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Tricks of the Trade: Great Portfolio Design (Part 1)
In: photoshop
21 Jan 2010Related Posts
Before we get started, here are some related posts for you to check out:
20 Super Creative Website Menus
15 Examples of Well Designed Contact Pages
20 Fresh and New Blue Web Designs
15 Fresh Online Magazine Designs
Tricks of the Trade: Great Portfolio Design
This week we bring you a look at the various techniques used by designers in building a respectable and creative portfolio. In Part 1 (of 2) we take a look at the use of Big, Informative Headlines and Illustrations.
Check back soon for Part 2!
Big, Informative Headlines
Many designers choose to display a large textual heading on their portfolio’s homepage. This headline often introduces the individual (if it’s a freelancer) or company, as well as summing up what they provide. Additionally many designers display a quirky or creative message in order to set themselves apart from the competition.
Typically a headline will contain:
- The designer or company’s name
- Where they are from (optional)
- Services provided (e.g.: ‘I design websites’)
- A creative or unusual message (optional)
- A welcome message
Below are 20 examples of creatively placed headline messages in portfolio designs:
Illustrations
Designers often use bold and colorful illustrations in order to liven up their portfolios. Illustrations can range from deliberately child-like sketches, to incredibly detailed works of art, that take many pain-staking hours of labour to produce.
Here are some examples of great illustrations in portfolio designs:
To Be Continued…
More great techniques used by portfolio designers will be looked at in part 2 of this post.
What Do You Think Makes a Great Portfolio?
I would love to know what you think makes a great portfolio design, feel free to share your own.
Leave a comment to this post with your ideas on color, form, content, or anything else that you feel helps make a portfolio visually stunning.
FITC Amsterdam 2010
21 Jan 2010<
If you’re quick enough to get your hands on a ticket (the last two years sold out in advance, as this year likely will), you can expect to intake a serious barrage of information pertaining to the newest and best ideas and technological advances in design, animation, motion graphics, advertising…it goes on and on.
And here’s the really nice thing: FITC ain’t your grandaddy’s stuffy old design conference; with a tagline that reads, “Design. Technology. Cool Shit.”, the stage is set for at least a few of the 40+ creative, technical and business-oriented presentations to have a bit of a delightful and exhilarating edge to them.
For example, one presentation (which is actually called “Cool Shit”) is nothing more than 5 of the world’s top Flash designers each getting 10 minutes to show off their mad skills in front of an audience. Another, called “Changing the World with Bikes”, has the publisher of Bike Hugger sharing what he’s learned about the world and sustainable livability through his myriad bike travels.
Talk about a diverse and encompassing lineup. More about the specific speakers and workshops HERE.
By the numbers:
Dates: Feb. 22-23rd, 2010
Location: Felix Meritis and the Dylan Hotel, Amsterdam, NL
Cost: varies – check here for details
Over 50 presentations and panels on Flash and digital media
Upwards of 500 attendees
3 awesome evening events
1 totally sad DesignersCouch writer who won’t be able to attend
Clips from FITC Amsterdam 2009
A great design article about why it’s essential for every freelance designer to setup a blog discussing the perks which come with having and running your own design blog.
There’s a few pros and cons to becoming a blogger with the pros outweighing the cons. A design blog can be essential for every freelance designer because it can help a freelancer to generate a passive income on a monthly or weekly basis.
Broaden your name across to a wider audience
A design blog is perfect for freelancers to build up their name or their company brand on another platform. The advantage of a freelancer creating a blog means they can gain more exposure through blogging which means they can attract a wider range of clients to work alongside including even international clients.
A good blog can be something to add to your portfolio
When clients approach designers to work on a project 90 percent of clients will ask to see the designers previous work or past design projects, which they have worked on in order to find out if the designer will be suitable to work alongside and if they have the talent and skill to complete the design project to their satisfaction.
If your an upcoming freelance designer your portfolio may be very empty because you still have not yet had the opportunity to work alongside any clients. Creating a blog would be the perfect piece of work to showcase to clients and would be a great addition to your portfolio because it will show off you skills and talent to potential clients.
Generates traffics
A blog can be a great source for sending traffic to your portfolio website allowing you the opportunity for hundreds or maybe thousands of visitors to take a look through your content within your portfolio. Large amounts of traffic from any type of website can quickly and easily be turned into revenue weather it’s through selling advertisement spots or Google adsence.
The screen shot above is monthly page views which Creative Nerds receives notice each month the growth is getting higher and higher.
Can generate extra income
A freelance designer always looked to make a passive income and a blog is a fantastic way to do so. There are several freelancers within the design community who have decided to extend their portfolio by creating a blog section, which has lead to huge amounts of success and generated extra additional income through simply creating and regularly updating their blog section with new content.
Here a collection of freelancers who have design blog sections and how much money they are estimated to turnover a month from just their blog section alone.
· Blog.spoon graphics ($3150) http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/
· Vanderaley design ($3350) http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/
Cheap to setup
I’ve got my own hosting account via mediatemple.com so all I need worry about is buying the domain name for the website which is cheap as chips which from a website like heartinternet.co.uk it will cost about £7($11 dollars) with duration of the domain name lasting for a two year. Working out as 58p month just to simply buy a name for your blog which is fantastic and worth taking of advantage of.
Final Thoughts
I personally believe setting up a blog is great whether it’s a design blog or a personal blog because it can be a great way to interact within people in the design community, it can be finically rewarding also but don’t just blog because you think this will be a great opportunity for you to make some big bucks do it because it’s something your passionate about and enjoy doing.
Do you think it’s essential for every freelance designer to setup a blog ?
We would love to hear your thoughts about the article in a short comment below that would be great.
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About this blog
This blog delivers stylish and dynamic news for designers and web-developers on all subjects of design, ranging from: CSS, Ajax, Javascript, web design, graphics, typography, advertising & much more. Our goal is to help you communicate effectively on the web with an engaging website or functional interface.
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