Designing a Digital Portfolio

by Cynthia Baron

The world has gone digital--which means that a paper portfolio is no longer good enough. These days, as a creative professional, you're expected to be able to show your work on demand--whether that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735713944
• ISBN13: 9780735713949
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive

I read through this book once, just to get an overall feel. I was totally delighted with the quality and the depth of material. I've read many books on portfolios and many more on website design, but all of them together couldn't do what this one book did. I was finally ready to create my portfolio (months later) and prepared to go through it again making detailed notes when, to my deep consernation, the darn thing went missing. So I just bought another one, started skimming through it and then reading it carefully, making notes. I am again wowed by the sheer amount of information pertinent to what I am trying to do. From detailing what types of pieces make sense for which type of designer (and even helping you figure out which type you really are), to resumes, to how to present yourself and your material, to desiging the site, it's all in there. Along the way, she sprinkles comments from some of the greats in the field on what they expect. On top of that, there are so many great examples of sites in the book, that it can serve simply as a top notch idea book when you're done building your portfolio. I can't say enough about how helpful this book has been. Every few sentences, I get a great idea and have to go work on it, so it will take me a while to get all the way through the book a second time. But I know I'll have something that really represents me and what I do best, and what I want to continue doing.

comprehensive material.

Most artists can't do everything - usually they are somewhere in the middle of a chain of production responsiblities that don't include the skillsets involved with presenting a portfolio, digital or otherwise. Many points of insider knowledge are invaluable - I was on the cusp of using PowerPoint for my CD portfolio (my wife has strong skills with this) before being warned that this bussiness presentation software's would be viewed with derision by art directors, and that a high resolution version of a website format is the way to go here - this one parcel of knowledge was worth the price of the book alone, but it is far from the only lesson imparted. Highly recommended - it doesn't stray into realms of esoterica for the sake of pagecount.

Superb resource for a wide variety of portfolio formats

If you set can aside the near 100% focus on digital media (though it is excellent for that kind of format) and not hyperventilate in feeling like you need to come up with Flash or DVDs after reading this, it offers solid points on portfolio content, whatever format you choose. It covers what should go in, what should not go in, how much should go in, how/if to deal with process pieces, storyboarding, thematic ties to pull a disparate portfolio together, and sage advice on basics like the kinds of written copy you want to include, such as design briefs, problem statements, and tag lines. It's my favorite book for this effort right now. My husband's, too. I have to pry it off his desk. It's also savvy when it comes to marketing, so I think it will have a long shelf life in my library for the days when I need to market myself on other things besides landing a job, like marketing my firm. It has some printed web site design examples which offer visual eye inspiration for printed page layout. It even has great image workflow tips, towards preserving the best image quality with the least needed resolution, that are comprehensible to the lay person as well as meaningful to someone with a high degree of digital photographic processing background.

One of the Best Books on the Topic

This is one of the best books on its topic that I have ever seen. From the title, I expected to find advice on preparing images for the screen, how to put them on a CD or DVD, etc. Those things are there, but the book begins in a logical place that I wouldn't have considered. Brown's approach is truly holistic. Check out page 23 for the first page of a three-page self assessment check list. It has you evaluate your professional strengths and weaknesses, goals and personality. Chapter 3 asks you a bunch of questions to help you identify who your audience really is and focus on them. The rest of the book covers various digital formats, how to organize your work, how to get images of 3D and oversized work into your portfolio, including choosing a camera and setting up for shooting. Ms. Brown covers editing your images to remove the most common problems, such as moire, sharpening needs, bad crops, etc. And ... she devotes a section to creating written content to accompany your stunning images, telling you how to write to that audience you defined earlier. She explains the differences between a monitor screen and a printed page. You need to know that to design the correct interface for your portfolio. She also has a full chapter devoted to marketing and copyright issues. The entire book is scattered with quotes (in friendly green type) from experts and those who have gone before you. The quotes tell you what agencies are looking for in a portfolio, how others have found success at this, what things you can do to streamline the process, etc.

The definitive resource

For several months I searched for an appropriate textbook for a course that I was developing. Several days prior to the deadline for the course outline, "Designing a Digital Portfolio " was published. After reading the book, I realized this was the authoritative text for anyone in a creative field. The book asks and answers all the essential questions. It is perfect for the technological savvy multimedia programmer or for any artist with limited technology expertise. I urge anyone who is even considering developing a digital portfolio to buy this book. Without qualification, this is the most valuable book on the marketMultimedia Portfolio Instructor/Art Institute/Art Institute OnlineSubject Matter Expert / Curriculum Development Multimedia Portfolio