Designing your Portfolio

Over the past few weeks I’ve gone through the process of designing this site for myself and thought I’d share some of my findings about designing for your own worst client…You.

As designers, we’re never going to be satisfied with our own work. There will always be something better out there, and we’ll always strive to have the coolest, slickest web portfolio. It’s a never ending loop that ends with frustration and an unfinished design. The key is to stay simple and set a deadline.

Keep it Simple

Think about why you’re creating a portfolio site. Is it to impress your friends? No, not really (although its a nice bonus). Is it to gain respect in your industry? Possibly. Is it to land job leads? Yes. To impress the people with money? Definitely.

The people you need to impress aren’t designers. They don’t care if you’ve used the latest and greatest piece of technology, cutting edge trends, or crazy typography that they can’t read. They are the boss. The people in charge. The people with the pleated pants and control of the company payroll. You need to impress them, and they’re impressed by someone who knows business, someone who knows how to design for the project they have in mind, and most importantly, someone who knows the value of a simple-to-use website that shows them exactly what they need to see without them having to look for it. That leads me to my next point.

Show What’s Important

Don’t show every website you’ve designed since your high school graduation. Chances are, a large chunk of that work is mediocre at best. Show only your best work. It’s a good idea to have more work on hand to show a potential client if they ask to see more samples, but I don’t think that more than 5 to 8 projects in your portfolio are necessary.

Blogging, on the other hand, may be a different story. The general consensus seems to be to blog as much as you can. Everyday even. It shows activity, thought, and hopefully some knowledge. You may even gain a “fan base” which will only improve your chances for more work, job leads and contacts.

Create a Deadline

Another very important aspect in creating your online portfolio is to create a deadline. Personally, I have a hard time keeping motivated with my own projects such as this portfolio site, but when I light a fire under my own ass and set a reasonable deadline, I am able to keep cranking through the different steps of a project. Otherwise, I probably would have created my design, and let it sit for a week or two while I decided if I liked it or not. Then, assuming by some miracle I still thought my design was good enough to move forward with, I’d spend another month trying to figure out how to develop the site (or pay someone else to do it for me).

In the end I probably wouldn’t have ever finished the site, but since I set a deadline and made a personal commitment to finish in a timely manner, I cranked through it.

This was my train of thought when I set out to design my site and one night of research proved that I was on the right track. Smashing Magazine has a great article about portfolio design, as well as Astheria.com. In the end, you just have to get it done. Work with what you have and get something out there. You can always build on it and learn from your mistakes.