"Wax Flux" from Serial Cut's digital portfolio
In today’s competitive world a website is the minimum requirement for any business, which is exactly why a digital portfolio is THE key element a web designer has to have in his or her promotional toolkit.
But what makes a good digital design portfolio? Depends on what it is you’re trying to convey. For your own personal digital portfolio variety is key. Don’t use one type of style, but instead display at least three types of art you’re good at. And if you’re just starting out, don’t be afraid to design new images specifically for your digital portfolio or use your best samples from college.
However, creating art for customers is another story. In addition to getting your clients to convey exactly what it is they want you also have to find inspiration. The best place to go for that is to other designers to see what they’ve done. That’s not to say you should copy them, but instead use their work to inspire the creativity that already flows within you.
So to get your mojo moving, here are 10 great examples of digital portfolios that can’t help but stir your soul.
The Case Study
On way to present your talents is to do several pieces of art for one campaign in a case study, as The Gilmore Group did with Walgreens. This shows that you can attack a campaign from more than one angle, which hopefully leads to long-lasting relationships with clients.
The 3D Design and Animation
If possible, show your art in an animated fashion, as Spine 3D did in their digital portfolio. Movement makes your portfolio dynamic and actually gives it a high-tech, hip, contemporary personality. Even static images come alive if you show them from a moving 3D perspective.
The Slideshow
Sometimes it’s just best to let the images speak for themselves, and in that case nothing beats a good old-fashioned slide show, as proven by freelance designer Hakan Schallinger. A slideshow is a huge timesaver for the busy client who knows exactly what they want, yet doesn’t want to wade through a lot of verbiage to find it.
The Logo Designer
Along those same lines, if you’re really good at one particular thing then put that thing front and center, as Rainy Day Media has done with their logos. Similar to the slideshow, Rainy Day allows the viewer to click through their logo samples as soon as the viewer hits the homepage. That way anyone looking specifically for a logo can tell right away if this designer hits the mark.
The “Get Right to the Point” Designer
On the other hand, if you offer a variety of services, have your digital portfolio get right to the point of what those services are, as designer Matthew Carlin has done. His specialties are motion graphics and video production, which crosses a broad range of client possibilities. Notice, however, how he boils down his many talents into four simple categories, making it easy for a busy prospective client to digest.
The Minimalist
Sometimes less is more, as designer Michelle Rayner proves on her digital portfolio for her business Cosmic Design. The creator of everything from marketing brochures to book covers to sustainable advertising Michelle uses a combination of simple animation and music to set a mood for her digital portfolio. The simplicity along with the visual and audio effects actually makes the viewer want to investigate the website further.
The Social Network Junkie
If you’re a social networking geek, then getting people to follow you on Twitter, for example, is a great way to build a client base for future business, as designer James Warfield has done. Instead of adding a bunch of images to his website, James instead directs the viewer straight to his Flickr page, which means that he easily maintains his images from one public spot (Flickr). His resume is on LinkedIn, his daily comments on Twitter, and his videos are on Vimeo, thus making his own personal website easy to maintain.
The Art Show
If your art is detailed and colorful, then you want to present it literally as museum pieces, as the folks at Serial Cut have done. Notice how they make their images as big as possible so that the viewer can see the level of detail they put into their work. These images displayed as thumbnails would be much less impressive.
The Interactive Website
Giving a directive from the homepage is a great way to engage the viewer, as Morten Nielsen has done for his Graydient digital portfolio. Asking the viewer specially to do something as soon as they hit the homepage is a polite way of saying, “Hey, pay attention here, I’ve got some cool stuff to show you!”
The 10 Best Portfolios
And finally, if you want to see examples of the best, check out MycroBurst.com’s Top 10 Digital Portfolio Designers. Rankings are determined by the number of awards these designers have received based on the work they’ve done for their clients. The website also includes the five most important ingredients for the perfect digital portfolio.
Have you seen a great digital portfolio? Share the link with us so we can all be inspired by it!
]]>
In an increasingly mobile and global world, the internet is becoming even more important in business and providing information. Web designers are an important piece of this business model, but there will always be amateurs hoping to do it for themselves. Why do web designers need to be trained?
Web design is a complicated process that requires training and skill, as you will see from these 10 common amateur mistakes.
- Neglecting SEO
- Not having a call to action
- Not paying attention to the visual aspect
- Hard to view on a mobile device
- Too much Flash
- Content is too heavy
- Leaving off contact details
- Obvious spelling and grammar mistakes
- No social media buttons
- Neglecting a blog
Search engine optimization is key to any highly visible and heavily trafficed website. Using key words in content is the most important aspect of an effective and profitable website.
Your visitor should be able to see and act easily on the homepage of your site. If you want them to subscribe, it should be visible. If you want them to download a free Ebook, they should find it easily. This is your chance to get their information and possibly make a sale in the future.
Websites that are dark, with small text or an unreadable font, and cluttered with information will cause viewers to leave your site.
Look at your site on a mobile device. If it takes too long to download or is difficult to read, consider creating a site specifically for mobile access. People are viewing more and more sites on their mobile devices.
