Design idea: Watch your work set

After all, designers are a bunch of people who innovate and transform things, and it's easier for designers to come up with some work results than other professions, which have real products, or visual graphics, or some project documentation and planning programs. In addition to some of the professional friends can attach some degree certificates, for the level of the designer is no outside the industry Word-of-mouth + works set, and the work set is the most objective and practical.

Basically, in any recruiting or headhunting process, the portfolio is an important weapon that represents the current level of the designer and is likely to determine its remuneration, so we should pay enough attention to it. In batting practice holding a collection of his own cow B to interview, to batting practice legs look at other people's works-this daughter-in-law's experience inside, I found that even designers (some still have some work experience) in the face of their own portfolio processing also have a lot of problems, of course, there are many can learn experience.

Today I would like to talk about this collection of past and present life, but some friends of a desire, hope that these things will help you in the future work.

The function of a work set

Of course, the portfolio is not just about finding a job, but it's the purpose of its inception. The portfolio can be used to showcase your past work experience and achievements, to save the employer's time and better realize your level to arrange the right position for you. Portfolio in the case of enterprises, is often all-inclusive, many and pan, many designers like to put their own works all confusedly packaged together, in order to describe a point of view: "Weapons in the hands, rivers and lakes I have."

And as a studio or Soho designer, the portfolio has become a tool for business negotiations, basically all the studio nature (of course, a small part has been converted to the company) of the official website, are built around the portfolio and the customer list, as a service industry, this approach is not only a designer, such as: Hair Salon , fitness clubs, etc. are not difficult to see.

Another function of the portfolio is publishing, the various organizations and institutions at home and abroad for push lightly a bunch of designers to do the collective appearance of things, show what? is its representative works, by country, category, blood type ... Sorting finished, all the works set a pile, exquisite printing with high price, publishing house waiting to collect money.

The portfolio is still a propaganda channel, basically the designers are hoping to have a sense of achievement, where does the sense of achievement come from? From other people's praise and affirmation, then the publication of the portfolio becomes a personal brand building process, and at home it has a marginal effect is: "Brother a few!" These things are I do, see clearly, after the plagiarism you have to Qingyuan who the author is ", almost a little ego requirements and self-fart designers like to do a summary every year, look back and laugh at the clouds.

The collection is not just a work

Design works is not cabbage, not in the booth on the good this mouth of the guy jumped up. The organization of the work set, the logical relation, the presentation way, including the browsing order, the frequency, the psychological guidance all is the question which needs to study, this perhaps some people never thought, does not have the relation, most people actually did not think.

If the work is simply presented, it will appear to be too cheap, the truth is easy to understand. You go to buy clothes, in fact, as the clothes themselves, as long as a bunch of hangers hanging, put on the street can sell, right? So why do we need to do a storefront? And the owner tried to make the store appear high-grade feeling, and then the most representative clothes in the shop as a model (plastic dolls) on the display of a single product? The foreigner sells the clothes to be more gorgeous, is the Hundred years old shop must maintain its tradition noble, even if does not have the Hundred years old shop also to look for a hundred years old shop's shell to borrow, even if before this is sells the soy sauce all does not matter?

All this is in the operation of their own works, the creation process is also in the operation of works, it is more valuable, now the society is "wine is also afraid of the alley deep" era.

The arrangement skill of the work

To say that this is an operation, it is necessary to master reasonable operational skills. The first principle is: The works of the collection must be your own work ! If you are cooperating, you should also write down the list of collaborators. The real ownership of the work determines the value of the work set, which things in the industrial and commercial products both reputation and visibility? Is that those who always adhere to hand-built, emphasizing taste of things? Like Rolls Royce.

Second, Delete those that don't seem to be good enough . The composition of the portfolio is not only in quantity, but also in quality, when quality and quantity are limited by capacity (such as the number of pages printed, the level of Web pages), the quality should first be placed first. If you are a hired designer, you should control your work within 20 I believe that no design manager will be able to understand your level after reading 20 works, and if you are a design studio, you can control the design work within 10 of each business segment according to your main business direction.

It is important that you highlight the thought process of your work , rather than simply giving a visual result. Most designers like to put the finished product in the choreography, we should pay attention, we are not selling cakes, users and viewers of our work without past experience, it is difficult to accurately understand the intent of the work, or even some completely understand. The visual shocks we give are at best evocative of some of our peers and are not actually helpful for our purposes. Therefore, the process of thinking outside of the work itself, including: brainstorming records, hand-drawn manuscripts, flow charts, low fidelity models, mind mapping, etc. are very good. A logical process of thinking will let users know what you are doing in your design to determine your value.

