Selected Portfolio?

[Zagor]

I was wondering when you build your (web, graphics...) design portfolio do you include all of your works or just pieces you think will best represent your skills? I know most of the people display selected works but isn't it a bit unfair to the customers?

 

[SenseiSteve]

Unfair to what customers? Not all customers want their sites displayed on a portfolio.

 

[Zagor]

Good point but I meant - potential customers. I had some "bad" design pieces I'm not proud of and they are not in my portfolio. So...?

 

[sherwood]

Why is it unfair to your potential customers? You have the right to display or not to display any of your works. It's part of a marketing strategy, right?

 

[Zagor]

No, I thought, for example, if 30% of your work is crappy why not admit that 30% of the time delivered logos will be crappy? Why should visitors (potential customers) see only the good bit?

 

[rocketgirl]

If you admit that 30% of your work sucks, I fail to see how you will attract customers. You may want to brush up on skills before offering your services again.

 

[sherwood]

That's a good point Rocketgirl. The crappy 30% should be considered part of your creative process, and there is no point to reveal it to your customers. They wouldn't care about the process, they would only care about the result.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Surely your work improves over time with experience. What you want to display are your current skills. And they don't need to see everything - simply enough to perceive value to them.

 

[csn-uk]

Personally a portfolio site should be three things, firstly it should demonstrate the quality of your work over a varying range of applications (types of site) and time, secondly be clean and easy to use and set out or presented in a professional way.

Lastly add sites or projects that interest you, no end of web designers (and programmers) simply put their big clients or "pretty" work on display and really lack anything to say when questioned, if there is work that makes people want to ask questions (description etc) then they can quickly gauge your enthusiasm, commitment, skill and knowledge when contacting you for more details or further information.