Build a portfolio web site.

Ladies and gentlemen, build a portfolio web site. Well, first go vote for Amanda’s blog, then build a portfolio site.

If I could offer one piece of advice to the graduating class of graphic designers, it would be, “build a portfolio site”. And wear sunscreen (if you are too young to understand the reference, well, just please spare me the gray hair jokes as you laugh at me on MySpace).

I’ll get into the “hows” of building a portfolio site at the end of this post, so bear with me. I make mention of this now because I don’t want you to throw your hands in the air and say, “Great Kev, but how?” and stop reading.

The cold, cruel fact of the matter is you have a lot of competition in the world. The way you think, the way you solve problems and develop stories will set you apart (and given Valencia’s incredible resources, set you far apart), but you have to be able to share this brilliance with the world or all is for naught.

Your web portfolio is not an extension of your print portfolio. Your print portfolio is not an extension of your web portfolio. They are two entities, one in the same via different mediums, that are an extension of you, the brand. This is the manner I would suggest taking it from — “who am I, and how can I express it?” No other brand will give you so much freedom or be as frustrating as your own. Enjoy it, embrace the struggle, you’ll be all the happier for it.

The amount of work you show on your site is largely dependent on what type of job you are looking for. If you want to be cozy in your Santa Claus pajamas at 2 a.m. working on a freelance project for a client half way around the world, you are going to want to present a lion’s share of work in multiple categories of design or illustration or whatever. Chances are, every thing in your portfolio will be online.

If you are looking for a regular job where you can go and sit at a big metal table, drink expensive coffee (that your company pays for — pat yourself on the back now for choosing the best industry on Earth), where you research, sketch and create mood boards, research, create, sketch, present, research, present again, sketch, present, research, finalize (what a disarmingly charming word), present, research, sketch, and present, sketch, finalize, present, send to press, then you’ll want to have a taste of your work on the site. Enough to ensure the potential interviewer that you are worthy of their time, but not so much work that they are bored during your presentation. Having exclusive pieces to your portfolio site is not a bad idea.

Whichever of the above, or neither, or a hybrid of both, you choose to do, the one thing that is imperative is you give the viewer an idea of who you are. Which segues nicely into my second point: blog.

As Amanda Kern’s recent entry and potential scholarship has nicely illustrated for us all: blogs are super important. They offer deeper insight into you are, what you do, how you think, how well you can communicate, and a million other hidden aspects into your head that are hard to reveal in the standard interview or design review. Blog every day, at least once a day. At first, this is a hugely intimidating process, but it gets easier as you go along. One thing I find that helps tremendously is a stable of half-to-fully written but unpublished posts waiting for your “off days”. I try to have at least 10 at any given time, so when I’m feeling off (or tired, or busy, or whatever) I can grab something from the shelf, polish it up a bit and publish it.

Do not worry if Google Analytics (google this if you are unfamiliar with it) tells you that no one but spam bots are reading your site. In a counterintuitive fashion, it doesn’t really matter. The blog will build your skill at communication and provide ground for people actively researching you (i.e. someone interviewing you) to get a better handle of who you are and how you think.

Blogs make you real, they make you relevant, and they make you timely. If I come to your site, and there is no indication of how often you update, how do I know you are haven’t retired or quit the industry? How do I know this isn’t some forgotten monument? (You have NO Idea how hard it was not to be cliché and say, “Blogs are your site’s lungs. Don’t forget to breathe”).

The average user spends 3 minutes 38 seconds on my portfolio web site, a similar amount of time on my blog — BUT — the the average time of someone who reads my blog, then goes to my web site, is 17 minutes 2 seconds. Blogs, my friends, show you as a real, living, breathing, interesting person.

So, blog. About design, about your process, about your projects, about your life (in that rough order of importance). You want it to be personal, I want to know you are real, but I don’t want to know when you run out of tooth paste (Monday).

Finally, the wrap up.

In an interesting paradox, designers often face themselves in a situation where they need a service rendered (a web site) without knowing who to turn to (typically). To be frank and honest, I hired a freelance programmer, and it really wasn’t that expensive. We chatted via IM about sizes and functionality, I sent him a series of illustrator documents with various scaled boxes of what I wanted each section to look like we discussed, he prepared a proof, I approved, he completed the site, I approved, he flipped the switch and it was active. If you want his information, email me at kevin@thinblackglasses.com and I’ll send it over.

Alternatively, Valencia’s design program has an entire multimedia track. Orlando has a huge number of independent programmers that are willing, able, and available to help you. There are countless options online to get you there (please, though, if you use Lightbox or similar software, find a way to make it your own. Infuse your own creativity, don’t use the standard templates that make you a camouflaged dot in the sea.)

You have options. “I don’t know how” isn’t one any longer.

Now, if anyone needs specific help or wants to talk about what is possible, how to get it done, what things should be added, or anything else to that effect, please drop me a line at kevin@thinblackglasses.com. I’d love to help.