~~NEED DESPERATE HELP!!! Portfolio is Me, or Portfolio for You

[xznkl]

Hello there

Please offer me some insight or light into this situation:

I've made a nice portfolio. It's nice to look at, nicely concise, nice and nice all round.

I'm dying to make a portfolio to show who I really am, whether I'm a graphic designer or not.

My head tells me that a portfolio shouldn't be about you, but the work that you do. It also says that one should not design something which will distract the audience from the real deal.

My heart says the job I really want to get (wherever it is), should pave the way for me to become a Cool Designer, not a corporate designer. It also says, why hide who you are and just go full force.

I hope I am making some sense, basically, I can do a kick-ass design for my portfolio, but it is totally out there, no box, no rules, no constraint of what-should-be.

I HAve made a portfolio of what-it-should-be, neat, nice, versatile and all that.

Though I'm so undecided - the cool designs you see online or elsewhere - in more creative/artistic pieces, isn't that what made everyone wana get into design? So is it so epic.fail to be that in your portfolio. Or is the corporate world (where most designs are for) is so tight and judgemental that I will come off as boasting, immature and crazy?

Please shed some light on this matter.

<3
Kim

[budafist]

I guess you are touching on personal style here. Our graphic design celebrities all seem to have a personal style that can be recognised no matter the client.

There are pros and cons of this. Example If your personal style is graffiti and put rabbits on everything, then there will come a day when graffiti and rabbits is not appropriate to the client. So do you change your style? Or do you just go ahead and keep your style?

I guess the advantage of head hunted designers is that clients look at their style and then decide if it is right for their product.

Most of us do not have that luxury. Most of us have to adapt our style to suit the client's needs.

Cool designs are great, but only if your client's product is cool and funky. If it's a corporate and conservative job, making cool designs would be frustrating to your employer and to your client.

As someone looking for a job, your portfolio should show that you are a good designer, but also that you are diverse and can accept challenges like different products and types of clients.

I hope I haven't gone on too much of a tangent.

[Ned]

Examples? :p You can certainly reflect your own personality in your portfolio layout, but the focus does need to be on your work. What would be acceptable deviation and not can't really be determined without seeing it first. There are very concrete reasons why certain things must remain as they are, while other things are up to interpretation.

[Ned]

Example If your personal style is graffiti and put rabbits on everything, then there will come a day when graffiti and rabbits is not appropriate to the client.

zomg, I LOVE RABBITS! <3 <3 <3


Do you ever watch Bleach, Buda? Your example made me think of Rukia's descriptive drawings. ;)

[xznkl]

I guess you are touching on personal style here. Our graphic design celebrities all seem to have a personal style that can be recognised no matter the client.

There are pros and cons of this. Example If your personal style is graffiti and put rabbits on everything, then there will come a day when graffiti and rabbits is not appropriate to the client. So do you change your style? Or do you just go ahead and keep your style?

I guess the advantage of head hunted designers is that clients look at their style and then decide if it is right for their product.

Most of us do not have that luxury. Most of us have to adapt our style to suit the client's needs.

Cool designs are great, but only if your client's product is cool and funky. If it's a corporate and conservative job, making cool designs would be frustrating to your employer and to your client.

As someone looking for a job, your portfolio should show that you are a good designer, but also that you are diverse and can accept challenges like different products and types of clients.

I hope I haven't gone on too much of a tangent.

As far as style goes : from my current portfolio, one can see that I have a variety of styles that are equally good.

My personal style is abstract : FUll honesty and Lots of personality + getting personal. In a corporate world people might find me strange or even obscure or crazy. But I say thats them being more judgemental because that perspective would make me look like I'm crazy.

I have this feeling, that if I did what I wanted to do, I will probably get to where my dreams are one day. But for the time being, it will also kick my own ass and might result in no money for a while.

But I don't know whether i should trust that feeling and just courageously embrace it.

I have difficulty in deciding on a compromise, IF I compromise my values (ie. you should be who you are) - for the values of who they are - to get a job, then is that job really worth it? Sure ill be broke but i can STIll survive - and i can't decide whether i should put myself into so much strain for a dream that is based on "ideas of my own" anyhow??

Hmm...its all very confusing to me.
But, I don't use graffiti. Its not the visual I'm worried about, more like what I want to say in my CV or as descriptions.

And my mind says, what "i think bout this n that" really doesn't matter. But in all truths, there IS a common ground, but its just not my ground, yet its my work, n this is what i thought when I made it for the client but the client doesn't know, just like the guy viewing my portfolio won't know because it's too risque/crazy to put on a CV...

Sigh im ranting but hope u get a better idea.

I don't use rabbits:P but they are cute :P

[xznkl]

oops posted twice >.< *delete delete*

[budafist]

Sorry, I was using the graffiti rabbit style as an example. Not saying that anyone anywhere has that style, but if that was your style, you might have some problems later on if that is all you advertise yourself as.

[SurfPark]

Any employer wants to know you can use the tools to make EFFECTIVE designs. Sometimes those designs are corporate and boring. Sometimes those designs are wild and crazy. No matter the work you'd prefer to work on, you're going to have to bite the bullet sometimes and do work that does not reflect you as an individual.

You're having the classic artist vs. designer conflict. We are artists that are paid to create work that helps sell an idea. Our creations are not the end message, rather they are a stepping stone to an overall brand or philosophy. A design firm would want to know that you can convey THEIR message effectively. Will this interfere with your personal style? Perhaps. Will it always? No. Many clients allow you to infuse your own sensibilities into pieces, especially if they're starting out as a clean slate.

Before you become a rock star designer and featured on ever cover of How, you'll have to consider experienced you are in taking a corporate-style project and effectively delivering a corporate message. Not to say that you'll be doing that your whole life, but for some employers, you'll have to prove that you could, if required to.

I think as times goes on, and you've been more experience in this industry you'll discover that no matter what the subject matter you're designing for, the process is all the same. A designer working for MTV and a designer working for the British National Museum all take the same approach to a design problem. Quit worried about being a working stiff and just start working. Your concerns about being pigeonholed into one kind of work for your entire career are a bit premature.