Week 11 - Designing a portfolio interface

Wow! I can't believe that there is only 3 weeks left until everything is due. So as I'm getting close to the end, and of course so is the end of the last book for this class: Designing Digital Portfolios. In chapter 11 they discussed about the importance of interface. These sentences caught my attention because not only are we almost done, but in this field we can never stop learning: "Interface design is a specialized discipline that is still changing rapidly... To build an exceptional interface,you must study user interaction, have a special talent for organizing data, and be a good visualizer." In order to have a working interface it is recommended to organize yourself and by that it was summed up in four stages: Group, Map, Schematic, and Look-and-feel.

Group, is knowing what category to put your projects in it could be by date, area of design, illustrations or photos, print, interactive, 2D, 3D, Process like sketches, modeling, character animations, by client, the difficulty of the project or by visual interest the viewer will navigate through. Map, is what you come up with afterwards to organize, it's a flowchart that represents every page in your portfolio. Schematic, is is basically a page layout grid. Look and feel, is think about what style or theme will be use and how people will interact with those decisions. Once all of this is thought of and re-thought and you are happy with the outcome it is important to stay focused and avoid distractions, This book suggested to remember KISS: Keep It Simple, Seriously. Although I know that I have seen this acronym of kiss as, Keep it Simple Stupid.
The most time consuming step is preparation although building also requires time it makes it much easier to accomplish this by having everything already well thought out and then have a working interface.

Week 10 - Nontraditional Portfolios and some basics

A nontraditional portfolio is a distinguished feature with often an unusual exterior. The portfolio must match the work and never overpower or upstage the design samples. Out of the nontraditional portfolio’s that I was able to come across in the last chapter of Building Design Portfolio’s I liked the light box created by Chris Dimino it is an eye catching portfolio and interesting way of displaying all the hard work. Having an Interactive portfolio ….. Being able to have an Interactive portfolio or a website is essential because anyone that has internet connection can view it at no matter what time in the day “a well-designed website is a great vehicle for showing both a designer’s style and areas of expertise”. That is why having a portfolio is so important in this field, keep it update, keep it interactive, keep it interesting. You should visit the sites of my favorite design examples that were used in this book: Amber Frid-Jimenez and Louise Fili LTD.

The development basics now that I have collected all of my work and know that I want my portfolio to impress the viewer I need to go back and look at my master listing. According to Chapter 10 in Designing a Digital Portfolio I need to set the foundation and it’s composed of 1) An appropriate technology, 2) a structure and 3) a visual concept for your interface. This chapter kept on explaining the many different types of portfolios you can design and explained the basics of what a static pages are and a simple motion or interaction site. Descriptions on weather to use web versus portable portfolios and while thinking about all that coming up with a metaphor. A couple of the metaphorical concepts given were: Gallery, Spec sheet/brochure, Outreach, Narrative, Diary, and Experience. While thinking about which metaphor to use it can be "Welcome to my gallery" or pick the project that best describes your skills or instead of displaying interactivity then to consider a slideshow of the best work you own like So Takahasi.

Week 9 - Professional/Student Portfolios & creating written content

Looking through all of the photographs of the work many have done in Building Design Portfolio. I was able to see how many different ideas are out there and how unique most of the portfolios and projects are. Not mattering if they were done by a professional or by a student, they were different styles, different sizes, and a combinations of different color. It made me realize that I also need to work on some projects that will increase my ideas and create my own style. I was thinking about a collection of photographs and combining them with one of my hobbies, scrapbooking. My favorite accessories for scrapbooking are the eyelets if I can come up with a variety of postcards like a series and keep the viewer’s attention and waiting to receive my postcard. I was also thinking some sort of puzzle combination and since the postcards will be a series they must have all 6 of them in order to make out the complete picture of the secret puzzle.

Creating written content (Chapter 9 Designing a Digital Portfolio)

This is a difficult task especially for those designers whom do not like writing as much as they like designing. An easy tip given to this issue was to “design a portfolio with no written content- just your contact information.” Although somewhat risky it can be a solution to presenting animations but not so god when presenting designs. This chapter helped me focus and figure out how much text my portfolio really needs. People want to know about your career or education, the viewer needs to be able to sense who you are, the right text in the right place can help them do that

What you will need to write about:
• Identify your work - Descriptive title
• Introduce yourself – include some personal information either by a resume, a short biography or cover letter
• Explain your ideas and process – Design brief, case study, processing comments, and Philosophy
• Speak directly to your audience – “Adapt vocabulary and style to whom you are writing to from suits to a small design studio or to a highly-focused niche audience.”

