Blog 8 - March 22

Designing a Digial Portfolio-Chapter 8
Repurposing and Optimizing:

File Adaptation Strategies:
repurposing: "attractive for oversized work that has no special paper stock, like a poster, but it can work in lost of other situations"
Repurposing with PDF's: is one of the best ways to repurpose produced work, screen based PDFs are pretty easy to make but "they can often be the key to winning an interview" Tips for creating a good PDF:
File Adaptation Strategies-
colors, types of ink, select paper, die-cuts
repurposing is attractive for over sized work that has no special paper stock, but it can work in a lot of other situations
repurposing with PDF's: things to avoid:
-avoid scrolling-create letter sized pages, so they can be viewed and printed easily
-shoot original files- always return to your original file for your PDF material (ex. flash files should be kept as fla's)
-use TIFF files-so you dont have to scale them
-optimize JPEGS
-merge PDFs
-make your PDF a project-have a redesigned resume as a part of the project,
-create a cover page- contact info name and the page number as a header or footer on each subsequent page
-watch your file sizes- in case the person you are mailing it to has limited storage
-label your artwork-captions
-name PDF sensibly-use full name in the file label
-no headshots-unless you are a performing artist!

I liked the example of the Visual Vocabulary portfolio-clean and simple.

A lot of this chapter focused in on formatting files, which is helpful because I know that some of my work has a lot of color and texture.

I know that some of my work that I want to include in my website (portfolio site ) is Flash Animation, and on page 152, Baron shows how to encode them, by either importing the .swf or as a quicktime or windows media file.

Porfolio Highligh: Micheal Cefaratti

This website is incredible, I absolutely love the opening. I really want to learn how to make my website in Flash. I love his color scheme as well. I have been using Kuler a lot to give me color ideas, and used the Granny Apple colors for my site so far. His navigation is up to the viewer, and has a linear following as well.


Building Design Portfolios 74 - 94
Presenting a Print Portfolio:

This area of the book was of great interest for me, considering I am going to make a print form portfolio of my work. Since I hope to work in magazines, I want to have my work as visual and flat out as possible for the potential employer to see. The first piece, should be an eye catcher but not the BEST piece of work, as you dont want to sell yourself short and have the onlooker lose interest (seeing as I know that not all of my work is thattt good ). Build your pieces in order of excitement so that you get to the final best piece of work by the end! Portfolio presentation is the most important thing, I know that it is important to know the fonts, colors, purpose etc, as you are presenting the portfolio, because they may ask you questions about why you in fact chose the styles and fonts you did, just knowing how to defend your choices shows that you made them for a reason. "A good portfolio should express in some way who you are and what relationship you have to the world"..this will help separate you from being just a designer, and from others.
Preparation: Make a list of questions that you anticipate to be asked, and thus, know the answers! Be prepared to answer anything they may throw at you, and write down the questions that you are asked in interviews, and remember to perfect the answers, and make sure to include what it was that they suggested, or asked for that you may not have had.
Presenting: BE ON TIME! I have to really pay attention to this detail, especially because my friends often call me "pokey"due to my constant rush. I like the tip that says to never respond to comments in an apologetic manner, they are critiques on your work and you shouldn't apologize for your work, you should be confident with everything that you did. Never say "heres what I can do for you"-you sound arrogant and presumptuous that you are fit for the job, or being seriously considered . Chris Pullman, is known for liking print portfolio's the most;"first they present fewer obstacles and difficulties, because they don't rely on technology, many variables and frustrations associated with speed or software incompatibility are eliminated...designers with print portfolios generally tend to offer a deeper level of understanding about their work". Speaking intelligently about your work is a key element in presentations. If you cannot be present at the time of your portfolio review, make sure to have a typed up commentary to be followed as they look through it. Include sketches, and comps to show your thought process. The way you present yourself, attention to detail shows how you are oriented with your work as well.