Make my portfolio less overwhelming!
October 1, 2018 8:31 PM Subscribe
I have a massive portfolio/resume - even when I trim it down it's overwhelming. How do I present it online in a way that's more accessible?
I've had a pretty diverse and eclectic career - even if you just focus it to the last decade, I've still managed to accomplish a lot, especially with arts, media, and community work. My public profile is getting a bit of a boost lately (having done a huge project and also having been on a magazine cover recently) and people are noticing me more, so I'd like to tidy up my portfolio to give a better sense of who I am, what I do, and what I'd like to do - so it's easier for people to approach me for projects or opportunities.
I have a pretty comprehensive website (link in profile) - the problem is that it may be too comprehensive. Just the "What I Do" pages span a million words and that's not even covering everything. I need to reorganise it, but I'm not sure how to do so without losing information.
My diverse eclecticness is kind of my "brand", so to speak - the fact that I'm so multidisplinary is a selling point. So I'd like to maintain that rather than just hyperfocusing on ONLY writing or ONLY performance. But I also recognise that just laying out everything I've done doesn't really highlight my interests and skillsets very well. My current thinking is to feature a handful of key projects, then have links to the full portfolio sections if people want to know more.
I've tried organising it by theme, and now I'm trying organising it by medium. There are some things I've done that cross themes & mediums so either approach is tricky. How else can I organise my information?
I'm currently using SquareSpace, and my plan only allows for about 20 pages, so I don't think I can do a database-type situation where each entry is tagged. I'm open to changing layouts (my current Parallax layout may be adding to the overwhelm because everything ends up being smushed together in one page). My work is mainly text, performance/video, or in-person work that doesn't necessarily have a visual component, so a lot of my work will have to be in links rather than a traditional gallery approach. Are there Squarespace layouts that work better?
(I am comfortable with some coding but I don't think my plan allows for code injections)
I've had a pretty diverse and eclectic career - even if you just focus it to the last decade, I've still managed to accomplish a lot, especially with arts, media, and community work. My public profile is getting a bit of a boost lately (having done a huge project and also having been on a magazine cover recently) and people are noticing me more, so I'd like to tidy up my portfolio to give a better sense of who I am, what I do, and what I'd like to do - so it's easier for people to approach me for projects or opportunities.
I have a pretty comprehensive website (link in profile) - the problem is that it may be too comprehensive. Just the "What I Do" pages span a million words and that's not even covering everything. I need to reorganise it, but I'm not sure how to do so without losing information.
My diverse eclecticness is kind of my "brand", so to speak - the fact that I'm so multidisplinary is a selling point. So I'd like to maintain that rather than just hyperfocusing on ONLY writing or ONLY performance. But I also recognise that just laying out everything I've done doesn't really highlight my interests and skillsets very well. My current thinking is to feature a handful of key projects, then have links to the full portfolio sections if people want to know more.
I've tried organising it by theme, and now I'm trying organising it by medium. There are some things I've done that cross themes & mediums so either approach is tricky. How else can I organise my information?
I'm currently using SquareSpace, and my plan only allows for about 20 pages, so I don't think I can do a database-type situation where each entry is tagged. I'm open to changing layouts (my current Parallax layout may be adding to the overwhelm because everything ends up being smushed together in one page). My work is mainly text, performance/video, or in-person work that doesn't necessarily have a visual component, so a lot of my work will have to be in links rather than a traditional gallery approach. Are there Squarespace layouts that work better?
(I am comfortable with some coding but I don't think my plan allows for code injections)
I think you've got it pretty tidy as-is—that is, it's all organized and the organizational scheme makes sense—it's just there's too much of it. You can still demonstrate your versatility without people seeing everything you've done in each field/discipline; it's mostly the existence of all the headers, rather than the volume of work beneath each header, that demonstrates it for you.
If I were in your position I would try two things: 1. See what the "What I do" page looks like after I cut my least favorite 75% of what I've done out of it, even if I end up putting everything back. 2. See what the home page looks like if I center the thing I most want people to get out of their visit.
1. Paging through it as someone who doesn't know your work, I'm just overwhelmed by the number of discrete Things on these pages, many of which I don't have any context for or additional information about. I think it might be a more inviting read for people new to what you do if you took those headers and wrote about what you "do" in each one rather than what you've done—i.e. at Speaking & Presenting, to pick one, write about the kind of things you speak about and fold the places you've spoken into that, to add context to what could read like a bare list of events right now.
2. If your goal for the site (or even just A goal) is to make it easier for people to contact you for more work/opportunities, I think I would try fitting the very straightforward section in "Now" (headed "Availability for Other Things") into the front page.
And if you end up reorganizing the What I Do page, I think it wouldn't hurt to be specific about what you're interested in doing in the future in each field/subject—for Speaking & Presenting, for instance, closing out your description of what you do and where you've done it with "I'm interested in holding events on X, Y, and Z" or "My upcoming lecture series, TK, is written to be delivered on college campuses, for fees, dates, and additional information contact me here," etc.
