A good portfolio

A professional portfolio …

• Includes these elements:
  • your original stories, photos & video
  • your resume  / cv,
  • professional statement of purpose
  • A photo of you at work.
  • Describes your social media competencies
  • Describes your technical skills (Adobe suite, drone video, livestreaming, etc)
  • Describes your languages, cultural competencies
  • Has an “ask”  — Contact me at …  / Available for  freelance  assignments …  / download my pdf resume
• Uses basic principles of good graphic and interactive design, such as
  • balance, proportion, sequence, unity, emphasis …
  • Keeps similar things together, avoids trapped white space
  • invites reader  to explore, uses clear menus, it transparent
• Shows your design choices such as:
  • Many points of entry, like a newspaper, or
  • Emphasis on photography, or
  • Project , long-form writing emphasis, windowed, or
  • Minimalist, a single impression with menu options
  • Non-linear, mapped
• Is built around your professional capabilities and experience
• Is itself a statement of your familiarity with technology

A professional portfolio … 

• Does not indulge in overly long personal anecdotes or manifestos   (blogs excepted)
• Does not have left over in-class college assignments or  course numbers
• Does not have extra or  trapped white space or other graphic  design bloopers
• Does not fall back on stock photos or clip art
• Don’t tell everyone you are hard-working.  You have to show it.

Editor’s guide to a professional portfolio (Poynter) 

Here are some recommended prompts from journalists to get you thinking:

• What are your skills that are unique to your experiences?
• If you were a consultant, what services would you provide
• What is your thinking when you are directing and coaching someone through a story?
• How did this project span platforms, and what did those conversations look like?
• What is exciting about your job?
• What problems do you like solving?
• What are you obsessed with?
• What is your unique value?

Examples of professional portfolios 

• Marty Smith  — RU grad, ESPN anchor
• Arielle Retting — RU grad, wired magazine
• Clara Leeming — UK freelancer, minimalist design
• Dale Wilman — NPR reporter, NYU professor
• Roger Witherspoon — Retired, Atlanta & Dallas newspapers, author
•  Hannah Wise  – Audience development editor, McClatchy
• Bill Kovarik – instructor for this course, note the newspaper design influence

Examples of portfolio site builders & ideas 

• Famous graphic designers –
• Clippings — Portfolio site for writers
• Pressfolios — Another one, this starts at $10 a month
• Great photographer portfolio web sites 
• Muck Rack — Portfolio sites for journalists, PR professional