Creating a creative portfolio. From idea to release
The perfect interface is simple, there is nothing superfluous. For a portfolio, this is also relevant. But what if you want to stand out from the masses of designers? Not to be the next “just another design folio”, but to make your website cling to the user, make him feel emotions and come again and again.
First you need to determine what is required of my portfolio? You can brag about projects to other designers and become the site of the month at awwwards, look for a new job or attract the attention of potential customers for freelancing.
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Having defined the main goal of the site, we come to the one for whom my portfolio is intended:
Each of these types of target audience has its own needs, its own unique features and its own character:
This Div Sobzh is another designer and appraiser of your work. Always in search of inspiration. Ready on occasion to give a life-giving kick if your site seems unworthy to him.
Vladislav as a studio director is a potential employer. 6 resumes in the mail a day, tired, soaked, ready to devote no more than a minute of their time.
And Ludmila , a travel agency manager for invigorating excursions in the Antarctic, is a potential client. He does not know what he wants from the site. Already communicated with other designers, but did not find a common language.
To identify insight, you need to understand what unites 3 types of target audience, what common problems they have. It does not matter whether he is the director of the studio or the customer in search of a freelancer. Common problems will be:
Designers can not understand the task of the client.
The worst sin among designers is the inability to build proper communication with the client. The resulting design may and will be a beautiful picture, but it does not help the client, it is useless.
The designer is careless, breaks deadlines and is late for meetings.
Time is money. And although the motto is “Expensive. Long. /// ”has not been canceled, creating a good design in terms, no matter how brief they were, is the only way to a profitable product. Answers to calls and advance arrival at meetings contributes to this.
Gray and mediocrity.
The client, perhaps, wants to design "That's how the office", but only if it will be profitable? Building a design based on the needs of the client, and the original idea is the key to a successful site that creates an emotional response from both the client and the end users. Consequently, the site will be remembered and will come to it again and again.
How can my portfolio solve customer communication problems?
Let's be realistic. No designer is perfect and will not be able to comply with these points all the time. It will only help the supernatural. What image of the designer can be used to solve the problems of the target audience?
Designer Gromozeka
It has 6 hands and can do 10 cases at the same time. Unfortunately, prone to valerian binge.
Designer Superman
Daring, fast and noble. Not affected by weaknesses, with the exception of kryptonite, Lois Lane and customers asking to add the kitten to their site. Even if they are a travel agency for invigorating excursions in the Antarctic. Unfortunately, the image has already been repeatedly used.
Robot Designer
On occasion, it can clone itself, send it back into the past, and solve all the things that needed to be done "already yesterday."
Designer Magician
A variety of magic tools guarantees the wizard to solve any problem.
Div Sobge, designer : Robot (elegant lines, aluminum and apple symbol) and Magician (recalls apple orchards and hippies).
Vladislav, director of the studio: Magician and Robot.
Ludmila, client: Magician (magic) and Superman (handsome).
With a margin of one voice, magic wins. But the magic may be different. By adjusting the number of mindmap branches, their depth and the complexity of the associative array of the designer mage, you can make a completely different character. But, whatever it may be, first of all this image should help to solve the needs of the target audience.
How to combine old myths and modern trends? What analogies can be drawn?
And finally, the “beautiful picture” stage. The style of the site must comply with the idea. From here, fairy tale themes and some cartoony were chosen. Image enhancement was achieved using a repeating element of light bulbs in different parts of the site.
Individual style is created through the use of personal chips, for example, the ability to draw, as well as personalized comic texts.
You can relate to your work "the site is handed over to the client - free", and "the flow of orders is our best friend", but when it is your product that will advertise your services for some time, it would not hurt to spend time identifying weak points and correction.
It will take a little time, but clients will not leave the site due to a link to a non-existent page, or a forgotten piece of lorem ipsum.
As mentioned earlier, no designer can be perfect. But everyone can strive for perfection.
Understanding the client’s tasks is solved by increasing the skills of the strategist and using methods such as identifying the main characters in the work.
Not everyone has an open channel with Cosmos, which allows them to generate original ideas 24 hours a day, and various techniques will come to the rescue.
In any case, the design is not always just a beautiful picture. Good design is based on the idea. Well, ideas that are based on the needs of the end users, in most cases, turn out to be win-win.
What for?
First you need to determine what is required of my portfolio? You can brag about projects to other designers and become the site of the month at awwwards, look for a new job or attract the attention of potential customers for freelancing.
')
Who is the target audience?
