Digitizing and Portfolios that Work

Digitizing Traditional Work:
Some pieces that you want in your portfolio may not be digital. You can't just make it digital by taking a picture or scanning it with whatever you have lying around your house on default settings. Nope. According to "Designing a Digital Portfolio," images are judged by the way you communicate the pieces you're presenting. They're judged by image quality and image appropriateness. The author mentions how well this scan (pictures under shadowville in book) was done. Scanning a book isn't easy because of the binding and the pages being lumpy, but this artist was able to get a good clean picture.

This leads to one topic i found interesting when it comes to digitizing pieces of work were the scanning tips. Some tips include cleaning the scanner. Those silly little dust specks always seem to pop up and ruin you're nice clear image. Also, make sure you scan it in straight. This minimizes the time you spend on Photoshop trying to get everything straight and even. The author also mentions avoiding moire which is the wavy, distracting pattern from printed pieces. Since the book's reference to moire didn't work for me, I looked around some more sites and found this one which illustrated what moire is better, to me, than reading it.

Making a Working Portfolio:
One key aspect in designing your portfolio, which I mentioned before, is audience. Ask yourself who are you going to show your portfolio to, does it need to emphasize certain strengths you might have. The focus of your portfolio is your work NOT it's container. That and presentation comes in second. The author of "Building Design Portfolios" mentions to students that we should design extra pieces apart from our school assignments. An example is redesigning things like book covers if you're doing print.

There is a quote that can be very useful to a graphic designer of any level. It's "A designer who shows ambition is extremely attractive to most clients and prospective employers."

Some elements can help define your style or setup when it comes to your portfolio's look. For example, tone can be one. Your portfolio should mimic and reflect the kind of work that you're interested in. Another element is range. You should show a wide range of work because more is better. The author mentions roughly 12 pieces of various works like posters, identities, and publication to name a few.

Showing parts of your thought process is also helpful. I think I had mentioned this before. Adding rough sketches and thumbnails to your pieces helps your possible employer see how you handle the working process. Another thing to keep in mind is know why you chose to do something a certain way because "decisions are meaningless without understanding why they were made." It's important to stand behind your pieces and know why you decided to design it the way you did.