Are you a freelance graphic designer who’s looking to bag some great contracts? If you’re truly looking to leave an impact on potential clients, try working on your portfolio. Your portfolio is more like a one-stop shop window. It’ll be accessible round the corner and it’ll give your clients their very first impression of your work. Not only will it give them a basic idea about your creative insights but it’ll also shed light on the way you execute your ideas. But how exactly does one come up with the perfect portfolio? Is there any specific strategy to follow?
Use Coupons to Save on Hosting and Domain for Your Portfolio
This is especially useful for freelance designers who do not already have a portfolio website, as the best deals typically relate to new account set-ups and purchases. Don’t worry if you already have a site you can probably still find some coupons for when it comes time to renew, take a look at couponvps.org. No worries if you are not a GoDaddy customer, they have coupons for just about everyone! Especially when you are getting started it is important to keep your expenses down, so you might as well take advantage of the promotions that most companies are offering.
Clarify your purpose
Even before you work on your portfolio, it is very important to clarify your purpose. If you’re looking for some particular graphic design project, showcase your work in that specific niche. Pep up your resume and add your skill sets. However, if you’re looking to build this portfolio to establish your own brand, feel free to showcase your experiments and personal work. You can also add a couple of client testimonials to leave a better impact. In either case, your portfolio should have a perfect mix of both personal and professional projects.
Curate your best projects
At its very core, creating a good graphic design portfolio is entirely about showcasing your best work and keeping it really simple. So while adding your best designs, make sure the portfolio doesn’t really exceed 20 projects. Although I’d suggest you to add 10 projects if you’re just starting out, 20 isn’t a bad number either. After your final selection is ready, review it to ensure that it is perfectly cohesive. Your portfolio represents what you are and what you stand for. So make sure you present your best version in it.
Start with the more relevant pieces
While it’s understandable to want to show your entire creative journey in your portfolio, it’s not really a good idea. Your employers are busy people, and they don’t really have the time to see your amateur work back from your college days. So while adding your designs, try to add the more relevant and key pieces that changed your career or bolstered it in some way. Start with some really powerful, killer design that’ll compel your employers to take you seriously. Do not waste time on old, obsolete and amateur stuff.
Make it easily accessible
While coming up with portfolios, most of us get tempted to over-embellish the work with unnecessary designs and formats. But guess what? That doesn’t really matter if your work is good! Let your design speak for it-self by making it easy-to-view in some large format. When your design is easily accessible, your potential employers will be automatically drawn towards them. So keep things simple, keep things minimal and leave your potential employers wanting for more.
Final thoughts
Once you follow these guidelines, you’ll be one step ahead in making a perfect portfolio. So follow the instructions carefully and come up with a engaging, compelling and attractive portfolio that’ll compel your potential employer to hire you!