Having defined the main goal of the site, we come to the one for whom my portfolio is intended:
- Other designers and art directors in pursuit of fame;
- The head of a particular studio or a more abstract head when looking for work;
- A potential client who needs, for example, who wants to order a website design from a freelancer;
Each of these types of target audience has its own needs, its own unique features and its own character:
This Div Sobzh is another designer and appraiser of your work. Always in search of inspiration. Ready on occasion to give a life-giving kick if your site seems unworthy to him.
Vladislav as a studio director is a potential employer. 6 resumes in the mail a day, tired, soaked, ready to devote no more than a minute of their time.
And Ludmila , a travel agency manager for invigorating excursions in the Antarctic, is a potential client. He does not know what he wants from the site. Already communicated with other designers, but did not find a common language.
What with consumer insight?
To identify insight, you need to understand what unites 3 types of target audience, what common problems they have. It does not matter whether he is the director of the studio or the customer in search of a freelancer. Common problems will be:
Designers can not understand the task of the client.
The worst sin among designers is the inability to build proper communication with the client. The resulting design may and will be a beautiful picture, but it does not help the client, it is useless.
The designer is careless, breaks deadlines and is late for meetings.
Time is money. And although the motto is “Expensive. Long. /// ”has not been canceled, creating a good design in terms, no matter how brief they were, is the only way to a profitable product. Answers to calls and advance arrival at meetings contributes to this.
Gray and mediocrity.
The client, perhaps, wants to design "That's how the office", but only if it will be profitable? Building a design based on the needs of the client, and the original idea is the key to a successful site that creates an emotional response from both the client and the end users. Consequently, the site will be remembered and will come to it again and again.
How can my portfolio solve customer communication problems?
Idea
Let's be realistic. No designer is perfect and will not be able to comply with these points all the time. It will only help the supernatural. What image of the designer can be used to solve the problems of the target audience?
Designer Gromozeka
It has 6 hands and can do 10 cases at the same time. Unfortunately, prone to valerian binge.
Designer Superman
Daring, fast and noble. Not affected by weaknesses, with the exception of kryptonite, Lois Lane and customers asking to add the kitten to their site. Even if they are a travel agency for invigorating excursions in the Antarctic. Unfortunately, the image has already been repeatedly used.
Robot Designer
On occasion, it can clone itself, send it back into the past, and solve all the things that needed to be done "already yesterday."
Designer Magician
A variety of magic tools guarantees the wizard to solve any problem.
Let's see what our characters think about the available options:
Div Sobge, designer : Robot (elegant lines, aluminum and apple symbol) and Magician (recalls apple orchards and hippies).
Vladislav, director of the studio: Magician and Robot.
Ludmila, client: Magician (magic) and Superman (handsome).
With a margin of one voice, magic wins. But the magic may be different. By adjusting the number of mindmap branches, their depth and the complexity of the associative array of the designer mage, you can make a completely different character. But, whatever it may be, first of all this image should help to solve the needs of the target audience.
Form
How to combine old myths and modern trends? What analogies can be drawn?
- Fern flower helped to understand the language of animals. Now he helps to understand the language of customers and poorly formulated briefs.
- Boots-walkers meant fast movement> the ability to keep up everywhere.
- The magic mirror gave clarity and the ability to see the hidden> good visual concepts.
- Bulk Apple offered wisdom and youth> inspiration and ideas
Design
And finally, the “beautiful picture” stage. The style of the site must comply with the idea. From here, fairy tale themes and some cartoony were chosen. Image enhancement was achieved using a repeating element of light bulbs in different parts of the site.
Individual style is created through the use of personal chips, for example, the ability to draw, as well as personalized comic texts.
The end of the story? No, everything is just beginning.
You can relate to your work "the site is handed over to the client - free", and "the flow of orders is our best friend", but when it is your product that will advertise your services for some time, it would not hurt to spend time identifying weak points and correction.
It will take a little time, but clients will not leave the site due to a link to a non-existent page, or a forgotten piece of lorem ipsum.
findings
As mentioned earlier, no designer can be perfect. But everyone can strive for perfection.
Understanding the client’s tasks is solved by increasing the skills of the strategist and using methods such as identifying the main characters in the work.
Not everyone has an open channel with Cosmos, which allows them to generate original ideas 24 hours a day, and various techniques will come to the rescue.
In any case, the design is not always just a beautiful picture. Good design is based on the idea. Well, ideas that are based on the needs of the end users, in most cases, turn out to be win-win.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/252123/
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