Final portfolio - Final sizes - business card size is finally correct :)

Final outcome - I am overall pleased with my work,  I have found it very difficult to get back into university after the summer break and seem to have lost of my creativity :S. The work shows new techniques i have learnt through this brief and even though their not as professional as i would of liked them its showing i am improving.

I have decided to make a simple portfolio page as i wanted my work to do all the 'talking' and also in Peters lesson i have made an online portfolio which i will be uploading work to it at the end of the year.

This is my online portfolio design for Petes lesson. It will change slightly over the year but i want to keep the layout like this. My work will be uploaded to this site as soon as it is uploaded to the internet.

Improving my portfolio

Ok so my portfolio pages are boring!!! I wanted to keep them simple and interesting because my skills still aren't where i want them to be. However I still think this shouldnt stop me because i still have all year to improve the design for my portfolio. I have done some research on how to improve my design and i come across this link and thought it might help out others aswell?

Discover How to Improve Your Graphic Design Portfolio

1. Choosing a Portfolio Case
Choosing a case for your work should be the first step of creating your graphic design portfolio. The style of the case and the size of the case will play a role in what will be inside. You don’t need to have the most expensive portfolio in the world, but it should be nice, new and look professional. Don’t show up with your parents beat up portfolio case that’s been sitting in the attic for 10 years!
Be sure to also take into account the size of the pages to see if it will be a good size to display the work you have. For example, if you do a lot of poster designs you may want a larger case so you can print your designs at a larger size.
2. Your Portfolio’s Background Paper
The background paper in your case should be a neutral color, most likely a white or light grey and should be used throughout your entire portfolio. Try to avoid switching background colors because it can be shocking to the view and throw of the flow of your portfolio.
3. Consistency
Like your paper usage, the work and placement of your work should be consistent as well. If you center all your designs on each page make sure they are center everywhere. Try to keep spacing even around the sides as well. Showing errors in consistency your portfolio will reflect what your design work could be like.
4. Including the Right Designs
You should spend a lot of time choosing the right work for your portfolio. If you are in design school be sure to have your teachers help you out, or ask your designer friends for input. Your work should be current and you should tailor the type of work in your portfolio to the job you are applying for. If you are applying for a job at a magazine, be sure to include projects related to this area of work. Don’t show up with a bunch of CD covers and poster designs and no magazine covers or spreads.
5. Strong Start
When the viewer opens your portfolio you want to “wow” them, but the key is to keep them “wowed” throughout the entire presentation. Pick one of your strongest pieces for the opening page, which is usually a single page and not a spread. Its better to keep your resume and any other paper work in the back or in a separate folder.
6. Strong Finish
Ending strong is just as important as starting strong, if not more important, because you want to leave a good visual memory in the mind of the viewer. You should include another very strong piece at the end. Your portfolio should get stronger as it goes on, not weaker!
7. Placement of Work
Your work should be trimmed neatly with no rough edges and placed firmly on each page. You should use some sort of sticky tack or removable double sided tape so your work does not shift around on the page. The last thing you wanna do is open up a portfolio for an interview and see all your work jumbled around and falling out of the page slips!
8. Labeling Your Work
More often than not, interviewers will ask you to leave a portfolio at the office for future viewing so labeling your work with a title and very brief description can help refresh their memory if they begin looking through your portfolio again. Labels can also serve as notes for you while you talk about your work. Keep the labels consistent; in the same place, size and fonts.
9. Talking About Your Work
It is very important to be able to speak about each piece in your portfolio for at least a few minutes each. Know who it was for, what the project details were, what you did, what the concept was, what style you used, why and so on!
10. Practice Makes Perfect
You may know everything there is to know about your work, but being able to speak about it confidently is a whole other game. Practice in front of friends, family and even strangers so you can get over any uncomfortable feelings sooner than later. The more your practice the better your presentation will be! Just remember not to ramble on for too long on about each project.
11. Networking
Networking is an essential aspect of any career, and the more designers and art directors you know the better. Its great to be able to show your portfolio to honest people in the field. Most designers and art directors are used to giving honest, non bull-crap critiques so their opinions can be very valuable!
12. Maintaining and Updating your Portfolio
Keeping you portfolio current is important because you could unexpectedly get fired, or your dream job might pop up out of no where! You need to be ready at a moments notice; so update your portfolio once in a while and this includes replacing any bent or ripped pieces of work and cleaning fingerprints and smudges from the clear page slips.
Tell us About Your Experiences!
We would love to hear about your graphic design portfolio, portfolios you have seen and interviews you have been on in the comments below! Feel free to include pics of your portfolios in the comments as well and links to your portfolio websites.

Tweeking

Today we got out first draughts back from liz, i have got a few things to tweek before they get published. If you can find anything else which doesnt look right please let me know :). Thanks

 

Final Advert.

Final Peter Saville article.

Portfolio pages (still no type)

Final DPS and Advert

Madchester final DPS

Changing the text - making it fit across the bottom of the page.

new peter saville design

Using such a strong quote from Peter Saville I now needed a decent sized, professional image to back it up. This is the only one i thought matched my quote well. I took the image into photoshop and then made it black and white (worked better than i thought) and then just went round PS with the pen tool and placed him in my DPS.

 

I have been struggling to find a relevant article so I decided to find a quote that inspired me and write my own article based on that.

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

If we think about the most significant graphic designers of the last 25 years one name instantly springs to mind – Peter Saville a man described by many as the most influential graphic designer of his generation.  From his iconic early work with factory records through to his current role as creative director of the City of Manchester he has carved himself a niche at the very top of British Graphic Design.  

Saville is best known for his seminal record covers for Joy Division and New Order, and more recently art-directing CD covers for Pulp and Suede.  His talent however is not confined within the music industry; he also art directed advertisements for fashion brands such as Yohji Yamamoto and Dior, created corporate identities for Givenchy and London’s White Chapel gallery and most recently designed the new England football shirt.

Saville’s first association with factory records came in 1978 along with his first commercial project - the launch poster for ‘The Factory’, a club run by a local TV journalist Tony Wilson.  Saville based the Factory poster on an object he had found, an industrial warning sign he had stolen from a door at college.

When Tony Wilson decided to release a record of music by some of the bands that played at the factory he asked the then 24 year old Saville to design the sleeves, when he launched Factory Records in 1979, Saville became its art director and co-founder.

Saville has always been up front in his opinions about the design industry and the constraints he feels it places on designers, he credits Tony Wilson as being an employer that values ‘culture over commerce’, it is clear that this opinion is rooted from his early days at Factory Records where he was given an unusual, if not unprecedented level of freedom to design whatever he wanted, just as the bands were with their music: free from the constraints of budgets and deadlines which were routinely imposed on designers elsewhere.

Saville challenges all designers to ask themselves: what do you really care about? And can you maintain this belief in your work or has design simply become “the cover for unnecessary consumption” he urges young designers to “identify what you believe in and hold onto that connection: design is a vocation, and your motivation is intrinsically linked with a belief in the value of what you’re doing, if you lose these then you have lost yourself”

In a world driven by money and consumerism it is refreshing to see someone defying the status quo, it is hard not to be inspired by his message - the time has come to rip it up and start again, it’s only when you start from scratch and refuse to accept limitations, that you hit on those world changing ideas.

 Final DPS, what does everyone think?