If you are an aspiring digital creative, it’s critical you pull together a digital portfolio of your best work. A digital portfolio is shareable evidence of your work. It effectively showcases your skills, allows you to demonstrate your ability, and makes you visible when employers are looking for their next creative hire.
So whether you are a budding UX designer, copywriter, or marketing professional, here are some tips to help you create a standout digital portfolio.
How to create a standout Digital Portfolio.
Select your strongest work.
Although you may be tempted to showcase all your past work, it’s important to remember that less is more. The advice is that you should select 7-10 pieces of your best work that demonstrate all your skills. When collating your selections, think about
- Choose pieces that represent your core strengths
- Choose pieces that were created for different industries, in different styles, and use different techniques
- Use pieces no older than 5 years unless it’s particularly impressive or from a high-profile campaign.
- Open and close well. Start with your most impressive piece and finish with your runner-up.
- Tailor your work to your employer. Choose work that is pertinent to the job you want and will appeal to the company you are sending it to.
Include detailed captions.
Write a detailed and contextual description of each sample. This adds important details about how you work and what your contribution to the work entailed.
In your caption, you may wish to include
- The client or agency you did the work for
- An outline of the main goal of the project
- Your role in the project
- When the work was completed
- Highlight any positive outcomes related to the sample, include metrics where possible
- Did the piece win any awards, or receive any notable accolades or media coverage?
Focus on the user experience.
Take time to think about the viewer of your digital portfolio. Make sure it’s a nice experience without too much need to move around the page, click or scroll. Don’t be afraid to use white space, especially if dealing with text. Clean is always better than cluttered.
As for the format, you may like to use one of these approaches.
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Industry-specific.
Ordering your work according to industry relevance is one way of ensuring consumer buy in. Make sure you start with samples relevant to the industry you are contacting.
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Chronological.
This format is best if you are an entry-level candidate without much commercial experience. Your most recent work is likely to be your best, so start with your most recent projects and work backwards.
Have a test run.
Testing your digital portfolio is an easy way to ensure your prospective employers or clients have an enjoyable user experience.
- Make sure it’s easy to view on all kinds of devices. Desktop, tablet, and mobile.
- Check load times.
- Is navigating through the digital portfolio intuitive?
- Check the quality of imagery
- Check and proofread any text
Demonstrate your unique style (but not too much!)
Prospective employers, recruiters, and clients want to get an idea about who you are. While adding a little touch of personality is nice, you don’t want to make yourself too niche. Make sure your digital portfolio will have mass appeal.
One way to add personality is to match your portfolio to your other brand assets, Extend your brand across your digital portfolio, website, CV, and social media, for example.
Put it on LinkedIn.
Many recruiters and hiring managers start a search on LinkedIn. For this reason, you should share your digital portfolio on your profile page. Not only is your best work visible, but it has the potential to save time if your style is not a good fit for the end client.
Are you a digital creative looking for your next job? Reach out today to see how we can help!