Expert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital Portfolio

Expert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital PortfolioExpert Tips on How to Create a Killer Digital PortfolioOnline portfolios are of the utmost importance for creative professionals today. If youre in the process of developing a digital portfolio, you cant afford to view it as a mere collection of work samples you need to think of it as your preeminent marketing piece. Following are expert tips on strategically developing a digital portfolio that pops.Ram Castillo is an award-winning designer and art director, and author of How to Get a Job as a Designer, Guaranteed. Hes also the instructor of a CreativeLive course titled Create a Knockout Design Portfolio. Here, Castillo walks us through his top digital portfolio tips - what to include, what not to include, and how to put it all together to land that next creative job.TCG In your opinion, are there any hard-and-fast rules to follow when putting together a portfolio?Ram Castillo Absolutely, there are plenty. One of the most import ant is that it should be an online portfolio rather than a printed portfolio. Employers are incredibly time-poor, and the first instance theyll be exposed to your work is usually on the Web. They can get a pretty good sense of your abilities and ideas from that touchpoint alone in one to two minutes.In addition, the selection of work must be relevant to the job youre applying for. This seems like a no-brainer, but its amazing how many people dont tailor their portfolio.Remember your portfolio should be a refined selection of your best work that is customized to speak to the creative role you are seeking.Some of my other rules for your digital portfolio includeIt must be mobile-responsive.It must have your anthroponym and/or logo clearly visible in the header.It must feature quality photos or renderings of your work. (See video tutorial below.)It must have adequately sized thumbnail images. Dont fall into the trap of making your thumbnails too small just so you can fit your entire co llection of work within the 600-pixel fold. Thumbnails are there to show a preview of a piece that can be clearly seen.It must integrate and encourage effortless social media shareability within each project. If your work is awesome, people are likely to share it. Make it easy for them to do so. Even if just one person shares one of your projects, lets say on Facebook, two powerful things happen. The first is that your work has now been exposed to that persons friends. The second is that youve won an advocate for your brand, which means youre increasing your potential for future work.It must feature captions for context. The five pieces of information I suggest including are Client, Agency (where applicable), Challenge (highlight the primary objective in two or three sentences), Role (specify your role and give credit where its due), and Results (explain how the project was received when it rolled out).TCG How many work samples should you include in an online portfolio?RC The first three projects that are revealed to the viewer must be your strongest creative projects. The mora work you show, the more youre distracting the viewer from seeing the pieces that make your abilities shine. Its far better to have five quality projects showing five creative pieces for each than 20 projects with 10 or more creative pieces within them.TCG Whats the most common mistake people make when presenting portfolios during job interviews? RC Often, job candidates get into the habit of stating the obvious. Instead, talk deeply and intimately about each project. Discuss the details of the creative brief, the objectives, the challenges and the reason for reaching that solution. Through this storytelling, the employer will begin to gauge your level of idea generation, creative problem-solving abilities and enthusiasm. Speaking of enthusiasm, its really important to get excited about the work. It doesnt matter if its for a big client or small client. You must speak passionately about what the problem or opportunity was - and how you solved it.Searching for a job or freelance work? We can help Contact our nearest office to speak to one of our recruiters.