Portfolio advice for students, graduates and emerging talents: Part One
Chris Sanders entered design without any formal education but went on to hold most major roles and he now leads the Right Aligned Academy. In this series of quick reads he will be sharing insight about his experiences to support our community.
Introduction
Diligence costs nothing. It is completely free but so many designers forget to carefully look after their portfolio.
Little things like regularly giving it the attention it deserves can be the difference between being dumped in the trash can or landing your next big break.
Challenge
Finding a job is hard.
It always has been but right now markets are saturated and businesses are inundated with applicants. Basic parameters like this added to problems included decreasing budgets and increasing client demands point towards a lack of passion by employers to consume countless portfolios.
Especially when they don't immediately hit the sweet spot.
Solution
If you're being ghosted more than Yvette Fielding in a Medieval graveyard it might be time to give your portfolio a polish.
Focus on the small stuff like spelling and grammar because agencies want people that care about detail. Curate the content so it's relevant to the receiver – sounds obvious but so many people just aim and fire without precision.
Finally. Buy a domain and link it to a professional email address because no–one will open anything that arrives from davesiscool(@)live.com.
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