Hope I didn't totally miss the point! I agree w/ Candleman that using social media to surface old projects could make them more useful to you/vital to your readers than a static website.
posted by Polycarp at 11:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
If I were in your position I would try two things: 1. See what the "What I do" page looks like after I cut my least favorite 75% of what I've done out of it, even if I end up putting everything back. 2. See what the home page looks like if I center the thing I most want people to get out of their visit.
1. Paging through it as someone who doesn't know your work, I'm just overwhelmed by the number of discrete Things on these pages, many of which I don't have any context for or additional information about. I think it might be a more inviting read for people new to what you do if you took those headers and wrote about what you "do" in each one rather than what you've done—i.e. at Speaking & Presenting, to pick one, write about the kind of things you speak about and fold the places you've spoken into that, to add context to what could read like a bare list of events right now.
2. If your goal for the site (or even just A goal) is to make it easier for people to contact you for more work/opportunities, I think I would try fitting the very straightforward section in "Now" (headed "Availability for Other Things") into the front page.
And if you end up reorganizing the What I Do page, I think it wouldn't hurt to be specific about what you're interested in doing in the future in each field/subject—for Speaking & Presenting, for instance, closing out your description of what you do and where you've done it with "I'm interested in holding events on X, Y, and Z" or "My upcoming lecture series, TK, is written to be delivered on college campuses, for fees, dates, and additional information contact me here," etc.
Hope I didn't totally miss the point! I agree w/ Candleman that using social media to surface old projects could make them more useful to you/vital to your readers than a static website.
posted by Polycarp at 11:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I understand the more is more ethos since I suffer from it myself but, yes, there's way, way much too much there. I spent several minutes looking at it and I still can't identify you.
Let's start with mobile because more than half of all internet activity takes places on pretty tiny screens. So reduce what you want to sell into just a few key points that answer these questions:
1. Who's your audience?
2. How do you make the majority your money? (In marketing terms, what problems can you solve?)
3. What do you like to do, and want to do more of?
The answers to those questions create your hierarchy, with your core audience/money-making skills/enjoyments taking precedence. If you're having trouble reducing them, make a list, add numbers, include the top 3-5. You know deep down what you like most, what sells most, and to whom. For lesser things, put them in smaller fonts, and hide them entirely from your mobile site. This is how you create visual hierarchies.
For the rest of your design, you're using up way too much space with HUGE photos with no obvious purpose to them. After the first one I know what you look like already. In fact, the information wouldn't be much different if you just used a headshot. But your A-heads are also way too big, and your running text should be in double or possibly even triple columns. For really, really long lists that you think might be useful but can't figure out how to put them onscreen, don't. That stuff goes in your resume.
(I hope this didn't come off as harsh. I have no harsh feelings. I'm just trying to help you simplify by keeping it simple. I know from experience that's not always easy.)
posted by Violet Blue at 12:05 AM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Let's start with mobile because more than half of all internet activity takes places on pretty tiny screens. So reduce what you want to sell into just a few key points that answer these questions:
1. Who's your audience?
2. How do you make the majority your money? (In marketing terms, what problems can you solve?)
3. What do you like to do, and want to do more of?
The answers to those questions create your hierarchy, with your core audience/money-making skills/enjoyments taking precedence. If you're having trouble reducing them, make a list, add numbers, include the top 3-5. You know deep down what you like most, what sells most, and to whom. For lesser things, put them in smaller fonts, and hide them entirely from your mobile site. This is how you create visual hierarchies.
For the rest of your design, you're using up way too much space with HUGE photos with no obvious purpose to them. After the first one I know what you look like already. In fact, the information wouldn't be much different if you just used a headshot. But your A-heads are also way too big, and your running text should be in double or possibly even triple columns. For really, really long lists that you think might be useful but can't figure out how to put them onscreen, don't. That stuff goes in your resume.
(I hope this didn't come off as harsh. I have no harsh feelings. I'm just trying to help you simplify by keeping it simple. I know from experience that's not always easy.)
posted by Violet Blue at 12:05 AM on October 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
p.s. I have never had this reaction before but I thought you had WAY too many social media sites too. Even celebrities don't have that many social media sites.
posted by Violet Blue at 12:08 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Violet Blue at 12:08 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
p.p.s. (See more is more. Ha!) I'm still thinking about your Website and other ways to cull things: Cite the biggest most famous names at the top that will help sell you for you. Also: I notice that sites like Autostraddle, say, are coming up repeatedly. Use that sort of thing as your category head, and you'll immediately cut a lot of duplicative text.
So ... on your home page, you'd put your name/logo/and much smaller picture, and then in a clear crisp obvious font group the 3 most important kinds of information about you, so they're easily differentiated from one another:
SKILLS — Writing | Game Making | Performance | Education
SUBJECTS — Immigration| Pop Culture | Sexuality | Gender, etc.
CLIENTS — Famous name, Famous name, Famous name, Famous name
If you use the right fonts in the right colors and put them in the right place, you can make all of that fun-looking and easy to read without taking up a lot of space. This will not only make your pitch easier to understand at a glance, it will also make you thematically tighter, which makes it easier for you to talk about yourself and other people to talk about you.
