(upbeat music)
- Hey everyone.
Welcome to a new portfolio review video.
I started this series off a couple of months ago
and it seems that people really enjoyed it
so I'm keeping it going.
Today I'll be reviewing three designer's portfolios
and sharing my advice, thoughts, suggestions
to help them make tweaks to those portfolios
to better align with their goals and get
the kind of work that they're after.
All of the portfolios that are reviewed
in this series come through on a submission
basis, so if you'd like to submit yours
for review in a future episode,
then there'll be a link down below
in the description box.
The first portfolio I have to review
is the one on the screen behind me.
This is Conor's portfolio.
He is a designer who's studying a Master's Degree
in Digital Media Principles, but doing small
pieces of freelance illustration and graphic
design work on the side, and he's been doing
that for about two years.
He'd like to move more into user experience
and direction design and work in an agency of some kind.
That's what he's looking for advice on
is how to make his portfolio more applicable
to UX and interaction design roles.
Let's take a look.
The first thing that I'll say about Conor's portfolio
is that I love this bright color in the negative space.
Feel like portfolios are often quite white,
because they are meant to be like a blank canvas
to fill your work with, but yeah, having this bright
pop of color is really great for making
an impact when someone first reaches your site.
Connor has this introduction with an illustration,
I'm guessing of himself, and his name and what he does,
which is a great start.
You'd be surprised as to how many people
don't put what it is that they do.
That he enjoys his work.
This is interesting.
It seems like something might be a bit broken here
with your site, Conor,
It might be good to take a look at that.
Either these are blank projects or something is,
you know, pushing off this alignment a bit.
If you're wanting to get into more of web
and interaction design, then little details
like this are really important to pay attention to
because someone who works in that field
will definitely notice this.
I think on the contact form I would suggest
putting some reasons for clients or potential
employers to contact you.
Say what kind of work you're after, say that you're
looking to help them with their projects
of this, this and this nature or whatever
and I think that will help with selling
yourself a bit more throughout your page.
I noticed as well, an interesting detail here.
Underneath your work you've got these buttons
to view some PDFs.
This one says professional portfolio, which makes me
wonder what this is, like is this website not
your professional portfolio?
In which case, what is it?
That seems a bit confusing.
So, I might look at the wording there.
In the projects themselves that you have displayed
on your site, there's not a whole lot of detail.
There is this paragraph and it says when you did it
and who the client was, but in some of them,
I think it was this one here, there was a lot more detail.
So, this one you go into the brief and the research
and show a lot more behind the scenes.
That's really good and I would encourage you
to do that for all of the projects in your portfolio.
I notice that, I think it was in this development
portfolio, you had a lot more of that background
information, so you obviously have the content
and I think it would be a good idea to display
that in the projects on your site, because people
are much more likely to like these are nice
you know, thumbnails that people are being
encouraged to click through.
So, I would put your best work and your best like
selling of that work into these projects here.
Because you've said you wanna get into doing
more UX work as well, I would definitely say
you need more of that kind of work in your portfolio.
Right now, I probably wouldn't feel confident
hiring you for a web design or you know, user experience
role because there's only one web project in here basically.
The rest are more branding or illustration
and obviously, you've got great skills in those things,
but if it is more web design that you're looking for
then I would suggest you tailor your portfolio
to include more projects that are relevant to that,
or perhaps you could combine your illustration
and web design and show how you're using illustration
to communicate on a landing page, for example.
Those small tweaks to the messaging I suppose,
is really what it is of how you show your skills
to apply it to the job that you wanna be going for.
Next up we have Dahlia, who is from the U.S.
She has spent a bit of time doing in-house production
work for a college, like brochures and maps and floor
plans, et cetera, but she's now learning WebDeb
which is exciting.
I am, too.
And, wanting to get a different job for in-house work
for a company.
The very first thing that I'll point out here,
like I noted on Conor's portfolio, it was great
that he had his name and what he does.
I really want you to add your name and what you do
to the top of your portfolio, because the very first
thing I see when I get to your site is current
and past work, which is kind of a redundant statement
because your portfolio is always gonna be work
that you're doing or have done.
So, change that out for your name and the kind
of design that you specialize in.
I think that'll help.
You've chosen a really nice theme for your site.
I will say that.
I really like this little parallax scroll here.
Scrolling through your work, I liked that you,
'cause you said that you worked in the production side,
I've done a bit of this in the past and I know
that all these things like detailing the colors
and the exact sizes of things and all that specifications
takes a lot of time and you really have to have
a keen eye for detail for it.
So, I like that you included not only the pictures
of the finished signage that you've designed,
but also the specification pages, as well.
I think that's good and it shows a bit of background
into your process, too.
Some of the projects you have in here I think
could benefit from photography.
This brochure for example, instead of showing
it as this flat pdf of what you created,
you designed it to be printed, so I think
it would be better if it was shown in your portfolio
as a printed piece.
So, get a printed copy and set it up, you know,
with on a white background or something and take
some nice photos of it.