Week 8 - Interactive Portfolios/websites & optimizing effeciantly

Today while reading Building Design Portfolios I was able to find some good examples od interactive websites. Successful design studios redesign their sites very often to maintain a good reputation and stay current also to show your most recent work. A potential employer evaluates web portfolios by first considering the material they see in the site, did it take long to load is it difficult to navigate that also includes how easy and visible it is to turn off the sound of a website. Many designers just skip this step and much rather not add music to their website.

Reading chapter 8 of Designing a Digital Portfolio about printed portfolios it was said that after scanning, shooting, and agonizing over lost details, it can suddenly dawn on you that the best art is the original version - the file forgotten on the disk. However you can never use it exactly as it is. One of the best ways to repurpose published work is to create a PDF. Some tips for creating good PDFs: (Pages 141 & 142)

• Avoid scrolling
• Shoot original files
• Use TIF files
• Optimize JPEGs
• For a fast attachment, merge your PDF's
• Make your PDF a project
• Create a cover page
• Watch your file sizes
• Name your PDF sensibly
• No headshots

Optimizing all image files i order to fit the requirements of transmission.

Self Promotion

I was reading this Self-Promotion article and it was like reading the struggles I was facing and here I was beginning to think that I was the only one going through this. Self designing is very difficult, I would know I have faced it these past couple months. It is important to be honest in how you present yourself. To ask yourself questions like what you like and dislike and that will answer questions and give ideas in order to create a portfolio that truly represents you and the work that you do.

There are some key points given by Mary Virginia Swanson useful to determine in advance of creating your website:

a) Your graphic identiy or BRANDING must be clear and simple:
b) Your business model - what are you selling? Your prints and/or skills? And/or are you introducing new work about which you will continue to inform the audience? If you teach, do you want to list upcomng workshops? Do you have a book for sale? Do you want to share the comments of others about your work as testimonials?
c) If selling prints, do you want to reveal your technique in making and/or printing the work, and the pricing/editioning structure, or ask that interested parties contact you for this information?
d) If you have gallery representation, will you, or are you, contractually obliged to refer all inquiries to that business?
e) If you have a representative for assignment work, will you, or are you, contractually obliged to reer all inquiries to that firm?
f) Your contact information: do you need to publish your studion and/or mailing address and phone number, or choose not reveal such personal information?


One day I asked my Typography Profesor at Quinnipiac what his feedback was for my business card and he advised that I did not have to submit all of my information at once, that it would be a good idea if I just handed them a card where they had to go to my website portfolio and when they become one of my customers then I will share that information so that they can feel comfortable working with me.

Week 7 - Tips for Job hunting and Promotions

While reading Building Design Portfolios it was said that one should aim for having a strong design then to prepare for the interview and presentations. Job hunting requires first research of the company you have submitted your information. A résumé is important because that is where the viewer will be able to see in writing all the things you have done and have your contact information on there hands without having to look further. The cover letter is where you will very friendly encourage the reader to look at your portfolio. Follow up materials are thank you notes and follow-up phone calls. Promotions that you sent out could be mailers, books and monographs, CDs, and PDFs. This are known to be "limited-edition portfolios" because designers distribute as reminders or enticements. I also learned that your promotional piece does not have to be very expensive just good enough to catch the most attention and this will show the viewer the ability to produce innovative work without a big budget. In the examples that were given my favorite was one by Japanese designer Hirokazu Kurebayashi's promotional piece it's an elegant professionally printed package for a corporate audience. First in a plastic sleeve then opens to expose a black cloth bag silk-screened bag with the designer's name and holds a four sided black cardboard envelope containing twenty-seven printed samples. (Images Displayed in pages 56 an 57)

Cleaning up after your scanning is what was discussed in chapter seven of Designing a Digital Portfolio. The problems with digitized art are put together in a short list:
• Tonal problems
• Combining and editing
• Size and resolution
• Sharpness

All of these issues happen with all types of digital art. If the concepts of tone, color, resolution, and sharpness are well understood then you can apply them equally well in any digital file. Here is another list about working on the right types of files, and in the right order: (Page 120)
1. Change your file type.
2. Adjust brightness, contrast, and color casts.
3. Clean up and retouch your art.
4. Save a copy of the image.
5. Adjust document size and resolution, if needed.
6. Sharpen, if needed.
7. Optimize and save in a compressed format.

In this chapter there was also given an Image-editing cheat sheet which will come in handy when I all the digitizing of my work. Keep in mind future plans like the revisions or the start of a new portfolio.

Master List & Flowchart

Organization of content for my portfolio




Flowchart