I just found an article on coroflot about building the perfect portfolio for job seeking. One of the tips says that you need to pick a visual style (palette, type, layout etc) and stick to it consistently. Prospective employers, who are often creative professionals too, may turn you down if they don't see anything that permeates your work and makes it recognizable.

 

This sounds reasonable but a truly consistent portfolio is hard to come by. On one hand, assignments and clients' taste and demands vary greatly. You are not likely to use the same style for a prestigious blue-chip company and for a music site. On the other hand, visual styles on the web just come and go, if you are old enough you may remember the awful 45 degree pixel style back in the 90's and thank god we have now the so-called web2 style behind us too, with all those glossy icons and reflections and large type. I guess those styles affect pretty much everyone involved in the web industry, at least to an extent. Maybe painters and illustrators stick to their styles more consistently but a webdesigner should be comfortable with various styles. Some time ago when i applied for a freelance gig i was rejected with the message "we are looking for someone with another style, thanks for your interest". So even if you have a coherent visual language, painstakingly elaborated over the years (which i don't have), it might be the reason for not getting the job or business.

 

So what do you guys think about style? Is it ok to do everything in a single style or you are better off being versatile?

I could understand about keeping the style of your portfolio site consistent but having one style for all your sites is a little bland in my taste. As a designer you have to get the most of of your clients brand, identity, personal style, if as a designer you are a one tick pony then you can't do this.

 

Could you post a link to this article so that I could have a read, I'm lazy and can't be bothered to find it. I will then give a full opinion after reading it (if the article is in English that is)

Hi Dizi, here's the link http://www.coroflot.com/creativeseeds/2008...io_websit_1.asp

Ok the post focuses on the consistency of your portfolio site in the first place but the question is valid nonetheless.

Out of my depth here as I'm no designer. But would it be a good idea, considering the 'T-shaped' advice in that article, to perhaps structure your portfolios in the same way to show different styles but in a meaningful way?

 

You could put 'bread and butter' designs in one section to show the top bar of the 'T' - nothing overly personalised or dramatic but that show your personality in subtle ways. Use good copy (groan!) to explain the subtle ways in which your personality and style affects, but doesn't take-over a 'run-of-the-mill' brief.

You could then start going down the vertical bar of the 'T' by introducing more and more personalised work right up to anything experimental that might not even have been done for a client - just you trying things out. Copy would again be your friend here in narrating the 'story' of where each design fits on the 'T'.

 

Probably stupid advice and what you do anyway, but thought it might help!

...and thank god we have now the so-called web2 style behind us too, with all those glossy icons and reflections and large type.

Hurrah to that

 

I can't say I agree about the consistency idea. A lot of my clients have contacted me on the strength of a single portfolio item because it was done in a certain style that's different to the others.

I wouldent like to keep my designs the same.

 

As a web designer is about being creative.

I'm pretty sure they're not talking about individual pieces there. It sounds to me like they're talking about how you display your work, not the work itself.

 

It makes no sense at all to say the work should share the same style. Your work should be reflecting your client, not yourself.

The article is saying that the style must be consistent through your portfolio site, not throughout the actual work you develop for others.

Making all your work have a consistent theme would surely ruin your chances of employment. Who wants to hire a one trick pony?

So pick yourself a palette, one or two good fonts, and a consistent graphic layout that highlights your work without calling attention to itself. Then use it. Religiously. Remember, a lot of the people viewing your site are creative professionals too, and will notice if you keep breaking your grid, or switch from Arial to Tahoma halfway through

 

I think bumfluff is correct.

 

Judging by this i think he/she's talking about a single website. And in that case it does make sense. Keeping the entire site consistent is one of the most important aspects of webdesign.

Hi Dizi, here's the link http://www.coroflot.com/creativeseeds/2008...io_websit_1.asp

Ok the post focuses on the consistency of your portfolio site in the first place but the question is valid nonetheless.

 

 

Thanks for that, you're right it is looking at consistency within one site rather that all sites looking the same.

 

 

My question is are you a designer is all your sites look the same?

 

My answer is no, you cannot call yourself a designer if all the sites you design look the same. It is one thing to have a personal style and for sites to look like you have designed them, but this is different to all your sites having the same layout with a simple colour change. You might as well get a template and just use that as the base of all your sites and not be creative at all if you plan on just making all your sites look the same.

 

As for should one site look the same and keep a consistent flow throughout it, the answer is yes. One site should keep basic elements such as main navigation, header style , footer style the same on all pages. The site should flow, should be easy to navigate around, and you should be make it uniform. I know to some designers this sounds boring for a portfolio site and yes a portfolio should show your personality but its pointless to show your personality and have it so that no one knows where they are or how to navigate your site.

 

 

So yes to consistency in sites, no to all sites looking the same as each other.

Its not saying to stick to a particular style, its talking about your "voice", basically, if someone was looking at your work, could they tell that it was all done by you? Do you have style?

Its not saying to stick to a particular style, its talking about your "voice", basically, if someone was looking at your work, could they tell that it was all done by you? Do you have style?

 

I'm not even sure if that's a good thing.. We make things for clients. What we make should reflect that client, not ourselves. To me, part of being a good designer is being able to step outside of your own style and do what's best for the client. There's always going to be some element of yourself in a design, simply because you can only design stuff based on your own experiences and ideas, but I think it's something to be overcome rather than embraced.