“Like attracts like, so ask yourself: does your folio reflect the work you’d like to attract? While you don’t need a formal education to become a graphic designer, you do need to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals. Your portfolio is great if you're applying to a place that will focus on standalone brands and brand management, but you need a website - you simply will not get good positions or consideration without using your personal brand and applying it to a non-template (wix, squarespace, etc) website. People are not mind-readers, and you have to tailor your brand visually, just as you would a brand you were working for. About me. Make sure your portfolio authentically represents who you are now. Yes there are many out there that "only know photoshop" and don't meet your requirements but from my experience, the ones that know how to design properly and are self taught are usually not looking to get hired as they are more happy to work for themselves. Dana Nicole October 16, 2017 Graphic Design 4 Comments. I wonder if my age has something to do with it (I'm 32 this year) so maybe I get overlooked for students/post-grads? There’s no hard and fast rule about how many pieces to include, but remember that you can’t predict what people will dive into, and so your reputation is only as good as your last good piece. I've never had access to it and that's typically the one that's always on the job descriptions along with photoshop and illustrator. Again, focus on one or two platforms you can consistently maintain, rather than trying to populate all of them. It took me quite some time to get comfortable with these techniques. They’re considering investing their hard-earned money in you, and they don’t want it to go to waste. Keep reading — you got this! However, my question still remains. Quick bit of background about me, I originally studied Illustration at university in the UK before switching degrees to photography (massive mistake on my part as I hated every second of it but hey-ho). You might be called in at a moment’s notice to chat with your art director to discuss a promotion opportunity or a hot new project you didn’t even know about. You can make this stuff look great in Photohop but won't be able to print it in real world applications. I basically came out of uni desperate to get back into art & design and discovered the joy of photoshop shortly after. But company’s are looking for your process and how you make your decisions. Ask a peer or mentor to honestly critique your work and either ‘improve or remove’ the problem areas. Study graphic design or upskill at Shillington with our online graphic design course. So it’s always good if you can put together a PDF portfolio that you can store on your laptop or tablet, and put on a USB stick in case the other party wants to have a look through too. So someone is willing to put shift tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds your way throughout your career, they’re going to need selling to in the same way. MASCOTS VIEW PROJECT. One stage of design is making things that look pretty, but there's a lot before that. For example, if you’ve done a lot of digital design projects, but you want your next job or freelance gig to be focused on print design, then you need to tailor your design profile accordingly. Self-Taught Graphic Designer. I love bright colors, strong-women, and celebrating the joy and oddities in life. Wireframing and IA are important for positions that are looking for someone to help organize and build beautiful, thoughtful, and invisible designs. Wordpress or custom built. You need to think about maintaining, improving and evolving your portfolio throughout your graphic design career. But it’s important to have a design-specific account that’s separate from your friends and family images. Since you have a short amount of time to grab the art director’s attention, ideally, you should include 10-12 top quality pieces that highlight your best work to make the most impact. I appreciate that, I'm going to work on one pronto! More reason, then, to ditch the weaker pieces, and only include the work you can be truly proud of. Master the basics of visual: how to become a self-taught UI/UX designer. However awesome your portfolio is, if you just walk into an interviewer’s office, show it to them, and sit back waiting to be praised, you’ll probably be waiting a long time. But can you do layout? Show them off entirely! For the t-shirt section, you should find a mockup that doesn’t cut off your designs. I've been away from the arts for a few years now and this is my re-entrance back into the freelancing market. I have always been a big fan of the retro/vintage world that's why my work is heavily inspired by the 1980's aesthetics. As you're doing that, build out portfolios as PDFs that are targeted. Clare Terry, director of Shillington Australia, puts it bluntly. But in reality, numerous employees have told us they want to see “some of your personality” come through in your portfolio. The vision between analog and digital. Some good tips here, thank you. At any rate, you can begin learning graphic design on your own and later take formal design education, especially in an area of specialization (videogame, information, or product design, for example). Lotta Nieminen is an illustrator, graphic designer and art director from Helsinki, Finland. A few graphic designers don't go through any sort of formal training and are completely self-taught. And it will help make your work easier to navigate and more digestible. Any profession that doesn't require some sort of professional certification to work in the field is fair game as far as being self taught goes. Find Graphic Design Jobs If you would like to become a graphic designer, you can do so for free or by taking affordable and free courses. Set up your website asap and put yourself out there, you're doing great. Lotta Nieminen is an illustrator, graphic designer and art director from Helsinki, Finland. Education: Many graphic designers complete a bachelor's degree with a major or concentration in graphic design, either at a traditional college or an art institute. I am specialised in Social Media designs, Branding and Stream designs. When people spot a spelling mistake in your work, it’s usually taken as a sign of sloppiness, laziness or a don’t care attitude. Let's get in touch! Every other bit of advice I have has been extensively covered, but I’d still recommend a website, contrary to the comment above—sending a PDF for applications is fine, but it’s beneficial in general for getting yourself known to be able to post a direct link. You need to show that you can do more than just make "pretty things" and that you can follow a brief. Learn graphic design online for free, without going to school or without a degree. We’ve all done that at one stage or another, so the maxim ‘practice makes perfect’ really does apply here. Even if a particular project is brilliantly worthy, it’s still worth considering leaving it out if it’s the kind of work you want to move away from in the future. So, these are the key graphic design portfolios that you can follow when creating the one to display your design works. 6 Graphic Design Trends We’ll See in 2021, #FridayFive with Shillington Design Teacher Jack Trotman, How to Get Hired as a Graphic Designer in the US During the Pandemic, How to Get Hired as a Graphic Designer in Australia During the Pandemic, How to Get Hired as a Graphic Designer in the UK During the Pandemic, Top 20 Fonts That Will Be Popular With Designers in 2021, #FridayFive with Shillington Design Teacher Deepa Shanbhag, 12 Creative Slack Groups You Should Be Following. Print in general beyond imagined assets? Once I've sorted out a website, I'll reformat it for sure. Thank you for the kind words man and I appreciate all the tips, some great advice here. Since a lot of your work is print design make sure you know how to use illustrator and Indesign and not just photoshop. It’s one of those annoying pieces of advice that’s easy to dish out, much more difficult to do. Putting together a kick-ass graphic design portfolio isn’t just something you need to worry about when you’re a student. This feedback is great. As someone who’s about to graduate from a 4 year program, this is more impressive than some of the work I’ve seen from peers, no joke. I love bright colors, strong-women, and celebrating the joy and oddities in life. Also, while a physical, printed portfolio is no longer expected by most, it certainly won’t harm your prospects to produce one, and may well help endear you to the other party, who’ll appreciate you going the extra mile. Edit: Hey everyone! Nice to meet you! One big point – made your Portfolio landscape! While a graphic design portfolio is primarily about visuals, don’t think that words aren’t important. A self-taught graphic designer still needs to learn what others learn in college. e also offer our very best graphic design portfolio tips to help you raise your portfolio and make it your best tool for career success. Be diligent and realistic. Welcome to my portfolio! I struggled to get work after the junior job and ended up working at a cafe for the last 5 years of my life, now I'm unemployed and trying my best at freelancing whilst looking for a stable job but I'm barely getting any responses and had no interviews. As people and designers, we’re constantly evolving. It shows you are serious about what you do. Apply for a company that does a variety of print, brand and digital work, even intern if you have too. Good luck mate. But there may be times when that isn’t the best solution. Thank you all SO much for your comments and critiques! But I believe that being self-taught is a bit overrated nowadays, mostly because it just makes a good story. 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