As a graphic designer, one of your most important assets that you have is your graphic design portfolio. The purpose of your portfolio is to display your skills as a graphic designer and help you land your dream job or gain a new client.
Just after you have completed your studies, your portfolio will most probably just have the projects and assignments you did while you were studying. The projects and assignments were a great way to test your knowledge and practice your skills, but that is not enough to impress your future boss or a possible client.
Graphic design is a very competitive field to get into and your portfolio can play a big role in landing your dream job or a big contract, it will take some time and hard work but in the end, it will be worth all effort.
So how can I start building up an impressive portfolio just after I finish studying?
Glad you asked.
There are a few things you can do:
- Look around you: family, friends and colleagues. Stay alert and I am sure you’ll find someone needing some design work to be done.
- If you know of someone who is starting a business or already owns a business; start making friends with them and let them know, that if they need any design work done they can contact you.
- Another option is looking for contests on the internet. They are a great way to experiment, gain experience, maybe make a few bucks and get yourself known as a graphic designer.
- You can also join graphic design forums on the internet, they are a goldmine of advice, resources and a great place to make friends in the graphic design field.
Here are a couple of forums that you might want to check out:
I would also suggest you create an electronic version of your portfolio, preferably in PDF format, in case you cannot give it to a client personally you can e-mail it to them instead.
You should also keep in mind that your graphic design portfolio is a reflection of you. If your portfolio and work is untidy and messy, you will be viewed the same.