How Many Projects Should Be In A Portfolio?
If you are a graphic designer, you already know that your portfolio is important for landing on new jobs and gaining customers. It is the place to show off your great work, but just how much to show can be daunting at times. When you have very few assignments, customers and businesses can ask what you do or who you are. Too many projects will make the people looking for you distracting and frustrating.
How many projects to include?
The ideal number of projects to have in your portfolio at any one time should be about 4-6. This number of assignments enables you to easily articulate the style of work you love and wish to continue doing. This also helps the spectator of the portfolio recall projects that stand out to them by not overburdening them with too much work. Keeping your portfolio concentrated with the amount of projects is surprisingly critical, and we see far too many creatives getting it wrong.
How Many Projects Should Be In A Portfolio
Why Taking on Too Many Projects May Be Harmful
It is natural to want to show off your work as a graphic designer as you advance and complete further designs. For example, if you have been with an organisation for a long time, there is a fair possibility you have worked on a lot of projects. Including every single project in your portfolio can be overwhelming for anyone to scroll through, let alone the effort you have to bring in to keep it up to date.
Overcrowding your portfolio with projects will cause anyone who views it to forget about you. Many artists assume that only because they finished a job it must be included in their portfolio. Curating the work you present in your portfolio is almost as critical as the work itself. Fortunately, you can study graphic design with Blue Sky Graphics, where the instructors will also help you put together a portfolio and help you land a credible job.
Why Is It Better to Have Fewer Projects?
Less is enough, as the expression goes, and this specifically relates to the number of projects you can have in your portfolio. Although getting many projects will confuse audiences, keeping the number of projects to a minimum would allow you to express better the style of work you enjoy and want to do more of. Limiting and curating the number of projects in your portfolio would push you to choose those for which you have a clear relation.
Although it can be intimidating to show just a few projects in your portfolio, keep in mind that your position and duties will shift as you advance as a designer. To succeed in your career, you should be able to show mastery of the activities you might have begun doing as a “junior” artist.
What Kinds of Projects Should You Have in Your Portfolio?
Now that we have established that restricting the amount of projects in our portfolio will potentially benefit us, it is time to decide which ones to include. The first thing advised to designers is to do art that excites them. This work does not have to be done at a workplace, with a customer, or even for money. Simply put, these may be projects that you accomplished in your spare time to learn something new. Including 2-3 of these projects will strengthen the sort of work you want to do if a customer, recruiter, or career contact approaches you.
That being said, you can still have technical tasks that you have completed. These projects reflect the ability to work in a professional setting and with others. These assignments often show your technological skills, so including many of these projects is indeed a smart idea. You would almost definitely have a multitude of these ventures from past work. Instead of including any single project, aim to concentrate on one of your favourites, a project that involved discovering a different way of working, or something that garnered considerable interest within the organisation or public.
Quick Tips for Building Online Portfolios
As expected, here are some short tips for graphic designers to develop their portfolio.
1. Use as many descriptive words as possible
The designs in your portfolio should have a lot of imagery as well as descriptive summaries. This explanation may be about the thinking process that led to the project idea, the dilemma you were attempting to solve, or merely the project’s outcome. In any case, we highly advise against having only pictures in your portfolio.
2. Do not Be Afraid to Make up Your Project
If you are starting or have been doing a lot of the same work for a long time, your portfolio may seem slightly slim. In this scenario, we would propose that you build your hypothetical project. Rebrand a small local company or update an outdated website.
3. Less is more
Showing fewer projects is not a bad thing. At the very least, we suggest no less than four designs. If you have four projects in your portfolio, you will have plenty of topics to discuss with a recruiter or business.
4. Save Time by Using These Website Portfolio Tools
A website like Behance is a perfect place to launch your portfolio right away. Building a website can be intimidating, particularly if you have no coding experience. Behance eliminates all of the hard tasks and makes it straightforward. If you are more experienced, you should look at websites like Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress. They all have models to help you get started easily, but you must first sign up for an account.
5. Seek feedback from others regularly.
While you may be aware of what you do, asking someone for feedback will provide you with an outside viewpoint that may help you develop your marketing or the way you manage your tasks. Doing this early in your portfolio’s growth will prevent you from needing to resume from scratch after you have gone too far. Start by asking for input from 1-2 close friends who are also designers or work in a similar role.
6. Keep it simple
Another way to make it easier for readers to access your portfolio is to make use of categories. When you have a lot of work to show off, having it all on one screen can be daunting. It may also be deceptive—if the first three projects are all about digital strategy, prospective clients can believe you do not provide any other services and overlook the web development projects further down the page.
Furthermore, categories will reflect the breadth of experience. If you are a marketing generalist who focuses on social media strategies, press outreach, and blog copy, you should generally categorise your work as well. After all, you do not want those desperate for Instagram support to have to sift through the magazine placements you have obtained for previous customers.