Pretty easy to do and I think it would really help
bring this work to life a bit more and show it in context.
It would also be better I think, if you could zoom in
on some of the details.
So, for example, this map you've created is pretty small.
I can't really see all the work that went into it
very well whereas, if you had like a close up photo
of that in the brochure or even just a zoomed in
digital version, that could really help show,
show the quality of your work I suppose.
I think photographs would really help unify and make
this overview page of your portfolio a lot better, as well.
I think it would be more interesting to see
the finished product there.
The same actually for these power point slides,
which is another project you have.
Instead, I'd suggest you show them on a screen
so that when you're viewing the work
you're viewing it in the context that it was
created for and make sure you're being
very, very selective with exactly
which works you show, as well.
So, we only wanna see your very, very best slides.
Like what I was saying with Conor, I think your portfolio
could benefit more from talking about your process.
You do have these little descriptions at the top
of each project which is good, but you could go deeper
into what was expected of you and how you handled the brief.
In the case of this logo design, in particular,
I would take off, I was asked to create a quick logo.
That makes it sound like it wasn't something
that you worked very hard on.
It was just something that you did quickly.
So, I'd question why it's in your portfolio
if that's the case.
I don't know, just something to think about,
the language that you used to describe your projects.
You've also got an about and contact page on your site
which is always good.
I would recommend that you take this first line
from your about page and bring that onto the home page,
'cause that's a really strong statement that you've got
10 years of experience of managing projects
from creation to the installed deliverable.
That's pretty cool and so I would bring that more out
into the front and center.
Okay, the last portfolio we have to look at today
is by Jalen, who is from Vancouver, Canada.
Jalen is one month away from graduating
so congratulations.
I don't actually know when you sent me this email
so you might have already graduated by now.
But, he's hoping to get work at an in-house
or agency design firm hopefully, within the U.S.
and wants to focus on branding and packaging.
So, let's take a look and see Jalen's portfolio.
So, at first glance I already love the template
and the theme you've used.
It's very simple but it lets your work speak
and I liked your use of copy to bring in personality.
Like I was saying with Conor's, how that nice bright
yellow color really made it a bit special.
I like that you have those little asterisks
to explain what you do and then as you scroll down
near the bottom here you've got this cute,
I'm sensing some creative chemistry.
I think that's good to inject some fun
and some personality into a portfolio in that way.
Right off the start I would say that if you're
looking for work in the U.S. I would maybe
take off this focus of being based in Vancouver.
If someone's looking through a bunch
of applications for a job and yours is one
of many that they've been sent, this could be a reason
for them to discount you because it seems like
too much hassle, that you're based there or whatever.
I don't know.
I would take that off and let your work speak
for itself so that they're really excited about hiring you
and then you can think about moving down from Vancouver,
if that makes sense.
Great having your resume here to just see where you studied
and what you've been working with,
who your clients have been.
It just shows me that you've done something.
You know, I'm not gonna go and inspect
all these clients individually, but it's good
to have them in there.
What I really love is that you've detailed
your design process and how you work.
This is something that I definitely need to do
on my own site, because I'm wanting to get
more freelance work now.
But, I like that you've included your process
and it takes you through very clearly
the three steps of how you work
and if we click through to your work,
I think, if I remember correctly, this is represented
in there too.
I really love your project pages, by the way.
I think it's great that you've got an image
of a finished product at the top
and then you can get into the details
and see how you worked on it and how you came
to the solution.
See, you've got the discovery phase and the design phase
in here and then you showing the deliverables.
And, I like that you are showing the design system
that's used rather than just the finished product.
It shows that you're thinking about the details
just like Dahlia, in the production specifications.
And, Dahlia, if you're watching, this is what I mean
about photography as well.
Jalen could've just showed a flat version
of this box, but doesn't it just look beautiful
to see the finished thing put together?
And, I know it must have been a lotta work
to mock this up and get the nice background
to take the photos, get them well lit,
but, it's definitely worth it.
It just shows your work in a much better light.
I really like the way you've organized
your project description.
I think creating this hierarchy makes it really easy
to skim down and like dip in and read a little bit
here and there.
I don't really have a whole lot of changes to suggest
for you Jalen 'cause I think you've done
a really great job.
But, maybe adding categories, like what you worked on
within each project, so that way if I'm in a rush
and looking to check out if you've got relevant
experience for the job that I'm hiring for, I can
quickly see, okay, packaging.
I'm definitely gonna click on this one.
Or, if I really wanna get the best insight
into your typography work, I know which one to click on.
And again, like I said, taking off the Vancouver
from the top there, if you're looking to get
a job in the U.S. could be a good idea.
Those are all the portfolios I have time to review today
unfortunately, but if you'd like to get yours reviewed
in a future episode in this series, then check
the link down below.
I think it's charlimarie.co,/portfolio-review
and submit yours there.
Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it
and if you're new around here make sure
you hit the subscribe button because I make
new videos about design every single Saturday
and then vlogs of my life here in London every Tuesday.
So, hopefully, I will see you in the next one.
Bye.