So I’m already doing this but I want your guys opinion.
Nowadays instagram is becoming even more popular and I believe facebook is dying cause of it.
Do you creative minds think it could be professional to actually use instagram as a portfolio?
Can you direct a person to your portfolio if they don’t have an Instagram account? I ask because Facebook will block the lower half of most pages if someone is not logged in. And if you don’t have an account, you aren’t going to see the lower half of the page.
If you are a freelancer, which is a business entity, I would expect you to have your own dedicated company website. Instagram, to me at least, screams of immaturity and no dedication to craft and perhaps even a reliance on easy-button technology.
rant
Don’t get me started on Facebook. You probably had to have been born in the 60s (pre-internet) in order to see through what that platform really is and has always been, and not buy into it. Data mining has been going on for well over 3 decades. Everything you purchase online, or with a store discount card, even your credit card adds a little bit more of your demographic information to the Beast. Zuckerberg knew exactly what he was doing when he started Facebook, and anyone that accepts, “Oops, my bad,” as an excuse…weeellllllll… like this forum, if you ain’t payin for it, it ain’t free.
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Yep.
I looked at Instagram as a supplemental marketing tool, and decided it’s not worth it.
You’re forced to upload images from your phone, not your machine. There is a workaround, but they’d really have to be worth it before I’m going to spend extra time uploading.
And like many other well-known sites, they’re glutted and clogged with amateur stuff, probably keyword spam too.
I’m not a fan.
(And don’t get me started on Dribble.)
Yes, it is possible for someone without an account to view a profile page with a computer or a digital device.
I agree that a website is expected in a business but nowadays so is an instagram page. On instagram you can have people around the world reach out to you rather than just having a website that not anyone can find unless you personally direct them to it or they dig in to it.
It is actually a really good marketing tool if used properly.
Being limited to upload an image or a video with your mobile device is annoying but it isn’t an issue, at least for me.
Yes, but do they reach out with paying jobs? Do you get actual clients via instagram? Have any of your clients found you through it?
My clients are mostly local, and I’m getting good results from my local chamber of commerce and other physical networking venues.
Yes, yes and yes.
I wouldn’t be interested in thw subject if the answer was no to your questions.
I’m just curious if one of you guys had a company or a small business and was looking for an employee. Would it be unprofessional to use instagram as a portfolio? of course the profile page is strictly design related with no personal life photos.
I agree that Instagram is important in the sense that having something there — as well as on several other social media platforms — indicates to an employer that you’re savvy with engaging an online audience and taking advantage of newer technology.
The way you should use it, however, should probably be in way that’s a bit more appropriate to the medium. Instagram is a social media platform primarily designed around the ubiquity of smartphones. Using it for a portfolio site just might send the wrong signal to potential employers, and suggest that, perhaps, you really don’t understand the subtleties of social media.
I sure wouldn’t hesitate to use it in a supplementary way to promote your work, though. But as a main portfolio site, no way.
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You can download an app on the Mac for free called gramblr to post, schedule and use hashtags.
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It’s not good as a primary portfolio, because the images are small. You may need to show details or small text.
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very true.
I’m convinced. Time to update my website!
I’m glad you came to this conclusion. I was going to add that I think it’s good to have social media as well as a website portfolio. But you must make sure you update the social media pages regularly, at least once a month, better once a week. Otherwise the accounts will feel abandoned.
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Could you please elaborate? I’d like to know if Dribbble is a bad idea. Besides, I love rants.
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IG can be a valuable part of social media marketing, and you can, over time, build a portfolio of your work on IG. But I don’t believe that IG should be a replacement for a dedicated website for your design practice.
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Ya want a rant? Ya got it.
My main gripe with Dribble is you can only upload horizontal images.
For a “portfolio” site? What good is that? Why would they do that?
I do a lot of vertical stuff like posters, rack cards, sandwich boards… and to put it up there, I’d have to recreate each piece by placing it on a horizontal background image. Just for Dribble.
I could easily automate that, it’s not a huge amount of work, but it’s an extra step that other sites don’t require. Dribble doesn’t offer enough to justify wasting the time.
I asked on a LinkedIn designer group whether they had found it worthwhile in terms of getting clients or work. They all said no, (except for one who said we should upload our work to every online place possible).
So I canceled my Dribble account. Happily.
I was hoping someone would say otherwise but I totally agree with you and the others.
And just to add something. On instagram you cant categorize your work, which kinda sucks for me, because I do more than graphic design and It makes it even more difficult for the client to see a specific category, unless he/she scrolls down to all my posts.
Thanks DocPixel. This is good to know.
Strange that a design-related website has this self-inflicted limitation.
I know, right?
Also, if memory serves, the horizontal format is an exact size too. So even horizontal pieces have to be cropped to fit those exact measurements.
I can’t see any reason for that. Unless they’re targeting only designers who will work within those limitations.
Pfft.
That’s the beauty of hashtags though, you can add those to your page description like tazdesign/type/photo/etc. It’ll really only apply to those that are looking with purpose but putting them at the top lets them know they’re there. It could also be fun to allow those to dictate your post order too, probably smart to do in multiples of 3s for cleanliness. I’m in the process of getting an Instagram together and working on my post design is bewildering to the point that I think I’m overthinking it.