The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design (eBook)

Debbie Rose Myers (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2013 | 3. Auflage
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-118-71651-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Landing a job in graphic design or multimedia starts with the creation of a portfolio that showcases a student's best work. With sample portfolios, interviews with leaders in graphic design and advertising industries, and step-by-step instruction for creating professional print and digital portfolios, this book helps students successfully transition from design student to design professional. Now fully updated, it is the only guide to creating job-winning print-based and digital portfolios specifically for graphic designers.

Debbie Rose Myers, MFA, EdS, is a professor of graphic design, advertising, and web design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, where she also teaches portfolio design courses and develops curricula for graphic design and multimedia programs.

Inhalt

Preface vii

Acknowledgments x

1 The Portfolio Process--Start to Finish 1

2 Planning Your Portfolio 15

3 The Traditional Portfolio: 31

The Résumé, Cover Letter, and Business Card

4 The Traditional Portfolio: 55

Design and Art Projects

5 The Digital Portfolio: 83

CD-ROMs, DVDs, and Web Sites

6 The Digital Portfolio: 111

Technical Elements

7 The Design Phase 129

8 Working with Type 151

9 Maneuvering around Your Site: 171

Navigation

10 The Web-Based Portfolio: 187

Web Page Design

11 The Web-Based Portfolio: 211

Technical Elements

12 Multimedia and Your Interface 229

13 Designer Checklists 253

14 Using Social Media to Land a Great Job 265

15 Taking Interviews and Presenting 285

Your Portfolio

Glossary 309

Bibliography 320

Index 321

Textauszug

Preface

Computers? In art? I remember telling my boyfriend (later to become my husband) Glenn that computers would never be used in art. As I watched him carry those long boxes of computer punch cards to class each week, I chuckled, secure in the knowledge that artists had no need for computers. How wrong I was!

Back when I studied graphic design and art in college, you learned how to prepare art for printing with materials such as Rubylith and stat cameras. Rubylith was a thin, semitransparent acetate material that was used to block out areas of color. I remember spending hours cutting CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key) color separations with an X-ACTO knife. Type involved an even crazier process. You would go to a gigantic drawer filled with type of various sizes and styles and pick the sheets of type that were closest to the sizes you needed, because, unlike today, type came in only a few sizes. Then you would use Popsicle sticks to laboriously rub (or set) the type in place on the page. Stat cameras gave you the ability to “resize” your type through the photographic reproduction method. You would first photograph the type, then enlarge it and paste it down on the final boards. My tools of choice in those days were the T square, the triangle, and my trusty non-photo blue pencil, which I used to draw lines and grids for the type. Naturally, it took forever to build a layout. Who knew that only ten years later, I would be teaching computerized page layout to a whole new generation of art and design majors!

Why a book on digital portfolios? Once upon a time, it was enough to have a great set of boards to demonstrate your design ability. You went to an interview, talked about your credentials, opened your portfolio, discussed your work, and if all went well, you were offered a job. Today, though, things are a little different.

• You go to job-specific Web sites, enter your credentials, and begin searching for a job that matches your requirements.
• You design a Web site, post it at a place established specifically for your profession, send out announcements, and wait for job offers.
• You are asked to submit a DVD of your work before you are even invited in for an interview.

I teach at a college that is always on the cutting edge of design trends. Students are instructed in industry-specific software. But I have learned one thing in my 32 years of teaching: design majors are true right-brained thinkers. You say, “programming language,” and they say, “bye-bye”!

Here’s how this book on digital portfolios came about. Over the years, I have spent much time trying to find ways to introduce complex computer programs to creative majors in order to enable them to embrace the newest technologies. This book, then, is for all my students—past, present, and future—and is designed to allay their fears, answer their questions, and ultimately empower them to succeed.

I know it takes time, energy, and patience to create a digital portfolio that will get you the job of your dreams. If you’re just starting out, you have many multimedia programs to evaluate. You want one that meets your needs but doesn’t take a lifetime to master. You want proven interface design techniques that are easy to understand and utilize. You want to know what problems you may encounter and how to solve them. Or maybe you’re already at the next level—you know all about the popular programs but want to learn more about interface metaphors. Whatever your level—novice, intermediate, or professional—this book will help you learn how to create a successful digital portfolio.

What’s New in This Edition?

Nothing has changed . . . everything has changed!

