Graphic Design & Portfolio Tips

Tips from a Pro Graphic Designer

1. Angles are your friend
• Add angles to your text or layout elements
• Angles are a great way to make a dull design exciting again
• You can do this with a box underneath your text, or by angling your text
2. Flip your design
• After looking at a design for a long time, you start to miss the details
• Flip your design horizontally to check for mistakes, balance issues, etc.
3. Create several different layouts, don't just use your first one
4. Use black and white in logo design
• This helps make sure there is enough contrast in multiple enviornments
• It also eliminates color distraction
5. Learn keyboard shortcuts in the design program you use
• These really increase your productivity
6. Use multiple artboards in Adobe Illustrator
• This helps you keep many different iterations on a design in one file for a project
7. Recolor artwork
8. Master the shape builder tool
9. Manually adjust your kerning
• Kerning is the space between your characters
10. Use grids to layout your design

Using Infographics

Freepik.com: Graphic Resources for Everyone (Free vectors, stock photos and PSD)

• Use infographics as much as possible
• Your job as a designer is to make text and info-heavy information pallitable and interesting
• You should be able to take a block of facts and turn it into a visual treat
• It can be as simple as creating custom icons and symbols to display facts and stats
• Icons are more fun and playful than just a list of bullet points
• Go to freepik.com and download different infographic images. Combine them with custom icons and you end up with unique and colorful infographics.

Online Portfolio Tips

General Tips

• Don't use too many written words
• Give a brief introduction/description either right away, or after the main large image
• Could put featured logo in a large square with solid color background, or you could add mockups to set the scene more
• In the introduction, introduce the company/industry and the problem that was solved with your design (inspiration story)
• Use mockups to show off your designs
• Show at least one process photo (sketch, brainstorming session, word association exercise, word mapping)
• Show a mockup with multiple items together
• Photos help tell stories
• Affinity Photo is better for mockups and for creating portfolio pieces than Affinity Designer

Presentation Tips

• This is your presentation to show the world. Client preferences do not need to be adhered to and you can deviate from the original. You can even showcase a design that the client did not choose if you think it best represents your work.
• Get permission from your client to use your project as a case study
• Make it look more like a magazine page than just a plain box with a design
• Use different background colors on different pages to help break it up into sections

Portfolio Pages

• Page one - Large visual presentation of log with phots and/or mockups
• Page two - Concept page - explain the overall idea/concept using words. This is where you will include your process photos.

Behance Portfolio Option

Behance Design

• Size: 2000p x 1300p is optimal
• RGB color
• High resolution
• 6-15 pages (artboards) long

Behance Banner

• 3200p x 410p

Dribbble Portfolio Option

Dribbble Shot

• Minimum 1600p x 1200p
• Up to 10MB each

Animated GIF

• 400p x 300p
• 800p x 600p
• 1600p x 1200p

Videos (PRO only)

• MP4, 4:3, less than 24 seconds

Additional Info

• Title
• Tags
• Description (code tags accepted)