Portfolio ideas if you’re a beginner graphic designer
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By Cosmic Emigre
The purpose of having a design portfolio is to demonstrate to your potential clients that you have the skills necessary to complete a design task. If you’re just starting out and have no client work, it’s OK to include self-initiated projects. Having three to five case studies is sufficient if you're applying for entry-level design jobs.
A solid case study includes a project description, design process and a final outcome. The ability to present your projects and explain your design thinking is as important as the quality of your work.
When developing your design portfolio, focus on what you are good at and think about what kind of projects you want to do and who you want to work with. If you want to work with companies designing brand identities, you can make a case study out of your own visual identity, including a logo, color palette, typography, social media templates, website mockups, business cards, portrait photography, etc.
If you’re interested in doing illustration, you could create a series of book covers for classic novels, or you could take your favorite song and make it into a comic strip. Another great exercise is to draw stylized portraits of famous artists or historic figures. Make it fun! Add other elements into your portraits like hand lettering, patterns, and abstract shapes.
You could focus on typography and design a custom font, write inspirational quotes, and show how they work on different products, such as greeting cards, posters, or t-shirts.
One thing I've learned while working as an art director is to have a systematic approach to any idea. Document everything you come up with—all doodles, sketches, concepts, and creative copy snippets. One idea can lead to many other projects. In a creative field, no scrap is ever wasted. If you don’t use it, someone else will. Respect your ideas, no matter how raw they seem to be, and bring them to life. You never know who is looking for your work.
Having self-initiated projects in your portfolio opens doors to commissioned work. When art directors are looking for artists, they are often looking for a particular style, and if your work shows consistency and fits with their needs, they will license your work.