“The content is king”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question:

“I’m a midweight designer looking to step into another job elsewhere but I keep hearing so many conflicting things about portfolio formats and I don’t want to have to recreate three versions all on different platforms just to apply for a job. I can’t find any solid advice on what agencies are looking to see regarding format and if sending a PDF makes you look dated.

What is the state of portfolio formats in such a fast-moving technological world? Are PDF portfolios even a thing anymore? What are agencies expecting to see when someone submits their portfolio, and is it fair to emerging creatives to have to pay for websites, Figma, Adobe, and more just to show off their work? There’s always Instagram, I suppose.”

Katie Cadwell, co-founder of branding studio Lucky Dip and The NDA Podcast:

This is a timely question as I’ve been looking at portfolios a lot recently. And honestly, they come in all shapes, sizes and formats. From Figma prototypes, website links, instagram pages, PDFs… There’s no ‘right’ answer but hopefully I can give you some practical advice.

1. The content is king. Someone could spend hours crafting a beautiful, custom, interactive portfolio. But if the projects aren’t compelling enough, it doesn’t matter. If jumping into a new programme is going to take you a long time, I’d argue that energy is better spent on making sure your projects look the best they can.
2. Don’t make it hard for someone to see your work. 500MB PDFs. Websites that don’t load properly, or have insane navigation, floating pop ups and distractions that stop people getting to your projects. I truly believe simple, clear and considered layouts work best. Let the work shine.
3. Be practical. If you have a lot of motion, or large image files, a PDF is going to be limiting. That’s where an online link or website works really well. On some presentation programmes (like Pitch) you can turn on analytics so you know when someone’s opened it. If you choose to use Figma, that will tell the recipient that you know how to use it. Don’t just jump into something because you think you should. Look at your work and ask what format will do it justice.

Whichever route you choose, just ensure the details are taken care of. Your colours look good, images are high definition, with clear project rationales and no typos. The most important thing is to show yourself at your best, the vehicle you use shouldn’t matter.

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

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