GDES-420 spring 2022 / Prof. David Ramos, American University Design
Portfolio site
Create a web-based portfolio of your best work, for self-promotion, job applications, and professional opportunities. The project involves creating the portfolio site, writing project descriptions, and compiling images of work. Portfolios should include enough explanatory text that they can stand alone.
The site could be built from scratch, with a content management tool, or with a software-as-a-service package. (Behance will not suffice.) You might use existing templates, provided that they present a sufficiently professional image. The portfolio site must reside on its own domain name.
Your portfolio must include:
- The capstone project
- At least six other projects
- Descriptions for each project
- Material that introduces you as a designer
The portfolio will be evaluated on:
- Content: the choice of work, conceptual strength, sequencing, background, headlines, and explanatory text
- Presentation: everything that shapes the reader’s experience, including layout and format, choice of images, and photo quality
- Usability, details, and craft
You may need to rework or improve existing projects shown in the portfolio.
Hosting
Software-as-a-service portfolio tools include:
- Behance (free)
- Adobe Portfolio (~$10/month or free with Creative Cloud)
- Hosted WordPress.com (free for simplest plan)
- Squarespace (~$12/month)
- Carbonmade ($9/month)
- Folio (free for limited plan)
- Portfolio Box (free for AU)
- UX Folio (~$9/month)
Self-hosting a CMS/dynamic site, or hand-coding a static site, are also a reasonable approaches. For a static site, GitHub Pages hosting is free.
Existing portfolios
If you have an existing portfolio, it may be possible for you to carry out a smaller set of improvements and, instead, allocate more time and grade points toward the capstone project. Check with the instructor.