You know you’re a great designer. You’ve got the eye, the ideas, and the creativity that sets you apart, but communicating that to potential clients is not always easy. That’s why you need a great interior design portfolio! Maybe you’re building an interior design portfolio for the first time or simply giving your current one a face-lift. Either way, here are a few things you should absolutely do to make your portfolio stand out from the competition and completely wow your potential clients:
Include a Detailed & Updated Resume:
Be sure to include your education, certifications, professional work experience, which design related organizations you are a part of, and similar bits of information. Highlight your specific skills; for example, CAD drafting and rendering, residential design, commercial planning, etc. Remember, you are looking to highlight your abilities and accomplishments as a designer, so leave out highschool awards or other unrelated information. Keep it professional but make sure the formatting, spelling, and layout are on-point!
Keep it Simple, Yet Effective:
Making your interior design portfolio easy to digest and simple to navigate is paramount to it being a successful tool, so go for quality, not quantity. Include 10-20 pieces of your strongest works, otherwise you may overwhelm your future clients instead of excite them. Consider the goal of your portfolio and ruthlessly rule out anything that does not support it. You will be better off in the end if you include only a few of your best pieces, rather than a bunch of examples that look similar. The goal is to keep your viewers’ attention and interest throughout and leave them wanting more!
Need content for your portfolio but don’t have images of past work to use? Nobody said your portfolio has to be made up of finished works! You can create professional design boards to with photoshop to showcase your skills too!
Keep it Updated:
As you know, trends, colors, techniques, and tools change all the time in the design world, and you do not want to look like someone who doesn’t keep up with the latest and greatest. Neve include work in your interior design portfolio that is 3+ years old. Do yourself a favor and update your portfolio as you finish projects that you feel may be a good fit! That way you won’t have to do these massive updates once every few years and your portfolio will always be up-to-date.
Explain Your Projects & Processes:
Find a way to include notes about the project, which of your talents were used, how you solved the problem the client was having, client wish lists, mood boards, “before” and “after” photos, sketches, floor-plans, etc. to showcase your creative process. And a quote from your client would be a huge plus!
Balance Variety and Cohesion:
You want to include at least one example that showcases each of the skills you want your potential clients to know you have. Even better? A single example that showcases a few different skills at once! Go for variety, but be sure everything still flows and works together to provide a cohesive picture of who you are as a designer. Sometimes designers will get carried away and their portfolio winds up looking like a collection of works from various people. You want to avoid this! The colors, formats, shapes, angles, and layouts you choose to use can help you find that perfect balance of variety and cohesion.
Go Digital:
Gone are the days of massive binders packed with images, fabric samples, and paint chips. Digital, web-based portfolios are the present and the future, especially for e-designers. Having an online interior design portfolio makes you more accessible to a wider range of clients, easier to contact, and more organized…what more could your future clients be looking for!? Presenting to a client in person? No worries, take your IPad or tablet along with you, or hook your computer up to a projector or TV to really make an impact.
Use High Quality Images
Today’s interior design business revolves around presenting your creativity, skills, and vision in the most beautiful and unique way possible to grab the attention of your future clients.How do you do that? By using only the highest quality imagery in all you do!One of the hardest things to do is to get clients to send you images of their finished spaces, especially if you’re working with a client who is in a different state or country. But you do not have professional photos of a finished space, you can use 3D images or utilize mood board templates to showcase your skills too!
A well laid out and carefully crafted portfolio will help you put your best foot forward and by implementing even a few of the above ideas into your interior design board you are well on your way to creating a successful tool to help you showcase your creativity, expertise, skills, and services in a way that excites potential clients and inspires them to take the next step in hiring you.
Related Resource:
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