After weeks of experimenting with new platforms, trying new techniques and learning the building blocks of graphic design, it’s easy to see why anyone would want a way to display their work. That’s where an effective portfolio comes into play. A digital portfolio is a way to layout what you’ve done and exhibit your skill, almost like a virtual art show. And like an art show, you want to display your work in a way that represents your skill and make it a service for everything you’ve accomplished. After designing and creating art with a purpose, it’s now time to showcase it with the same amount of thought.
Like physical portfolios, digital portfolios not only allow one to track and and demonstrate their growth over a long period of time, but they help us provide a place to showcase our best work. An effective portfolio should properly capture the artist’s versatility and stronger ones can incorporate a variety of media, such as illustrations, photographs, graphic designs and marketing material.
It’s also important to tell a story. It’s easy to throw all your work on a template and call it a day, but the process and research it took to get to the final product is just as important. The key is for this story to show the steps, objectives and outcomes in a way that displays the impact you were hoping to make. Think to yourself: How much work did you put into this and what are you hoping to get out of it? This will help you map out your plan and put it into action.
For my portfolio, I divided my work into four categories:
- Audience & Brand
- Images
- Typography & Color
- Grids, Layouts & Composition
Because of each category’s nature, it’s important to note that these projects could easily fit into more than one category, but for the sake of not repeating any, each project is only featured once.
Audience & Brand
For this exercise, I focused on a brand makeover. This involved heavy research about not only the brand, but their audience as well. Doing this helped me make better-informed decisions about where I saw the makeover going.
My research included learning about the brand’s values, their competitors and their audience. The goal was to hone down on a theme and stay consistent when it came to colors and fonts that remained in line with the mood.
Once my research was complete, I started by creating a series of logo variations for a local ramen shop called Dragon Warrior Noodle. Their current logo is extremely busy so my goal was to create options that were minimalist in tone color and its typeface. I initially created 14 potential logo options then narrowed it down to six.
My next task was creating a mood board to supplement my research with a visual element. I started the mood board with one of my favorite logo options and incorporated its accompanying color palette, which includes a mid red, dark red and black color. I also added simple logo variations that could be used on anything from physical notepads to memo headers. For the final part of the brand makeover, I created a brand board, which packaged all my research and visuals into a single presentation. Customers expect brands to be consistent and professional, so I developed the brand identity package with a consistent theme, minimalistic typography and clean graphic elements.
Typography & Color
Nailing the color and typography on graphics is also essential. They both play a part in the aesthetics of the theme and mood you’re hoping to convey to the audience. It is, after all, one of the first things your audience sees when looking at anything your brand releases, whether it’s a logo, a flyer, your website or a social media post. And most of their judgment comes from color alone. The typefaces you pick can help evoke a certain mood, as can the colors you use. Strong color palettes will affect how your audience sees you, so colors are essential in marketing.
I created several projects in the course of several weeks relating to both typography and color, including a type specimen featuring Futura, a series of mood fonts, posters utilizing different color palettes and an homage to Milton Glaser, to name a few.
Images
In graphic design, a powerful image can be the difference between a design that leaves an impact with an audience, and one that’s ignored. Regardless if you’re designing a flier, a website, or a logo, it’s vital that the images used accurately represent the brand and the tone you want to convey to the audience. For this series of projects, I created several images utilizing both illustrations and photographs. Graphic illustrations were used to redesign the labels for a Celestial Seasonings, a brand of herbal tea while I used photos to create a brochure and mood board for the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. This was one of my favorite series of projects as my outcomes were exactly what I was envisioning in my head during the research phase.
Grids, Layouts & Composition
My final category was Grids, Layouts & Composition. Each one is vital for understanding how different mediums impact how something was designed. For this portion, I created a marketing event kit that showcased the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. In this package, I designed a poster, flyer, Facebook banner and thumbnails, Instagram posts, a VIP invite and T-shirt designs and mockups.
I also explored design concepts through wireframing and mockups. I used Trader Joe’s as the subject for this project. My goal was to create a clean and modern newsletter and homepage that encompassed the essence of the company while still taking it in a new direction.
Wrapping up
Looking back on how much my graphic design experience has evolved in just seven weeks was eye opening in the best possible way. So when creating my portfolio, I wanted to ensure it was both interactive and engaging. It has the categories listed on top, as well as a “View All” option. When interacting with each image, you’re able to read a brief caption about the specific piece.
While gallery portfolios aren’t often text-heavy, I still wanted my process for each one to be featured, which is why I tagged my blog for each category throughout this post.
The hope for your portfolio is for it to be like a living document of your skill, which can always be continued and improved. As time goes on, I’ll also be able to incorporate new and improved projects.