I attended the Portfolio Workshop hosted by Lane community College. It was part one of three workshops focused on building a Portfolio to bring to a professional setting to sell yourself to a job/Client. In part one of the three workshops professionals in the varied fields within multimedia we had four presenters in the fields of, Graphic Design, Web Design, 3-D Art & Models, and Digital Photography!
The first presenter had a professional concept design company working at an international level! He was one of my favorite presenters of the event. I jotted down a lot of good information. He recommends when you come to make your Portfolio design a “Master Portfolio” and from that master compilation of your work craft a portfolio highlighting your skills in the diverse and varied subjects. Some of his examples of what he made from his “Master Portfolio” were a Graphic Design Logos, Aquariums, Children’s Illustrations. From these segmented master files you can alter them to fit the job you’re going for. Such as if you are looking to acquire Children’s Illustration work you can take the Children’s Illustration portfolio and form it around the project you’re submitting your portfolio to. When you know the focus and direction of your present portfolio you want to open it with the clear and concise message, always start with a clear big picture and work out the details through the Portfolio. Remember to keep it sweet and simple however keep it to 10 spreads minimum and 12 maximum. When presenting to a potential client you want to keep them hooked in and not confused by the scale or lack of detail.
Our second presenter was in the Web Design field. She makes and maintains learning software for school districts around oregon. Her Portfolio was ran and opperatied on wordpress.com, like our class blogs! She really showed a great example of how you can use domain hosting websites like WordPress and Squarespace. It was as fluid and well put together website that showcased her and her talents quite well. It was a break away from the more traditional portfolio website as she clearly made it her own. Managing your own sight also makes it so prospective clients can come to you in place of you seeking out them. I find this to be the most appealing aspect of Website based portfolio.
Third we had a younger presenter who like our last was a graduate from Lane Community College. He has more recently been working with a 3D artist company up in portland where he and a team he leads create 3D models for clients around the nation. He built his using tumblr, a social media program. Like domain hosting websites he was able to dig into the website code and change it to fit his portfolio need and desires for his web page. Giving his 3D modeling chops some more backbone as he was able to use HTML code to make his Portfolio his on this social media site. He had videos showcasing his work and a way to contact him directly through his tumblr. I find this to be the most appealing aspect of using these techniques as it makes starting media moguls more accessible and give more opportunity to the community and the creator to express their vision.
Our Final presenter was Jon Myers a digital Photographer in town. He has been doing professional photography for around 20 years now. I have taken one of jons classes so getting some insight into his work in a professional mater was really awesome to see. Jon uses two websites to host his work. He was currently working with a Web Designer to rebuild his sites and gear them towards what he wants out of them. Jon is an established photographer in eugene and with some national companies. Using his two website he hopes to split them into Local and National work. Filling each site with appropriate work for old and new clients alike to browse and contact Jon with offers if they like his work. A great way to filter out the weeds from the greens.
I learned a lot from all the presentations. They shed some light on building tips and how to get yourself out there with maximum or minimum effort. Overall I took away a lot I want to use in my portfolio when crafting it in the near future. These projects we do in class give me good practice and build my skills in the multimedia program here at Land Community College!
some of the notes I took during the workshop
This workshop was so good for me as well! I feel like it’s important to gather as much information from professionals as possible. I hope to see you at the next portfolio workshop!
I was also able to attend this portfolio workshop, here at Lane. Though I wish there was more of a workshop, where people viewed our own portfolios, it was very helpful. It offered us a large range of types of portfolios, from the head of a Large Design company to that of a VFX artist.