If you’ve spent any time looking at design job postings, you know the weight that your portfolio carries. Logically, designers put a lot of time into their portfolios as it is vital component of the job search.
What’s less clear, is the relative importance of the items in the portfolio. Yet, every portfolio build or overhaul follows the same basic set of considerations.
- What does my home page look like?
- How long should the case studies be?
- Do I need a logo?
- Should I show these old projects from college?
- Do I need an About page?
For all the effort that goes into your portfolio, the About page is often last in the pecking order of things needed to be done. At best, this ranking is misguided as some consider the About page to be the most important page in the portfolio.
If we accept that as being even partially accurate, then it would make sense to approach the About page with a plan.
Further review
| Article | Source/Author |
|---|---|
| Introduce Yourself | New Pragmatic |
| 7 Steps for Writing Your ’About Me’ Page | Format |
| ‘Who Are You’ | The Who |
Exercise
Time to write a professionally-focused version of your life story. For some, this will be fairly straight-forward, but many will struggle.
If you're in the latter group, fear not — every problem can be broken down.
It would be best to write your About page in a collaborative writing tool like Google Docs. This exercise utilizes multiple drafts to provide a scaffold for your ideas to grow into.
First draft: This should be an outline of your story. Think of this much like a table of contents that you’ll add detail to later.
Second draft: Instead of trying to write the entire narrative from beginning to end, simply add a paragraph about each item listed in the first draft. Don’t both with transitions yet as you may not need them.
Third draft: With a better base of content to work with, you can now expand on sections as desired. Begin importing or linking images for use in the final draft. Where you add detail will likely dictate the direction your narrative takes.
Once complete, update your Program Journal with links to the assets produced for this exercise. Post your Journal in the #Feedback-Loop channel for review.
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