The Do-It-Yourself Portfolio, by Jeffrey Veen

The Do-It-Yourself Portfolio

Recently, a 36-year-old high school teacher from Orange County named George Masters posted a iPod Mini Ad on his web site. It's a piece he created on his desktop Macintosh computer, in his spare time. It's not bad, and created a bit of a stir -- to the extent that Wired News wrote a story. The story has advertising executives nervously gushing, "wow! it's great and we love this stuff and the internet, boy-o-boy is it sure changing things." You can almost taste the fear in their statements.

But why did George spend all that time putting this thing together? According to the Wired article, "He posted the ad, he said, for feedback. And if anyone wants to hire him, he'll consider all offers."

Of course! The hail-mary-4th-and-long portfolio piece. Make something good for free, put it out there, see what happens. It worked for Matt and Trey, right?

Sometimes I get questions from young designers about breaking into the business. As with any career, there is a chicken-and-egg problem of getting started without being able to get started. That is, how do you get experience if nobody with hire you without experience?

I tell them to do what George did. Go make experience. Build web sites. Do it for free. But here's the catch: you can't and shouldn't build "portfolio" pieces. No one wants to see the amazing design you designed for your database of MP3s. It's just not interesting to build a web-based application for tracking your homework assignments.

You need to demonstrate how you deal with constraint and the best way to get that is to work with clients. Good design, after all, provides a solution that satisfies both the needs of the audience with the requirements of the organization. So find a non-profit, volunteer your time, and redesign their Web site. There are few groups that would turn down pro-bono efforts to make their site more effective. Be creative not just in visual identity, but in new functionality. Design their home page with a blog, and show them how easy it can be to add fresh new content every day. Create a simple PayPal online donation system. Now you're building a portfolio.

How can you find an organization like this? They're all around you: clubs, religious groups, community services. Find an interesting problem to solve, and think small. It's easier to get started with smaller groups, and you'll have more opportunity to show off your work.

George Masters, of course, realizes that he wasn't working under constraint with his iPod commercial:

"It's off-brand but that's the point," he said. "That's the fun of being one guy. You're not limited by a style guide or a creative director. You can branch out and think different."

He didn't have a creative director telling him to focus the commercial to just one idea (which it needs). There was no brand manager shaking her head when she saw the pastel stripes on the Apple logo (which is bad). And Steve Jobs didn't glance at it and scream, "It's crap! Start over!" (which it's not, but that's Steve.)

But if you're just getting started, constraint is crucial. After all, if you are going to practice, it has got to be in the real world.

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 14 December 2004 at 11:08 AM. It was filed under Web Design.

Comments

1. On 14 December 2004 at 1:15 PM James Stewart wrote:

Of course he managed to remain on-brand enough to slip "think different" in there...

2. On 14 December 2004 at 2:07 PM George Masters wrote:

I agree that the commercial does lack a focused message. Though I believe there are effective ads that are simply eye candy. One could argue that the current iPod campaign lacks a specific message as well. There is no tag line to pull it all together. They are often criticized for never showing the product or how easy it is to work. As for the pastel stripes on the logo, that idea, for better or worse- was an iPod "branding" (ipod colored stripes) of the Apple Logo and also part hommage to the old logo-much in the same way that the Warner Bros. Logo will "Glow Matrix Green." I agree with your other coments as well-

George M

3. On 14 December 2004 at 6:48 PM richard wrote:

There's also the Taproot Foundation (taproot.org, maybe?), wich is always looking for designers and others to do pro bono work.

4. On 15 December 2004 at 4:53 PM brad crum wrote:

dude. lighten up on old georgie boy, OK?
In my opinion, there's plenty of time for a young creative to get his spirit crushed, spindled and spit on by all the super-smart, but uncreative people in the normal agency chain of command.
Let him do his thing. And if he's lucky, he'll be hired by a creative director who will shield him from the assholes enough so he can keep on turning out good work for a few years. God forbid he should have to then become a CD himself and spend all his time doing very uncreative things. What a crazy business this is.

Now, as for you, Jeffrey, methinks I sense a little green-eyed lady in the background of your thinking. Advertising is all about young, enthusiastic minds and hearts--criticism has never done it much good. George's love and exuberance is in every frame of that piece. I'm not saying it's better than Apple's "negative campaign" but in it's own way, it's just as compelling. And that's saying a lot, since the apple campaign was brilliant (until they tried to make it fit the U2 partnership--and then, suddenly it started to feel like it had been "account mznaged" and the concept coopted.

peace, bc

5. On 15 December 2004 at 6:19 PM Martin Young wrote:

"After all, if you are going to practice, it has got to be in the real world."