Flash increases the load time of the website and might annoy visitors. iPads and iPhones can’t view Flash and a great majority of website viewers use these products. Use it only if it’s necessary and sparingly.
Make your posts easy to read and scannable. People who are browsing sites and reading content don’t want to get bogged down in too much text. Use bullets and headings to break it up.
Don’t forget people need to know how to contact you: phone, email, and through social media.
Glaring spelling and grammar mistakes attack the credibility of the business that the site is promoting. Proofread, proofread, proofread.
If you want your content to be shared (and you do), you need to provide an easy way for people to share it. Provide those social media buttons in a highly visible place on your site.
Blogs are the best way to provide changing content on your site that will be referenced by the search engines. Blogs give you an opportunity to use your key words and also provide good content to your potential customers.
Can an amateur design a website?
An amateur can set up a site for free using numerous free website creators; but web design is so much more than posting a blog or creating a free site on your own. Creation of a profitable website requires expert knowledge and skill from design, to development, to maintaining SEO (search engine optimization), to programming and scripting. A website without traffic and easy access is like a store without customers. If you want to be a credible web designer and be able to work in the field of web design you need the training and the background required in this field.
Get the right education
If web design interests you or if you want to tackle web design for your small business, you should get the right training. There are many levels of training available online from certification programs to Associates degrees to Bachelors degrees. These credentials will give you the knowledge and skills needed to work as a freelance web designer, create your own website for your small business or work as a web designer for companies with an online presence.
Use the right design tools
The best web designers have the right programs and tools available to help them produce appealing and profitable websites. Designers need access to programs that create graphics, generate programming, help with coding and scripting, and photo editing programs. As you pursue your education, you will become familiar with these programs and determine which ones work best for you and you will most likely have some favorites.
Is it time to admit your web design skills are lacking? Check out the best online web design programs.
]]>
Web design is one of those nebulous careers that really hasn’t been around for very long. However, if you Google “web designer” you’ll find it’s a hot career that’s in demand right now. According to PayScale.com the annual salary range for web designers is $23,797 to $62,248, and they’re needed in all industries.
But how are you supposed to know if you want to devote an entire college education to a career that that seems vague at best? Even if you’ve already dabbled in website development you’ve probably only scratched the surface of what a web designer can do. Because it’s is one of those majors that straddles both sides of the brain (creative and analytical) there are more job possibilities that stem from a degree in web design than what you typically find in most other majors.
So if you’d like to pursue a degree that keeps your options open (and possibly allows you to telecommunte from home), take a look at these five jobs that all fall under the career profile of professional web design.
- Website Developer
- Online Graphic Designer
- SEO Manager
- Java and/or Javascript Programmer
- Widget Developer
Most people would call a web designer someone who builds websites. And yes, that is one job possibility. Website developers not only have to know scripting languages, they also have to understand how to post video (and how to optimize video streaming), deal with e-commerce, understand intellectual property rights, be proficient at graphic design, and have at least a minimal understanding of search engine optimization (SEO). Regardless of the business, companies want their websites to be all things to everyone, so today’s website developer has to be a jack of all web design trades. The more you know, the more marketable you’ll be.
Sometimes the aesthetics of a website go beyond the expertise of a website developer. In this case a graphic designer might be brought in. More artist than programmer a graphic designer comes up with a website’s look, while maintaining user friendliness and functionality. For example a business that deals in the arts or sells creative services is not going to want a website that looks like it belongs to a CPA. But don’t let the right-brained nature of this job fool you. Even though online graphic designers are imaginative they still have to know how to use computer drawing tools and hardware. They’re techical “whiz kids” disguised as artists.
Once a company has a website it wants as many people as possible visiting it. That’s where a search engine optimization (SEO) manager comes in. These people spend their entire careers analyzing web content, links, keywords, meta tags, and trends. Then based on this analysis they make recommendations about which website elements to use to ensure maximum web traffic. Part marketing guru, part forecaster, the goal of an SEO manager is to make sure a website comes up as high as possible in all the search engines, with the least amount of cost to make that happen.
Used to be that a website developer had to know HTML to build a website. But now with website design software such as Adobe Creative Suite and Apple’s iWeb, people can build simple websites on their own. But for the more complex websites a Java or Javascript programmer is employed to customize a website beyond what design software can do. Used primarily to create or modify web browsers, as well as create user interfaces and dynamic websites, Java and Javascript are object-oriented scripting languages. Suffice it to say, however, if you know either one you won’t be hurting for work.
A widget is an application that can be included on any website by someone who has the authority to embed it. For example, a Twitter widget allows you to display your most recent tweets on your website. Companies hire widget developers to create applications they can offer to public, thus enticing people to use their products or services. Scripting languages used to create widgets include Javascript, Flash, HTML, and CSS. So any web designer who knows these languages will be in great demand (in terms of creating widgets).
Traditionally web design encompasses not only technical but also artistic characteristics. So if you’re the kind of person who can carry on both “techy” and “arty” conversations, a career in web design might be right for you. And if you’re still not sure, ease your way in by taking a Javascript or an online graphic design class. At the very least, you might learn how to create your own website, which you’ll probably need someday anyway regardless of what career you choose.
Get free information about online degrees for design today!
]]>