On the rare occasion that I do need to hire someone else to help with the load, I often times know exactly what I want in terms of style and seek out those who will best fit the description. In a recent case of needing an illustrator of a certain style I had never really sought before, I was lucky in that I found not just one who met my needs, but three, and those three will most likely get calls back from me in future projects. For those who know who you are, my hat goes off to you.
But, since this was my first time actively searching for illustrators who met my needs rather than just knowing several off the top of my head with whom I'm already acquainted with, my eyes were opened to a lot of things...wrong...with how people present their portfolios. I've taken lessons from all of them when and if I ever have my own website (I've been saying it for years I need one but meh...I just can't seem to get around to doing it).
Here's what I've learned:
Sidescrolling Websites = BAD!
Someone linked me to their website to be considered, and I had no idea where the art was. I had my web-savvy dad look at the website, he couldn't figure out where the portfolio section was either. I was about to click away when I noticed that my browser was telling me to scroll sideways. Huh.
The majority of the internet scrolls downward. The fact that I was feeling more inclined to close this artist's page than to try any harder to see the art is a real big downside and could have cost this artist a potential job, because if they had been of the style that I wanted, I never would have known it if I couldn't get to the art. You only have a couple seconds to catch someone's attention on the internet, why make people hunt for your art?
Spelling, spelling, spelling
If you're going to present yourself as a graphic designer, make sure the items in your portfolio are spelled correctly. A typo located in the center of a huge block of copy is slightly more forgivable, but when you are showing off a sample of a faux magazine cover you designed and there's not one but two blatant typos and grammatical errors in the article titles, you're not showing yourself in a professional light at all.
InDesign and Word, the programs I generally work in, both have spell checkers, and I use them frequently. Its also good to read things aloud to make sure things flow, because spell checkers can't check bad wording.
Where's the beef?
This goes along with the whole idea of not making people hunt for your art. It is probably a good idea to have a sample of your artwork on the main page of your site, or a thumbnail with a link to the rest of your folio. For example, a "recent additions" thumbnail is something I personally like to see just because it makes me see that your site has been updated since my last visit, and that there is artwork somewhere on the site. Several times I would go to an artist's page and see just a stark background with nothing indicating to me that this was an artist's web page, and it wasn't until several menu clicks later that I was able to find anything I was looking for. Maybe I just have a short attention span, but I assure you, a lot of people have even shorter ones.
Shield thine eyes!
I am fortunate in that I work from home and don't have anyone peering over my shoulder peeking at what webpages I visit. However, this little bit of embarrassment happened because I was searching for illustrators while I was on holiday break visiting my family, who's opinion of visited webpages I do care about.
I visit an artist's page and BAM! Right there on the front is a very NSFW image, one of which is part of their portfolio. I quickly clicked the page closed and decided not to visit it again. That artist caught my attention, yes, but in a negative way. With my family close at hand and little privacy as to what's on my screen, I decided to not go back to that artist's page and check through their portfolio, but instead moved on.
As many people who look for artists DO work in offices in mixed company, however, I would consider it a good idea to either have some sort of warning before a section that contains NSFW material or just omit it altogether when presenting one's portfolio. That way, people have the option of viewing said material and know full well of what to expect, rather than be exposed to it without their consent right off the bat.
*Disclaimer* For the record, I'm not merely talking about nude figures. Though I'm American and I know we Americans have earned the reputation of being very prudish, I'm also an artist, and not that uptight to consider the naked form NSFW by any means.
And for some positive matter, here's somethings I really enjoyed seeing in people's web pages:
- Easy to navigate portfolio
- Portfolio is divided into sections based on what I'm looking for
- Clean looking main page with no complicated splash pages
- Contact information is plainly visible, preferably on all pages of portfolio
- The BEST work shown in portfolio, not simply "everything I've done to date"
