If you do not already have an online portfolio it is about time for you to create one. The traditional portfolio is increasingly becoming a thing of the past as geographical situation do not mean that much anymore. Potential clients will be able to find you online at all times so make sure that you do not miss any important part of your online portfolio.
- The Basics – What do the clients need to know?
Begin with asking yourself the question: What do my potential clients need to know? Try to put yourself in their situation. What you will display obviously depends much on what kind of assignments you wish to get in the future. - Keep it simple!
It should be easy to find and use your online portfolio. Be open with what it is that you want. Are you looking for assignments? Put a sign with the text: “For Hire” and a link to how to actually hire you. Make sure that your best material is the first thing that visitors get see. Describe yourself and your work in just a couple of words. - Let people know about you
Your work should always be in focus but do not forget to include a good “About Me” page. Let people know who you are and what your background is. Have you been mentioned in the media? Link! Can you get your clients to write a few lines about how it was to work with you? Excellent! - Contact
Information on how to get in contact with you is of the essence. The link to your contact information must be easy to find. It is not a bad idea to have the most basic information on several places, such as at the bottom of each page. - Let people know what you are doing
Your clients might not see the value of your previous work through a screenshot of a website or a free-standing illustration. Let people know what the assignment was. Where is it published? What problems did you solve for your client? What was the result of your work? - Build traffic
Share your experiences. You can for example record a video when doing a photo shoot. Start a blog, the more text on the site, the easier to get snatched up by search engines. Link to others that are creating amazing things – it will pay off in the end. - Be search friendly
Google and other search engines are responsible for most traffic to websites. Through optimizing your site you will have a much greater chance of getting found by new clients.
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1. Plan in advance and be consistent in keeping archives of your good work. This will help you tremendously when you need to collect your work quickly.
2. Don’t put any cliches in your book, such as condom or wonderbra ads. Creative Directors, not to mention clients hate those.
3. Don’t put more than 7-12 good ideas or designs in your book. CD’s and clients don’t have time and they don’t want to look at your work history. They want to be sure you can do good stuff and a few good ideas are enough to prove that.
4. Have at least a 3-4 of those works made for FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods, such as toothpaste, detergent or soft drinks) products. Important agencies and design studios have these clients and they want to make sure you can do such work as well.
5. Show a range of different jobs. Have a 360 degree campaign, but also have a logo design. Include ambient, online and other unconventional media ideas as well. Variety is important, unless you specialize in a narrow field.
6. You may want to include at the end stuff that’s not directly work, but shows your skills that are related to the job. Poetry, drawings, product ideas, etc.
7. Make your book as simple as possible. It’s all about the content. Not about the cover.