An empty design portfolio, where to start?
As a hiring manager and creative director, I’ve often been asked by young talent, where do I start? Everyone wants to see a portfolio and no one will hire you without one; so how do you get a portfolio if the only way to build a portfolio is by having a portfolio? My advice is simple; start making stuff!
Start making stuff … make anything and everything! If you see a movie poster and you think you could have done it better — do it and show it. If you think of a cool and interesting company concept, pretend like it is your company and create a logo and brand identity. A portfolio is NOT defined as a showcase of work for hire (commissioned worked). It is simply a showcase of work (any and all work original to you!!). Anyone here can create a new “AOL.com” logo and submit it to AOL. It is for AOL to decide whether or not they use your logo, but we can present this work in our portfolio — even if AOL thinks what you created is unusable and completely off-mark.
What “Web 2.0″ has started to evolve into is community based resources. Look at CSSBeauty.com, no one paid Alex to create the site, but I know it makes one hell of a portfolio piece for him. My point being, create something useful and you instantly have a great portfolio piece. Don’t ever lie about what was and was not work-for-hire, be honest (when asked), but also present high impact work.
Personally — as a hiring manager, I would rather see your BEST design work, whether commissioned or not. I don’t want to see some three page website you did for “Pam’s Shoe Cleaning Service” down the street — I want to see the best you have to offer — something that knocks my socks off (and shoe cleaning logos don’t usually do that).
- November 27th, 2006
- 15comments
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“Everyone wants to see a portfolio and no one will hire you without one; so how do you get a portfolio if the only way to build a portfolio is by having a portfolio?“
Excellent question, and one I’m sure many designers ask themselves. I had a pretty good portfolio coming out of college thanks to a lot of freelance work I did around the community, but it is a difficult situation and I think you provided a good answer. Here’s another you might want to address, which I asked myself constantly before I got my current job:
If no employers will hire you without 2-5 years of work experience, and you’re fresh out of college, how do you get the experience to make yourself employable in the first place?
2 choices:
1. work through college and/or
2. attend a graduate design program at a school like the creative circus or portfolio center
If you’re fresh out of college with no experience, you’re simply not ready to enter the workforce (and will risk your career by working in a unrewarding environment). There’s just far too many designers better than you. Become conceptual. Think of a way for a company to put something on the shelves in a more captivating, effective way. You may find yourself to be more comfortable as the “idea man” rather than the designer, and lean more towards an art director position.
If you’ve flipped through the phone book and created logos at random, and revamped your favorite websites, and you’re still not getting recognized by employers, lock yourself away in the attic and learn your programs. High quality generally comes secondary to speed and precise execution. You’re more valuable if you can do it right, and then, practice on doing it better.
I’m not sure I quite got my message across. What I’m asking doesn’t revolve around working your way through college or attending a graduate program. Either way, you have no “real-world” experience in the eyes of employers. Many want you to have worked for a company, preferably one similar to the one you’re currently applying for. If you don’t have those years of experience tallied, they toss your resume in the trash before you get a chance to show how good your portfolio is, or how great you can turn Photoshop on its head.
Hence, the impasse: if all of the employers you find insist on 2-5 years of actual, real-world, corporate experience, then it becomes impossible to actually get the job that will give you the experience that they require to get the job. It’s a catch-22 in every sense of the phrase.
Needless to say, since I have a job now that I love, the problem didn’t last forever. But there were about 6 months where that was an endless frustration; so I threw the question out there to benefit others, and maybe warn college seniors of what they might be looking forward to in the job market.
Steve,
You bring up another important point that distresses most young talent. I was fortunate enough to do as oneburn suggested and work through college (30 hours/week) in an high impact environment within a large national media company.
However, now is a great time in this “Web 2.0″ world. Everyone wants to do the next big thing and no one wants to pay for it. I see dozens of jobs looking for students or junior level designer/developers. I suggest taking a job within a less than appealing company simply for the experience — it is a short term investment that will pay off in the long run. I’d also suggest not being picky about salary.
My first salary was 28k/year — not enough to live off of in the DC area, but it is what I had to do and I knew going into it that it would be temporary. But every hiring managers has their own philosophy on this topic. I won’t discount you simply because you don’t have X years experience — I want to see an amazing portfolio. I will hire a kid right out of highschool if his portfolio is strong enough.
You might be interested in reading one of my related articles:
Web Designers, how much experience is enough experience?
I also think it’s important to note that a portfolio with 2 kick ass pieces is far better than a portfolio with 10 good pieces.
