Portfolio Feedback 3 - Fig Taylor

Last Friday, Fig Taylor, a portfolio consultant, came into class for the day to discuss the development of our own hard and pdf portfolios. She began the day by conducting a tutorial on the general rules for a portfolio, followed by speaking to us in small groups to discuss our own in one to one conversations.

The main points from her tutorial were:

• There should be a recognisable style in your work, especially the work that is included in a portfolio, as clients should be able to see the distinctive method that you create imagery to know what they're getting when they hire you.
• When you graduate you really need to put yourself out there and sell yourself as an individual who can offer something different and fresh.
• Always research companies or people that you are sending work to! You should really know who you're dealing with in order to get everything you can from the contact.
• People who want to commission work do not want to see all the mistakes and unimpressive attempts that your tutors and people who assess your work do. Make sure what they see is the best of the best.
• When creating a portfolio you need to be objective in order to be your own critic. Her exact words were "remove anything that makes you wince"(!).
• If you don't like a piece of work, chances are most other people won't either, don't include anything you wouldn't want to see in someone else's portfolio.
• In a print portfolio, do NOT use any heavy mounting boards.
• They should be in a good order that flows well, and only the best work as anything else is just a waste of time and space.
• If you are taking a digital portfolio to someone, a tablet is preferable over a laptop as they take a lot longer to load and can be difficult to navigate.
• If you are including photographs of work in your portfolio, make sure they are really high quality as bad quality renders the work pointless and highlights a lack of skills and knowledge.
• There is no perfect amount of pieces for a portfolio, just include what you feel is necessary to get what your work is about across.
• Have a professional Facebook, twitter, website, and online shop such as etsy. Clients do not want to see your drunk photos from last weekend. 

During the one to one advice, Fig reiterated some of the points she had made earlier in relation to my portfolio, and her comments on my actual work were based around the quite conceptual and masculine feel to some of it. She said she could see my work being used in magazine and news editorials, in relation to politics and social issues which means I must be doing something right as these are exactly what I've been thinking I'd like to focus on. Her advice was to start making work based on news articles and put them in a layout so that a client could imagine them being used this way. She also pointed out that other pieces of my work are quite the opposite and have a decorative style, so I should look into putting this type of work onto products and starting an etsy online shop to provide myself with more scope. 

All these points seem obvious once you've heard them, but a lot of them you wouldn't think of usually. As a result of this, and the more industry based advice, I have gained some priceless insight and really relevant and up to date advice from a professional.