Now that you’ve successfully made your way through design school, your next goal will be to use your finely honed design skills in gainful employment. However, before you can do that, you need to develop a digital design portfolio that prospective employers can’t possibly overlook. Here are a few strategies you can use to create a design portfolio that will ensure you are never short of a job offer.
Create a Plan to Build Your Digital Design Portfolio
This is the first thing you need to do, which is build your foundation. Design a rough layout for your pieces before you include any photos or text. When you have a plan, you get an accurate idea of how many images and photos will be needed to complete each page of your digital design portfolio. You will also have a precise sense of how much text you need to include in each section.
Add a few Case Studies
Photo by lightfieldstudios, 123RF.
Case studies will give your prospective employer a good idea about your process and how it will fit in with their operation. Include information about the intended outcome of a project as well as the result. This information will show that you can help a client work towards their goals.
Create a Narrative That Shows Off Your Problem-Solving Skills
Many fledgling designers with a freshly minted diploma make the mistake of filling their design portfolio with nothing but big beautiful images. While these are sure to impress, they don’t tell the full story about your capabilities when it comes to building a design portfolio. Finished designs shown in all their glory aren’t the best showcase for your problem-solving skills. Include a few wireframes, prototypes, and scrapped images to show your process and that you know how to solve problems.
Highlight Your Specialization
We’d all like to be a master of everything, but even in design, most of us have a particular set of skills at which we excel or prefer. Curate your portfolio, so it clearly shows where you are most proficient, or highlights your skills in the field in which you want to work. For example, if you want to work in something specific like website design, only put in work that shows off your skills in that area. The more your portfolio focuses on a talent, the higher will be your chances of scoring a position in that area.
Clean Up Your Layout
Employers are often subjected to cluttered portfolios that try to fit too much in, but only end up making the pages too busy and less focused on the result. Only display essential items, and when you’re considering a piece, ask yourself, “how does this image help with the narrative I want to tell?”
Add in Real-World Work (Even if It’s Not Your Best)
Photo by Eugenio Marongiu, 123RF.
Work you have done for real clients, even if it’s not some of your best, shows that you have worked with others and have prevailed through deadlines and other design constraints. Use that to build a design portfolio that has substance. You will also display a willingness to be constructively critical of your work and know there is always room for growth and learning. Search for real clients on a trusted platform like Designs.net, and enjoy guaranteed decent earnings and confirmed jobs from global industry players, it’s completely free to register an account and submit your resume. Unlike most other job portals, there’s no third party commission involved, so you don’t have to worry about having a slice of your earnings cut by this online job platform, either. Click here to explore more about this new rising job portal.
Include a Personal Project
If you don’t have any previous real-world work to show a prospective employer, you can still show your passion and talent by including a completed personal project in your design portfolio. Don’t worry if you’re just starting out, click here to learn more about earning passive income from your creative artwork on 123RF. And click the following link for a quick guide on how to get started after you join our platform. Good luck with your creative project, and we hope our tips will help you build a design portfolio that fits your skillset!