Presentation – your Work
Far too many students view academic assignments at the college and university level the way they did in high school; something to confront and move through to get on to the next item. Secondary school, however, is truly senior to that. In nearly every instance one has the opportunity to create a piece with such brilliance that it deserves to be in one's folio. By the time you have graduated you really should have enough work that you can edit what you present so that you are not just expressing an aptitude, but a mastered “look”.
It is true that a web-based folio is a valuable tool, and a tool that by definition has to present your work in such a way that it must speak for itself. However, most will not have the luxury to simply lean back and collect clients based on this alone. When it comes time that you have to accompany your own work, one cannot say enough how the work has to look "professional" in every way. If this is a manual case, everything should be immaculate, with no tape or tabs showing and a consistency of look. If this is to be viewed digitally, (on a monitor or screen, by way of PowerPoint and video, etc.), ensure that the images are consistent in “visual weight”. That is to say similar in lighting, framing and the like. Also, be sure that everything is easy on the eyes, including transitions. Be very economical with type, if used at all.
For anything 3-D, please network with professionals in your area, as these larger bulky items find differing treatment from one area to another. Sometimes they are required, and sometimes they are actively discouraged.
There are other forms and formats through which you may present your work (follow-up and reminder devices such as postcards, posters, etc.). At this writing, your professors may speak more on these advanced formats.
Errata
Please know that whole books have been written on various aspects of what is about to be listed here. All of this section however is subject to fashion, and so you will want to browse the current literature (current websites, etc.) on these various topics to see how the best of your field currently expresses themselves. Do yourself a favor and start as organized as possible. Such organization will pay dividends.
Resumes, video resumes and E-folios
As with everything else, please do your due diligence first. A resume in England would actually be a CV (curriculum vitae) in the US. There was a day when most resumes followed a small handful of formats. Today, resumes seem to echo a particular look or format, depending on the industry. Given that this text seeks to address the applied visual arts, such creative’s have maintained a great deal of latitude. Network professionals in your field and collect a few. Once you have determined some essential benchmarks create your own. Make certain that you get a handful of people whose sense of the English language you respect to proofread it and give you feedback. Your final document then needs to be re-created into an unformatted version (to be copied and pasted into web space fields) and possibly turned into a pdf file as well.
A resume is fundamental, everyone still needs one (or, everyone still needs a few, depending on how many directions you are applying yourself to). Early in the 21st century, however, more people are looking for video resumes as well. Gratefully, these are not yet required. Producing even a mediocre video resume is no small affair. You will need the necessary hardware and software, the understanding that goes along with it, and a script (from which you do not wish to be seen reading or sensed to be reading). It is recommended that you leave the statistical information to your cover letter (or your E-cover letter) and casually celebrate verbally your professional bullet points. Just to be clear, the video resume replaces nothing, and is simply another self-marketing mechanism. It is doubtful that one would want to attach this to an e-mail, and it is perfectly reasonable to upload this to a professional blog, to a professional networking site (such as LinkedIn) or to have this uploaded to our next focus, your e-folio.
Speaking of e-folios, such a website is not the same as a folio of your work online. If you have the capacity to create your own website, then it would make sense to have your work as one link and your e-folio as another. Otherwise, use two separate sites (although, linking these together is okay). Having an e-folio affords you the opportunity to have, living in cyberspace, a wide variety of pertinent information that a potential employer might appreciate having the convenience of downloading and printing out as they wish. This would include information like your resume, CV, unofficial transcripts, written recommendations, honors and awards, licenses and certificates, where employed across the last 10 years, where you have lived for the last 10 years, any security clearances you have had, (a video resume) etc. There are a few cautionaries here having to do with both identity theft and your personal safety and privacy. If you are uploading, something like a diploma, watermark it heavily. If you are uploading a resume, or some other documentation that includes your current phone number or address, consider omitting that information. There is a wide variety of websites available for your e-folio. Carbonmade comes to mind, and several states in the US have their own (PA, MI). I have even seen the judicious use of sites such as Multiply used for such purpose.
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