Brian, I could not agree more. Remember though, it is a fair balance between quantity and quality. While I understand the point you are making, I feel compelled to mention that just two pieces doesn’t show enough diversity and breathe of work.
But to your point, 10 “kick ass” pieces is far better than a portfolio with 20 good pieces.
I am 52 years old today, and have been in GD since the old Key-line past up days, before computers.
I went to a Florida college to brush-up in ‘96 and ended up teaching as a sub for a term as well, (Apple basics, Photoshop, Illustrator, layout, to camera ready art.) I was eventually hired to upgrade an art department to computer graphics and stayed on as Art Director for a small ad agency near Chicago. By 2004, the Agency was sold and became a CMR which only deals in yellow page advertising with the occasional banner ad. The new owner wanted someone younger in my position. It was never spoken out loud but, that’s life and they made it pretty unbearable for me as it became a virtual Creative Desert so I left. I have been struggling as a freelance designer ever since. Not because I’m not good at what I do (I’ve won awards) but because I am not a good salesperson. Potential employers see my resumé and love my portfolio, but I’m a designer not a code warrior so never did much web work other then just designing them in photoshop. I don’t know? Is it because I’m older? Adobe Golive is now on my hard disk. So soon by the end of this winter I will have another Design app under my belt. I feel like I’m starting over again. Am I too old? I don’t feel old. Are there firms that hire just designers any more? or should I hang it up and go to Mikey Dees? I can’t teach without a masters and can’t aford to go back to school to get one. sorry for the rant.
I’d never say anyone is “too old” — you might be “too expensive”. Creative talent is creative talent — regardless of age. It is funny how the older one gets, getting a job feels much like when you first start out — the grass is always greener I suppose.
In this web 2.0 world that we live in (whether you want to be in it or not), being just a designer is starting to be an extreme rarity for the web. Hell, I feel like I don’t know enough because I am not a superstar AJAX developer. Lets face it, the ideal employee would do everything from design to development and only ask for $20,000/year — but that ain’t us, is it?
If you want to be a graphic designer, then be a graphic designer. However, if you want to work in the web, then my only advice to you is …. start over!
Drop everything and forget everything you think you know. Throw Adobe GoLive in the trash and start learning HTML from scratch. The best web designers I know are also developers, because they design as if they are going to have to build it (often being pixel perfect). You need to know how your medium works before you can design for it. Imagine putting together a print piece but having no concept of CMYK ,DPI resolution or even how the bleed works — it would be a mess. And I suspect that is how your web design is coming across to some employers. It might look amazing, but is it a mess?
A 50 year old designer can be just as effective as a 20 year old designer! Just make sure you are competitive — know your market, your competition and what your audience wants (then be that!).
Nice post.
It’s just as interesting to read through the comments too.
It’s funny. In all my years studying design at college I probably learned more, faster, by asking for critiques on forums such as HOW and, god forbid, MySpace. There’s a graphic design forum on MySpace that I’ve received some superb constructive criticism from, mainly on projects that weren’t commissioned, but started simply to improve upon my portfolio.
Anyway, enough rambling. Good post.
Thanks for the comment.
I am working on a side project right now with a developer for Design Reviews — sort of Design Review 3.0 style. Look for a post in the new year with a beta sign-up.
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I really agree with the folks that talk about the burning desire to keep learning. I admire folks like that, in any industry. For example, Seth Godin (the marketing guy) is always thinking, thinking, thinking, whether he’s going to a restaurant or talking about a major corporation’s marketing goof.
While I have not questioned the value of a college education, I have had a related question bouncing around my head for several years: As I have transitioned in my career from simple print designer to a hybrid creative position that includes web design, do I need to get a post-graduate degree to advance past a certain level? If I want to work as a freelancer, I’m thinking that the piece of paper doesn’t do a whole lot. Certificates are OK, but they are not a graduate degree. MFA’s and the like are nice, but is the debt and personal time spent really worth it? While I agree that it’s nice to have the luxury of time to really explore things you can’t get to in a real-world environment, I’d say no.
If I want to remain an in-house creative, the answer may be different and I’m still looking for that answer. Now, I’m actually at a nonprofit organization, so it’s a bit of a different ballgame there. Multiple positions are often merged into one, and it appears that graduate degrees have some value if you want to move beyond a manager position. I’m curious, is it like that in for-profit corporations? If you’re a senior web designer and want to be, say, VP/Senior Web Designer at a major corporation, do you need a grad degree?
Oops, meant my above comment to go in the “Do Web Designers Need Degrees?”. Martin, please delete when you get a chance.
I can’t believe this - great site man/woman! I’ll definitely be adding this to my rss feed list. You do have a rss feed right?