March 28, 2024
portfolio

5 Steps to Write a Winning Design Portfolio. The Art of Making a Great First Impression

When you’re putting together your design portfolio, you want to ensure it stands out from the rest and gets noticed. You’ve only got a few seconds to impress a potential employer, grab their interest and hold onto it. Make the most of your design portfolio by following a few simple guidelines.

 

1. Create a great online portfolio

Depending on what job you’re looking to score, and how you’re planning on using it, will dictate what type of portfolio you should create. If your plan is to attend job interviews in person, a physical portfolio is ideal. You’ll be able to tailor it exactly to each interview, to include appropriate examples of your work that pertain to the job specifically.

On the other hand, most employers seeking out a design professional are expecting to be able to view an online portfolio. With an online portfolio, you’ll be able to keep it updated, change it easily and share it with anyone, anywhere at any time. Get inspiration from Sean Halpin, Hulse&Durell or The Geek Designer online portfolios, learn new styles and always keep looking for new trends.

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Sean Halpin

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The Geek Designer

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Hulse&Durrell

Showcase your design work easily to attract potential job opportunities using a great online platform, such as Dribble, where you can show and tell the design projects you’re working on. Ask questions to the community of designers daily, and share and explore ideas with others. It’s a great social network of designers that you can use to promote yourself.

2. Keep your portfolio updated and relevant

 

If you’ve got an online portfolio, like one using Carbonmade, you’ll be able to keep it updated easily, adding in new pieces that you’ve completed and removing outdated works that are no longer relevant. When you keep your portfolio updated, you’re always ready to show off your most recent and relevant works, whenever an opportunity should arise. And, with an easy to use site like Carbonmade, you’ll create a professional looking portfolio that’s sure to impress.

3. Expand your reach by writing about design

 

When you’re creating your online portfolio for job hunters to search for, you can increase your reach by including some additional written content. Your readership will increase as you include more and more quality content on your online portfolio or stunning website, such as a website on Wix.

If you’re stuck on what to write about, you can seek out a little extra help from the writing team at Essayroo. They’ll pair your project needs with an expert in the same field, so you’ll receive beautifully crafted and absolutely relevant content. For a variety of writing services, including proofreading and editing, along with complete content creation, Ukwritings can help. When you want high quality written content, there are great online writing services that can get the job done for you, no matter how frequently you need writing done.

Great written content in your online portfolio can be made even better if you’re using the assistance of an online editing tool. Improve your readability, eliminate errors and turn your good writing into great writing with the help of a great resource, such as ProWritingAid.

 

4. Make a great first impression quickly

The majority of people, job hunters included, don’t have much of an attention span. You’ve got mere seconds to get their attention before you lose them completely, so you’ll need to create a portfolio that quickly shows them who you are and what you’re all about. Don’t overload your portfolio with content – streamline it with only the best content, because no one is going to pour through every single piece you’ve ever created without losing interest. Alternatively you can always be surprising and send a creative print portfolio as Raul S. Pasco did.

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Yes, great design is one way to impress, but another surefire way to make a great impression is to create content that’s well written and free of errors. Using an instantaneous checkers and guides, like Hemingway App or Academized, you’ll get a color coded readout of your mistakes, long or complex sentences and other potential errors, helping you improve your writing overall.

 

5. Get eyes on your portfolio

If you’ve got a great portfolio that you’re proud of, you’ll want to show it off to everyone. But it’s of no use to you if no one can find it. Social media sites, such as Behance, can help extend your reach by linking back to your portfolio, allowing more eyes to come across it. Show off your design creations to impress potential employers and get the most eyes looking at your designs.

Remember that you have only got a few short seconds to stand out from the crowd and be noticed. Keep it stocked with the most relevant and best works you’ve created, so it quickly shows what you’re all about. Getting the most eyes looking at your work will help increase your reach, so use blogging and social media to expand your audience. Creating a winning design portfolio can help you land that dream job, so keep it filled with your best work to attract the job hunters.

 

Bonus: When designers run amuck: Some of the worst logo designs of all time

Gloria Kopp is a digital marketer and an elearning consultant from Manville city. Now she works as a content manager at Boomessays service. Besides, she is a regular contributor to such websites as Engadget, Buy Assignment service, Huffingtonpost etc. Read her latest post about Bid4Papers review.

3 Comments

  1. Writer Reply

    Gloria, thanks for the great article. This is a very useful article for both beginners and experienced designers. Creating a portfolio that can surprise your employers or friends is a very important aspect of their work. Usually, creating a good portfolio is not a quick process. It takes a long time – that is why it is so appreciated when hiring. Always go your own way and try to do something unique, to reveal your vision of the situation. Good day! Read more useful articles.

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