Five steps to a better design portfolio

If you're looking for work as a designer, the old cliche is true: a picture is worth a thousand words. That is, your portfolio is your most important calling card.(визитная карточка)

I've been involved in hiring (прием на работу) all sorts of designers - freelance, contract, full-time, in all sorts of disciplines - visual, interaction (взаимодействие), illustration, print. Through this process, I've seen a lot of portfolios; some good, many bad. Here's a few things I've learned while wading (пробираясь) through them all.

1. Use best practices

First of all, if you want a job doing web design, make sure your portfolio itself is an example of good web design. That doesn't just mean making it attractive (привлекательный) and easy to use, but also following the fundamental principles of what sets the web apart. (помещать отдельно)When I'm checking out a portfolio, I look at the craft and detail that went into making it. For example:

Is it standards compliant (соответствующий)? I'm not a stickler (приверженец) for validating (придавать законную силу), but I do view source (источник) and check the doctype. A quick glance at the markup (разметка) will also tell me how organized this designer is.

Is the designer trying to control typography by setting words in graphics? As a web designer, you should prove your understanding of findability (возможность нахождения)over style.

Is it presented in a self-contained (отдельный автономный) box of Flash? Are you breaking the back button (кнопка)? I don't want to have to argue with the designer later over things like this.

These are just a few examples, but they're all issues of control. And they serve as subtle (тонкий, искусный) clues (ключ, улика) that the owner of the portfolio designs for users, rather than their own ego.

1. Don't innovate (вводить новшества)

This may seem counterintuitive (противоречит интуиции) - after all, isn't a portfolio the place where a designer really should be showing their strengths? But too often, a portfolio becomes a place where designers misplace (поставить не на то место) innovation. I've seen so many examples of fancy (причудливый) Flash or Ajax navigation that distract from the work. Or worse - they are so clever that I fail to recognize (узнать, распознать) them and miss many of the examples.

This portfolio, for example, is beautiful and filled with excellent examples of the designers talent. But I didn't initially understand the horizontal scrolling (horizontal scroll display -горизонтальное перемещение изображения (в системах телетекста)) mechanism until someone in a meeting showed me. That means I missed most of their portfolio without even realizing it.

1. Show your work

Your portfolio is not the place to be worried about copyright infringement (посягательство на авторские права). Too often, I find myself squinting (коситься, щуриться) at tiny images of a designers work. Use full-sized screenshots or, better yet, host the actual files on your server. (Don't rely only on a link to your clients' or former employer's implementations (выполнение) - they'll change them eventually (со временем))

If you absolutely must, put the whole portfolio behind a password if you're worried about the assets (имущество, активы) being stolen.

1. Explain what you did

Yes, the screens are important. Ultimately (разумеется), images are going to sell your talent. But if I'm going to work with you, I want to know the who, what, where, when and why of each example.

Tell me about the client. Were you on staff (в штате) or contracting with them? What were their goals for the project? How involved were you overall (в целом)? Did you have to work within their styleguide? Was it a redesign, or did you start with a clean slate (с нуля)?

I want to know what constraints (принуждение, трудности) you faced and how you dealt with them. Did you try things only to be told "no" by someone in marketing or engineering? Don't burn bridges («жечь мосты») with your former clients, but be honest and talk about whether your vision for the product was ultimately implemented (осуществлено).

I think we did a pretty good job of this at Adaptive Path with our case studies. Each one tries to outline (выявить) what problem we were trying to solve, the solutions we attempted, and how successful they were. Likewise, the explanations Doug Bowman provides on his Stopdesign portfolio give insight into the choices he made.

Imagine sitting across the table from a potential employer and explaining each example. What would you want them to know? Probably more than the sentence or two most designers include in their portfolio. Write it up!

5. Fill it in (заполнять, предоставлять информацию)

I often hear from young designers just getting into the business who are concerned that their portfolios only contain school work. Is that good enough? In a word: no.

These days, there's no excuse for not creating your own real-world work, with or without clients. Design a WordPress theme or skin (чистить) an open source app (application). Better yet, find a community organization and volunteer your skills by offering to redesign their site. This has the added benefit (дополнительная выгода) of building your client relationship skills and your ability to work within constraints of audience, technology, budget, and schedule.

Just get out there, do good work, and show it off to the world. And good luck at that interview.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14