subject and I stumbled upon a post from Andrew Couldwell called, Tips for Creating a Great Portfolio Website. He prefaces by reminding me that I’m not the only person out there doing what I do. That’s something I’ve known for a while being in classes surrounded by other very talented upcoming designers. 

“Your portfolio is your shop window — what you put on display and how you dress it, is important to how you are perceived.”

-Andrew Couldwell

The window to impress those in bing roles in this industry is small. Wowing can be hard, but I am determined to be eye-catching at first glance. I want someone to look at my portfolio and want to dig deeper into what I have to show. The first piece of advice is to let the work do the talking. Andrews says the best portfolio sites are the ones who are simple and have the work laid out  front and center. Simple is always the best way to go with displaying work. It’s ideal to have a site that’s easy to study and navigate. 

Another tip shared by Andrew is to value quality not quantity. He says to consider the phrase ‘You are only as good as your last project’. He says this because depending on the user, they may only look at projects at the top of the page for a minute and that’s the only impression they choose to receive from you. It’s not valuable to show work that I made years ago. Simply wouldn’t do me justice. 

Moving forward to the following tip to show personal work. This tip is easy to follow since most of the work I produce is personal work and school work. I haven’t been paid for the designs I’ve created so far, so it is easy to post anything I’ve made. I haven’t had a client besides myself and my professors. It will be exciting to have a client someday and I believe having limits will be a great challenge for me to figure out and please the client. 

What I believe is the best advice from this blog is to share your progress. If you see the finished project, you will wonder how the designer got to that conclusion. I never want my viewers to wonder how I did my work (unless it’s insanely impressive of course). Showing your work also displays how you value your work and demonstrates your work style. It’s also far more entertaining to see and read through the designer’s mind and see where they were coming from in certain parts. 

The blog goes on to share many tips which I will also share on this list since it applies here. Couldwell’s advice list through the rest of the article: appropriate project covers, give credit, or specify what you did, have a personality, introduce yourself, tone down the ego, make it accessible, and to make it easy to follow you. I am always all ears when it comes to advice and this article was helpful in giving me that. 

Source:

https://andrewcouldwell.medium.com/tips-for-creating-a-great-portfolio-website-f07e063e8371