As with the last edition of this book, there is still a need for a book that helps students gather their art and design pieces to create a market-ready portfolio, Every creative can use a bit of help with designing effective résumés and business cards and learning the best techniques to take interviews and ultimately secure employment. But a lot has changed, as well! Today’s design students have many new tools at their disposal to help create their own online “brand.” Social media marketing is now a viable way to reach out to the design industry and find a job. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and Google + all offer new ways to reach a possible employer. The choices are vast and sometimes confusing for the young designer. This new edition of The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Portfolio Design will help the graduating student to understand the practical side of social media marketing, as well as the potential problems.

This third edition presents new interviews with leaders in the graphic design and advertising industries at the end of every chapter. They will offer you their many years of wisdom and practical experience regarding the interview process. Their answers are funny and real, and they offer sound advice on successful interviewing. I know you will enjoy their insights.

Also new in this edition are up-to-date “designer’s challenges”—one or more projects that appear at the end of every chapter. They’ll help kick-start your creative portfolio by offering you some “assignments” that will aid in the development of your portfolio.

The first edition of the book offered detailed information to help design students create both traditional and digital versions of their portfolio work. The second edition of the book examined updated methods for the online portfolio. Since the publication of the second edition in December 2008, many new techniques are being utilized by graduates to locate potential jobs. Likewise, the methods available to a graduate to reach a potential employer have moved substantially to an online environment. This new edition of The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Portfolio Design will offer a chapter that focuses on the newest techniques in online marketing.

Likewise, the design software is not the same. There have been some substantial changes in the software industry since the publication of the last edition. Once upon a time, QuarkXPress ruled the publication market. That is no longer true. InDesign is now the industry standard, and QuarkXPress is concentrating on its new market in interactive book design. Adobe purchased Macromedia Director, and some years later discontinued it. Adobe Acrobat has morphed into a robust program that delivers print and Web-based documents. HTML 5 is gaining ground as the new standard in animation and sound for Web design, and Adobe is beta testing a new Flash-style interface program, called Creative Edge. Edge will create robust Flash-style animations that convert directly to HTML 5. All of these changes have occurred in the past three years. Blogging platforms such as WordPress offer new ways to showcase design.

These are some of the changes you will learn about inside this new edition of The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Portfolio Design.

If You Are a First-Time Reader

Chapters 1 through 5 of this book will give you some perspective on the digital portfolio. Think of it as the whys and wherefores of interface design. You’ll learn what should be included in a good portfolio and see a discussion of what stays and what goes. If you need to generate new pieces for your “port,” you’ll find ways to jump-start your creativity.

Once you have some projects, chapters 5 through 8 will help you organize them into a cohesive system. There are chapters that discuss CD-ROM design versus Web design. You will learn about all of the most popular multimedia programs, and you’ll find many tips and tricks to make your time on the computer more productive.

If you are already a design professional, familiar with the software, chapters 5, 6, and 9 will show you new ways to utilize your knowledge, including various techniques for designing efficient yet creative maneuverability features for your multimedia port.

If you’re struggling with type and color, head directly to chapter 8, which presents a detailed discussion of type issues, not just in design but also on the computer. Confused about what typefaces work best on the Internet? You’ll find answers on that topic in chapter 7, as well.

If you’re worried about technical problems, don’t miss chapter 13, which examines what can go wrong in every phase of your portfolio development.

Do you know how to write a résumé, an artist’s statement, or a cover letter? Have you taken a job interview lately? Do you know what questions an interviewer is prohibited by law from asking? Chapter 3 offers examples of résumés and techniques for taking a successful interview.

And, as a new feature to this edition, chapter 14 will teach you how to use social media to unearth jobs and then to land one!

This book focuses both on the ever-changing world of technology and on the enduring principles and techniques of interface design, which do not change over time. It is my hope that you will find this book both supportive and enlightening—and that it will be the key to your success.

Debbie Rose Myers

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the support and inspiration of many people, and I would like to take a moment to acknowledge these wonderful friends and colleagues.

Throughout this book, you will see art by many of my most talented students. I thank them all! I especially want to express gratitude to Julie Ruiz, Ryan Skinner, Sigrun Eggertsdottir, and Etni Estrella for their insights and art.

In particular, special thanks go to the many fine folks who agreed to be interviewed for this book: Christine David, Stephan Donche,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.9.2013
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Design / Innenarchitektur / Mode
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Grafik / Design
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Architektur
• Schlagworte: Design • Grafikdesign • Graphic Design • graphic design portfolio, graphic design guide, graphic designer portfolio, graphic designer website, graphic web design, web graphic design, web design portfolio, graphic designer portfolios, website design
• ISBN-10: 1-118-71651-5 / 1118716515
• ISBN-13: 978-1-118-71651-9 / 9781118716519