Things You Simply Cannot Miss to Include in a Graphic Design Portfolio
The very first thing that you need to work on when looking to make a career in professional graphic designing, is a graphic design portfolio.
Graphic design is a rapidly growing industry that establishes the fact that there is immense competition in the field as well. Therefore, it is essential to create a portfolio that not only stands out and gets the recruiters’ attention but, also manages to showcase your skills and the potential to become a seasoned graphic design professional.
So, if you are one of those several designers who are struggling to get that break into the corporate industry or acquiring new clients as a freelancer, here are some of the most important things that you must include in your graphic design portfolio.
About you
One of the first things to ensure being added to your graphic design portfolio is a detailed introduction about yourself.
And, while there are no fixed rules to it, feel free to share things like how you came to love graphic designing or your first experience with the arts and drawings (maybe from a young age). Make the information relatable and personable.
It’s important to let your potential clients know about your personality in order to gain credibility and beidentified as a professional graphic designer.
About your expertise
Graphic design has evolved over the years and is no more restricted to only logo designing or website designing. Today, graphic design encapsulates a wide array of creative tasks that cover almost every aspect of a business operation.
This could include;
- Social media design
- UI/UX design
And a lot more.
So, while it is good to show that you can create graphics for each and every field it is required in, recruiters keep a close eye for subject matter experts. Therefore, it is always a good practice and is highly advised to emphasize on a particular genre of design that you have an expertise in.
Your best design works
There are no two ways to say it.
You may have worked on several designs but, when it comes to creating your graphic design portfolio, you need to make sure it has your best works featured at the top.
This also helps in fulfilling the earlier point we made about establishing your expertise.
So, let’s say you are more comfortable and highly experienced in creating custom logo designs and have created several of those in the past. Make sure that those logo designs are highlighted on the front page of your portfolio.
The story behind your best works
Everyone likes to hear the behind-the-scenes stories. Your potential clients or recruiters are no different.
Looking at your design work will only tell them the output of your skills. It doesn’t really explain the history, process, and inspiration behind all that work which led you to the outcome.
It is, therefore, very important that you highlight and share the details of how your best works came to be. You can do this by adding inserts that tell the back story of each sample.
Don’t be modest, but avoid self-deprecating humor or excessive wordiness. You want to create a story format that is easy to read and maintains a positive tone.
How to reach out to you
The main objective of creating a graphic design portfolio is to get hired or acquire new clients.
But, how would that happen if no one is able to contact you; because you didn’t even share the easiest means to reach you.
Your contact information should be on every page of your portfolio and that too placed at a visible location on the pages.
It could be on the top of the page or appear as a CTA.
Don’t make it a tough job for someone to find information to contact you.
To conclude…
Creating a graphic design portfolio is one of the very first things that you must do as a professional graphic designer in order to scale up your career. And while you are at it, make sure you are following this information and update your portfolio accordingly in order to get noticed for the right opportunity.
All the best!