Less cute, More rested.

Chapter 5
Designing a Digital Portfolio, by Cynthia L. Baron

This chapter’s main concern is getting your worked organized. This is a key attribute in order save time and be efficient when making your portfolio. As she states, “organizing isn’t sexy,” but it will make your life easier when it comes to evaluating all the work you have done. Baron lays out some ground rules for collecting material. Before you even start working on piece, you should ask yourself is this something that might end up in your portfolio. You should keep copies of all your work, down to the last sketch. This way, you will be able to show your process if you decide to show off this piece. This is important because when employers are looking to hire you they don’t only want to know how you design, they want to know why and how you design that way you do. Backing up your files is not a new concept, but what you may want to consider is saving EVERYTHING. I am a freak like this, I save multiple working files of everything I have done, just in case I need it for anything. Later on I might find it useful to go back and touch up something I may have not noticed before.

If you have work that is off the computer, it is important to know how to store it. You don’t want your hard work to end up getting faded or bent. Ideally, you want it to be out of light and in a cool place with no weight on top of it. Some problems you might want to consider are how the inks might react to external materials. Some inks will fade in the sun or over a short period of time and others will react to the plastic sleeve you put them in. If you are concerned with whether or not your digital output is stable, you can perform a CMYK bar test. Print out an image with your usual method and cut it into thirds. Make sure all your pieces have the 4 colors. Then place one in a well-lit area, one in a box and one in complete dark. After a month or so look at all the slices side by side and see how well they hold up. This will help you gauge how stable your digital outputs really are.

It is important to remember to stay up on keeping your files catalogued and backed up. You never know when you will have to find a certain type of project to show a potential employer. Plus, it will save you the headache and searching aimlessly for something you know you have, which can be really annoying.