Unless, of course, your practice generates real world blogosphere discussion and gets picked up by mainstream journos who publicise your practice whether it's good or not.

Did George have this in mind? Probably yes.

Does that make it proactice? (Now there's a word for the Washington Post's Style Invitational)

6. On 16 December 2004 at 2:27 AM Jochem Donkers wrote:

Think the point you are touching here is so true! I basically spent a year thinking about what I really want to do and how. Think I am getting to a final focus of my career.

Making some free examples to get market exposure will certainly be part of the marketing.

I wish all the young fellows lots of success, and please don't let your creative mind die in big corporate office gardens. This is the kind of environment you want to work in: http://veerle.duoh.com/comments.php?id=271_0_2_5_C#comments

7. On 28 December 2004 at 7:59 AM griff wrote:

Amazing to me that Apple has done such an incredible job of branding that people are willing to do stuff like this. People want to be part of the Apple brand. Ironic that Apples branding is so powerfull it leads to users recreating the brand. Man bites dog.

As a creative director, I would be more willing to hire him if the ipod was replaced with a non recognizable shape or form. It would then be more of a fine arts animation piece and much more effective. As an animation it is fab, as advertising, it is terrible.

Also interesting to me is HP's branding of the ipod, not done nearly as well as Apple. They have completely lost the element of being and individual and self expression. Once again proving how truly awsome Apple branding is and how the rest of the computer world does not get it.

8. On 29 December 2004 at 5:43 PM Robert D. wrote:

What I like about that iPod advert he created is that it's a lot more fun than Apple's current "shadow people" ones, which got old a long time ago. It does need to focus a bit; the kaleidoscope effect reminded me too much of Hummer's recent commercials (and nothing about Hummer is good, but that's another rant altogether), but it just has a lot of fun in it (I love the subtle reference to "Tron"), and even though he uses a non-standard Apple logo at the end, I liked the rainbow effect on the logo (it made me wax nostalgic for a moment about Apple's old days).

9. On 29 December 2004 at 10:32 PM Roy Schestowitz wrote:

I could not agree more. Back when I was an undergraduate it was hard to break out of the 'no-experience' bubble. I started designing Web sites for a mere dime and this subsequently led me to creating my own site where I published my free programs and tools. I then put out my MATLAB code out there for free and it got nearly 10,000 downloads in just 6 months.

The conclusion of it all is that work for free pays off greatly and I think your analysis was very precise.

10. On 31 December 2004 at 5:13 AM Kris Leslie wrote:

I mean to be honest when I started going to college for communications then web design and now visual design it is principal that free work is good work as it is unconstrained like paid work and you can express yourself best.

Some people think the web has a "slow time" for web design. Which very well maybe the case at times but in general there will always be a need for products and services. You have to find them and reach them.

Large & small businesses that need work can really depend on outsourcing to a web design firm/company/freelancer. It is a heck of a lot cheaper than having there IT staff do it but sometimes they prefer inhome design.

Take time find a Niche Market and cater to it and master it. I personally find that I'd like to work on Auto or Consumer Electronics websites as they tend to be both my passion. I spend time checking out coolhompages.com and checking out what other people are doing. I take time and research the company in intrest and get a thorough feeling for what I'm designing and for whom. Then let them explain to me there needs and wants. It is okay to do a gerneralised template for the design but dont finalize on it cause things can change if you jump head first into a redesign without consulting first with the client.

I know for a fact I can go and offer people free web design offers and they gladly accept it. Why? Because I try to cater to those people who are stuck on the spurn of crap FLASH and Old non compliant websites. These people may have done there best to get a website up but really fail when it comes to a good business website. Start small and work your client list up to at least 10 jobs and if your doing a portfolio do it right and post your best 10 works atleast.

11. On 13 January 2005 at 1:39 PM Allen Hujsak wrote:

From a get noticed standpoint. he did a great job. One thing I think we forget as professionals while analyzing the pros and cons of this work is the core of what made the iPod the definitive music player. Flat out, it is just so damn cool. Plain and simple. This portfolio piece recognises that, and when I watched it, I wasn't looking to analyze, I just sat back and said" pretty cool".. just like the product, and that IS advertising. I just tied an emotional value to a product, and it was a positive one.... just my 2¢