It Starts...

Reading through the first chapters of Designing a Digital Portfolio(DDP) and How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul(HBG), I've come across many interesting points and ideas regarding design portfolios. For instance, Graphic Designers have a variety of names depending on their medium and focus. For example, Interface Designers can be known for their designs in websites, and Graphic Designers can be known for their skills in print design. (However, these labels aren't set in stone.)

In HBG, the author quotes a Designer and Writer, Jessica Helfand, who says that graphic design is "a visual language uniting harmony and balance, color and light, scale and tension, form and content." I think that this statement is very well put and gives a colorful explanation of the art of graphic design.

When it comes to a creating a digital portfolio, there are some important aspects that need to go into it. According to the book, Designing a Digital Portfolio, these aspects are variety, style, technology and craft, process, and concept and creativity. Let's start with variety. If you have a wide range of mediums that you intend on displaying on your website, then make sure that you tie them together, but it can give the impression that you don't know what you're best at. Under style is where your "creative" signature generates. Technology and craft is also important because your site needs to have good navigation and text set up. Displaying your design process can be effective because it can give the viewer a sense of how you work. Last, concept and creativity within your presentation is key and your design should relate to something that defines your choice of design work. The site www.911gallery.org, provides multiple artists work but keeps the presentation similar using the common design interface of the website.

Being a graphic designer requires having certain awareness and abilities. For example, in HBG, the author mentions that graphic designers need to have a cultural awareness and be open-minded when talking with clients. Also, communication is a must needed skill along with listening to client's points of view to get the full understanding of what they are looking for.

How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul talks about finding a job in chapter 2 and how it's important to get experience within the field in order to further your understanding of being a graphic designer. A job site that I've been looking at and find interesting is www.creativehotlist.com which I found in the DDP book. Sending a letter with a personally designed letterhead is a must and can help show your style and work style before any interview. After being interviewed for a job, the book mentions that it's also a good idea to leave something small with samples of your work and contact information as an interesting and useful way for the interviewer to remember you and easily get a hold of you.