01. All killer, no filler
Resist the temptation to bulk out your portfolio with old or irrelevant examples of your work by having a thorough and ruthless clear out. And don’t leave this until it’s unavoidable. Portfolios need constant attention – you never know when you might be called on to present to Saatchi’s creative directors…
02. Number of your beast
How many examples should a portfolio include? It’s a tricky question, but you should aim to fill at least 20 pages of a physical folio, and at least 30 examples for an online space. You need to be able to show a healthy breadth of work together with a range of applications, so even if you select several examples from a single project you should make sure you treat image individually.
03. What’s your job?
Only include portfolio examples for a full-time position that are appropriate to the role. A creative director position, for instance, won’t entail much artworking - if any at all – so work that demonstrates tracking and kerning ability isn’t relevant.
04. All in the brief
Use annotations and notes to talk about your experience. Illustrators and designers aren’t just employed for their style but also for the clarity with which they interpret a creative brief. Make it clear what the brief asked for in each portfolio example you include, and then demonstrate how you successfully accomplished it.
05. All round experience
Are you only good at illustration or editorial layout? Of course you’re not: you’re also a solid communicator who understands budgets and deadlines, as well as the importance of meetings and updates. These are all professional skills. Make sure your portfolio clearly shows that you posses these, even inf you just list them in your accompanying notes.
06. Case studies
Don’t think of your portfolio simply as a collection of your art and design work. Recommendations and real-life case studies go a long way in showing how professionally capable you are. Ask a previous client or employer for a recommendation, and write up a short case study to accompany a project.
07. Numbers, guides and bookmarks
What do you do when you find a particularly interesting website, magazine spread or book chapter? You bookmark it, dog ear it or jot down the page number somewhere. Those viewing your portfolio – by whatever medium – will do the same, so make it easy by including page numbers and clear project titles for each portfolio example.
08. Getting to know you
Experienced employers, project managers and agents know how to match up a CV to a portfolio and gauge your character strengths and weaknesses, warts and all. So think critically about what your portfolio says about you. Is it too serious? Too flippant? Strike a balance that you believe shows off your qualities.
09. Tailor your examples
This is a debatable point, with some illustration agents advising against tailoring your portfolio to a particular project pitch or job application, and prospective employers concurring – but tailoring is advisable. The ‘no’ camp suggests they want to see your ‘whole character’ through different styles and projects. But if a subset of your work is wholly irrelevant, or even poor by comparison, do you really want to be judged by it? If in doubt leave it out.
10. Self-starter
Self-initiated projects are certainly acceptable in full-time applications, and recommended for freelance work – especially for illustrators. But think about what other talents you might have as well. For instance, if you’re a handy photographer or accomplished with coding, why not include examples of your shots or web designs. They’re all more strings to your creative bow.
I found this post really helpful:
- Only put in your best work
- Could have parts of other work such as photography
- what does it say about myself?
- Add recommendations from other people about your work into your portfolio
- Only have work which is relevant
- use annotation to explain a bit about the work
http://www.creativetimes.co.uk/articles/get-your-portfolio-seen-by-thousands-of-other-creatives-on-creative-times
Link to get your portfolio seen by people in your industry
Link to get your portfolio seen by people in your industry
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