One of my main problems is at the moment I’m in the twilight zone between starting up, getting proper design tuition and starting work. For me, the only education I get in the field is reading blogs and magazines for the know-how to get started. That’s until I start college. ยป
Workin’ on up: A Mac setup (cc) by bigbold
Showing off work at the moment is kinda hard. The big reason behind this, is that there’s no clients work to display. No business cards, no logos, no illustrations to tingle the senses of your audience. Getting around this is easy, and its all about coming up with reasons and situations to do something creative.
Here I’ve rounded up a good list of things that could help you build up some work to show off. Because fictional clients just make you look lame.
Special Occasions
We’re talking the Christmas season, birthdays, anniversaries, whatever you want. They make a good excuse to design your own cards for the occasion and once your done, you can post them online for the world to see. Also, its great experience for your practical skills, like printing and collating. Print will never die, so it’s worth the practise.
Essays
If you’re still in school, college or university, you’ll probably be writing a lot of essays. Instead of keeping to the black ink on white paper standard, try mixing it up a little. Introduce a few illustrations, that kind of thing.
A few pieces of coursework I’ve done have called for a front cover, so it’s great for doing illustrations and the like. The inside is good for trying out publication layout and design, it relates to business reports and magazines which graphic designers are constantly looked to, to create.
Events
Whether they’re local or in your school, posters and flyers can do a heck of a lot to publicise the event. Ask around and see if you can get hooked up. Meet with the person in charge and ask them the typical design brief questions. Go away for a bit, and return with a poster and a set of flyers that can be handed out. Everyone wins; you get work, and they get the word out.
For yourself
If you haven’t already, make yourself a business card. You may not even have any reason to, but there’s a couple of good reasons. First; its good practise, and secondly, you can use it to share your contact details. There’s a lot of room for creativity that you can show off here, and the physical nature of business cards also lets you improve your printing and practical skills.
Ooh, and if you’re wondering about my portfolio, it’s kicking about on my Flickr page. Feel free to use the comments to share your ideas and views on these tips.
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