In every field, whether it is graphic design or any other, a portfolio is a thing that makes your interviewer understand your qualifications, skills, and knowledge. Because of that, it is really a must to have a portfolio. But making it is quite tricky, especially for freshers with zero industry exposure. Using wrong color schemes, typography, low-quality images, and overall layout are a few common mistakes to avoid. They make a very bad impression in front of an interviewer.
This blog covers some stages to help you prepare a graphic design portfolio for your next interview. So, stick to it till the end as it is especially prepared for students in courses in graphic designing, students who are preparing themselves for the industry.
Before we understand how to create a portfolio, let’s first understand what a portfolio is and what points are there to remember while creating it.
What is a Design Portfolio?
A portfolio is a thing which is used for the purpose of getting a job. Any person who has knowledge in any specific field creates a portfolio and writes all important points about themselves in it. Portfolio is a thing that shows about you, your knowledge, skills, etc.
Benefits of a Portfolio
There are multiple benefits of having a portfolio in today’s competitive world. Let’s read about some of them.
Demonstrates Credibility
By creating a portfolio, employers and clients see your growth, knowledge and skills.
Showcase Skills and Accomplishments
Portfolio is known as the tangible asset of your skills, which people can actually see.
Stand Out from the Competition
In this competitive market, a perfectly developed portfolio helps you to stand out and make a good impression.
Facilitate Self-Reflection and Goal Setting
By creating a portfolio, you can see what you have learned in the past period, what you lack, and points to work on.
Professional Branding
You can say a portfolio is a platform where a person can show their unique strength and abilities.
Now, move forward and explore the tips to prepare a graphic design portfolio.
Tips to Create a Perfect Graphic Design Portfolio
Stick to these tips and create an improved version of your portfolio.
Make an Attractive Intro
Make a provoking introduction in your resume. As it is the best way to show yourself. Make your introduction easy and simple so it can be easy to understand.
Curate and Showcase Your Best Work
Focus on quality content and add all your best skills and projects in the portfolio to show your ability and art to perform professional tasks.
Select your best Skills and Project
Select those projects on which you feel proud. But remember that those projects are not older than 1 or 2 years. Before adding the projects must check that they are showing your creativity and knowledge in it or not.
Highlight Your Unique Skills and Abilities
Show your best skills in the portfolio and highlight them. Write all your skills like technical and soft skills, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, software proficiency, project management, etc.
Add Correct Details
Make sure to add only those skills that you know and can perform real-life tasks using them. Don’t add those skills in which you don’t have experience.
Tell about your work in the project
Add a paragraph in the CV about your role and contribution in creating the project. Also mention the type of work project in detail with challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
Give Credit to the people who are included in the project
Tell about those people who helped you to complete your work.
Tell about your managing skills
The client mainly wants to know about how you manage the work. So show that part in the resume in a most highlighted way.
Provide Context and Explain Your Process
After each topic, explain its motive and highlight its purpose in a brief. Also mention your role in it, what technology you used, and the result that comes after difficulties.
Add Description wisely
After every topic, add a description in a way that is easy to understand. Do not make it more complicated and long like an essay. Provide a short description about the topic, its challenges, background, etc.
Use High-Quality Visuals
Make sure the details written in the portfolio are not blurred. Use high-quality images or videos to present your work. Remember that your visuals are fully professional and well organized.
Design a Clean and Professional Layout
Your portfolio should be easy to understand. Choose a layout which creates a cohesive look.
Organize your Portfolio Effectively
Put your details cleverly in the portfolio. Each heading or subheading needs to be visible. Organize your details in a chronological method.
Make it simple to understand
This is the main step which needs to be understood by everyone. Making the resume overstuffed will lead to overwhelming and confusing. A resume that is made in a simple way will make it more attractive.
These are the main tips to understand during the preparation of a portfolio.
Now, we will explore some very common mistakes which we need to avoid.
Mistakes to Avoid During the Preparation of a Portfolio
Outdated or Irrelevant Work
Avoid work which is not related to the current skills and knowledge. Remember to put projects which are not older than 1 or 2 years.
Too Much or Too Little Content
A portfolio should focus on making clear your goal to the client without overwhelming content.
Lack of Clarity
Make sure that your portfolio communicates your skills, including your AI skills as graphic designer, education, and knowledge to the client clearly.
Generic or Uninspired Content
Highlight about a specific industry or work in your portfolio and specify how it is different from the others.
Poorly Organized or Cluttered Portfolio
Make sure that your portfolio is properly organized and easy to understand.
Not proofreading or testing your portfolio
Read your portfolio before showing it to the client. There should be no typographical error, broken links, grammar mistakes, etc. As this will question your professionalism.
So, these were some of the main points to avoid while preparing your graphic design work for an interview. In order to get the best quality work to present in the interview, you need to learn every detail of designing. To do that, learn them all under experts’ guidance at our Graphic Design Institute in Delhi. Here, you will gain command of both theoretical and practical aspects of graphic design. Whether you want to go for graphic design classes online or offline, we have all types of learning modes for you. So, let’s start learning together.