This is the same as the way you eat pizza, if you simply lift up a pizza, you will think that this junk sold so expensive? But let you see the half open kitchen, beautifully designed kitchenware, handsome ghost chef, neat and ingenious production process, rich fresh ingredients ... These things make you think you should really pay for it!

The difference between social workers and graduates

Whether it's interviewing a new designer, or a client picking a partner, he has a set standard in mind, and the process of browsing the portfolio is to determine if you have reached that standard. So as a social worker (who has been away from school for a period of 1-3 years of design work, faced with a job-hopping or Soho choice) and a graduate (just out of school, two eyes and a smear-I mean most) is different.

I am here to say to the graduates, as a real rookie, I do not expect you to provide a good portfolio, so there are some suggestions you may use:

1. First of all, do not plagiarize or misappropriate the appearance of other people's works , the interview your design manager will not be silly X, also do not take the "impossible all design he has seen" the risk, the designer's keen judgment is beyond the imagination of the people, and the role of verification at this time will be small cosmic eruption;

2. Put your internship during the case , or the entire creative process of the graduation works . When you play games, rumble, drink bubbles, many social activities in love, I believe you still have time to do a little internship, seriously grasp the practice of your "work", even if you are in these works just play a printing work, you can learn from the details of the basic business design process, Use it in your graduation work;

3. Unfortunately, you are naïve (or lazy) to go to college for 4 years without any internship, then you should at least have some simulation cases . The so-called simulation cases such as: you participate in a XX cola outdoor activities, such as you send leaflets good, as a design professional or love the design of the guy, you will at least focus on the activities of the site steps and print it? So what would you do if it was you? Go home to do, and then combine the scene of the photos to a mock planning design, although it is false, but the process of creation is true. You can say in the interview: "I used to design experiments for XX Cola to do the overall packaging of outdoor activities." "At least it feels better to accept a little more than you say:" I got 98 points in my plane-modeling class. "

4. participate in competitions or jointly organize campus design exhibition . Design is a concrete practice, and some of the better practices, while not commercially intended, may show your creativity. Some competitions or joint exhibitions can be carried out through school support, sponsorship and media publicity, which not only reflects your design level, but also embodies the coordination of social activities, as a "trans-media" thinking of the intervention, I personally commend this practice. The process of these activities, photos, planning programs, promotional materials design is not your best portfolio?

5. never put your personal exercises in your work . Personal practice, especially bad personal practice, is simply the nightmare of the work set, you pay attention to many foreign designers sketch works, its practice is as a new thinking of the study, or a work prototype, and many sketch itself has become a kind of art. If you want to practice, ask yourself why you should put it, and how it can help. If you are not clear, then please delete it, do not actively expose their shortcomings and impatience (an unfinished work, too impatient to show to others, is a lack of patience of the performance).

Online Portfolio and Print collections

The online portfolio is a Web site where you can access your Portfolio website or blog (with your portfolio, of course), and the online approach is more flexible, and you need to show your work without forgetting the following information: Who are you (introducing yourself), What area of design do you work in (to make it easier for the relevant users to decide whether you are selected) your work experience (your experience), your online contact (how should I find you), if you can leave a message of course better, some of your social network information (such as: Flickr,twitter, etc.), The most important thing is: what kind of services you can provide (or what design problems you can solve), and let your portfolio site show more useful information.

Do not put your personal life album on the site, or some of the romantic article, it is not professional, the most terrible is that I have seen a designer's personal portfolio site, openly in the message board and the viewers quarrel. The advantage of the online is: a large amount of information, fast, anytime and anywhere access. The challenge is stability and security, and it's important to keep your portfolio site open because you don't know when the next customer will be accessing it.

And the printed set of works is different, generally engaged in advertising, graphic design industry (including fonts, packaging, posters, logos, etc.) designers need a print portfolio, because these areas of designers and printing of the relationship is very close, and whether the ability to handle printing technology is also the field of professional designers, A good print is a work of art that, through better choreography and packaging, can obscure some of the flaws in the work.

If the designer is engaged in product design, his/her portfolio may be a real product, I have heard of the interview of industrial design designers directly riding their own design of the motorcycle to go, that is not impressive?

The portfolio is far more than just a display of work, it represents the person behind the creation of these works, so I must emphasize that the success of the portfolio: concise, effective, mature, impressive.