I bought a domain name a couple of weeks ago which I plan to use to showcase my design work. It's actually my name... (thankfully I don't have a common one.)
The trend these days is to design a one page portfolio. There are three main benefits to this approach:
The trend these days is to design a one page portfolio. There are three main benefits to this approach:
- easy to code
- simplicity of design and layout make your portfolio really stand out
- user friendly and intuitive
Having been a graphic designer for the past 14 years, I have a very extensive and impressive print portfolio with pieces ranging from logos and corporate brochures to covers of leading industry magazines. Coming up with a dozen or so examples to highlight my abilities will be easy to do. I've also been a web designer for over a decade and have coded my fair share of top notch websites over the years. The problem is, companies tend to turn over their sites on an annual basis and most of my web work has been lost to the ravages of time. All that remains are screen shots and in some cases, archived code - but that won't cut it. Potential employers want to see your stuff in action. The solution? I need to design about a dozen new websites to beef up my portfolio and that's going to take some time. In the interim, I've decided to get the portfolio site up and running with my existing print pieces. I'll add the web stuff gradually to that...
As a side note, years ago I worked with an amazing web designer, "Nelson." He shared with me his secret to landing the job. His entire portfolio consisted of web sites for fictitious companies. He actually made up several companies, bought and hosted the domain names and designed the sites. As he explained at the time, using pretend companies enabled him 100% creative control. It was brilliant. He was a huge fan of director Michael Bay and designed the most amazing fan site. As it turned out, Michael Bay stumbled upon it one day and was so impressed that he flew Nelson out to meet him, adopted the site, and hired Nelson to moderate it.
As a side note, years ago I worked with an amazing web designer, "Nelson." He shared with me his secret to landing the job. His entire portfolio consisted of web sites for fictitious companies. He actually made up several companies, bought and hosted the domain names and designed the sites. As he explained at the time, using pretend companies enabled him 100% creative control. It was brilliant. He was a huge fan of director Michael Bay and designed the most amazing fan site. As it turned out, Michael Bay stumbled upon it one day and was so impressed that he flew Nelson out to meet him, adopted the site, and hired Nelson to moderate it.
No comments:
Post a Comment