Description
Studying professional portfolios is one of the best ways to develop your own. Throughout this course we look at real portfolios from working designers, animators, photographers, and illustrators, not to copy them, but to understand what makes them effective.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze a professional portfolio using design and communication vocabulary
- Identify effective strategies for presenting creative work online
- Give specific, constructive feedback to classmates
Discussion Prompt
Find one online portfolio that inspires you, then tell us exactly why it works.
Instructions
- Browse for portfolio inspiration on Behance, ArtStation, Dribbble, Vimeo, or a professional’s personal site. It should be relevant to your career goals.
- Post in Discord: a screenshot (not a PDF), the URL, and a 3-5 sentence analysis of what specifically makes it effective. Go beyond ‘it looks cool’, talk about layout, how the work is described, case study quality, navigation, personal branding.
- Comment on 4 classmates’ posts with a genuine observation.
- Compile your post and 4 comments in Miro and export as JPG.
Example
“I found the portfolio of Erin Sarofsky at sarofsky.com, she’s a motion designer behind Marvel title sequences. What I find effective: she leads with the biggest, most recognizable work immediately. Each project has a case study explaining the brief and process, not just a showreel. The site is minimal and dark so the work pops.”
How to Submit
Upload your compiled Miro JPG here.