So then ... lower down that same home page your hierarchy would work like this. Writing > Autostraddle > List all the articles in tiny fonts. Don't include additional information, just the titles. But all the A-Heads (Immigration, Pop Culture, etc.) should go up top in the Subjects group, not sprawled out across a long page.
In a related vein, you may want to have a tagline. That is something underneath the name Creatix Tiara, which gives a better hint about what you do. Typically these begin with a present continuous verb ... and they can take a good long time to get right, but if you can hone it down enough to satisfy yourself, you'll really be on the right track. So I'm thinking something like:
CREATIX TIARA
Intersecting platforms & media since DATE
Does that help?
Memail me if you have any questions.
posted by Violet Blue at 12:56 AM on October 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
So ... on your home page, you'd put your name/logo/and much smaller picture, and then in a clear crisp obvious font group the 3 most important kinds of information about you, so they're easily differentiated from one another:
SKILLS — Writing | Game Making | Performance | Education
SUBJECTS — Immigration| Pop Culture | Sexuality | Gender, etc.
CLIENTS — Famous name, Famous name, Famous name, Famous name
If you use the right fonts in the right colors and put them in the right place, you can make all of that fun-looking and easy to read without taking up a lot of space. This will not only make your pitch easier to understand at a glance, it will also make you thematically tighter, which makes it easier for you to talk about yourself and other people to talk about you.
So then ... lower down that same home page your hierarchy would work like this. Writing > Autostraddle > List all the articles in tiny fonts. Don't include additional information, just the titles. But all the A-Heads (Immigration, Pop Culture, etc.) should go up top in the Subjects group, not sprawled out across a long page.
In a related vein, you may want to have a tagline. That is something underneath the name Creatix Tiara, which gives a better hint about what you do. Typically these begin with a present continuous verb ... and they can take a good long time to get right, but if you can hone it down enough to satisfy yourself, you'll really be on the right track. So I'm thinking something like:
CREATIX TIARA
Intersecting platforms & media since DATE
Does that help?
Memail me if you have any questions.
posted by Violet Blue at 12:56 AM on October 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
I think a lot of the issues about the portfolio can be solved by asking yourself this question:
Do you want to talk about yourself and how Special(TM) you are, or do you want to sell others your skillsets?
There's a lot of talking about your special-ness, but not in helping people understand what you can do for them, which is essentially what a portfolio is for. It's a bit like if someone threw at me a bunch of information and expected me to problem-solve and figure out Their Story.
Stuff from prior to 2012 is a loooong time ago. Unless it's the Nobel or Turner Prize or New Yorker publication credit, probably not relevant or impressive. One line about what you do is enough.
And there's a lot of stuff that in terms of accomplishment, probably not particularly impressive either... Think about a good, well-curated art exhibition. They only show the masterpiece and one or two sketches to the final masterpiece, not the whole dump of drawings.
You are the curator of your portfolio. All the temp admin jobs, I would just cut into one line. All the articles -- choose one or two you are proud of and put the rest in some Appendix part of your website.
posted by moiraine at 1:31 AM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Do you want to talk about yourself and how Special(TM) you are, or do you want to sell others your skillsets?
There's a lot of talking about your special-ness, but not in helping people understand what you can do for them, which is essentially what a portfolio is for. It's a bit like if someone threw at me a bunch of information and expected me to problem-solve and figure out Their Story.
Stuff from prior to 2012 is a loooong time ago. Unless it's the Nobel or Turner Prize or New Yorker publication credit, probably not relevant or impressive. One line about what you do is enough.
And there's a lot of stuff that in terms of accomplishment, probably not particularly impressive either... Think about a good, well-curated art exhibition. They only show the masterpiece and one or two sketches to the final masterpiece, not the whole dump of drawings.
You are the curator of your portfolio. All the temp admin jobs, I would just cut into one line. All the articles -- choose one or two you are proud of and put the rest in some Appendix part of your website.
posted by moiraine at 1:31 AM on October 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Ugh, this is such a tricky balancing act to pull off. I agree with one or two people above that having less information about the specific details of some of the projects, but a couple of sentences about your general focus / interest at the top of each conceptual section or a bit more info on 2-3 key projects, might help to make it more manageable across the board. I do also like Violet Blue's suggested restructure above.
Things I would keep:
posted by severalbees at 3:36 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Things I would keep:
- All the properly big projects you're really proud of, for sure. Don't dump something just because it's old - I sometimes run events and am always grateful when people have their back catalogue of work on their website because it might be that the thing they did that fits my theme is from ten or twenty years ago. And from the other side of things, I definitely sometimes get contacted about potential work from people who stumbled across info on a really old project that happens to fit their interests.
- I like there being photos to break up the text - but I'd maybe consider replacing a couple of the current photos with pictures that don't have you in them. As it is, even when the photos are clearly from a project, they still read as photos of you and it's easy not to notice the work that they're showing. If you've got any good pictures of a big show you put on with several performers on-stage at once, or screenshots from a game, or a particularly attractive flyer for something, that might work?
- On WHO AM I, a lot of the "press" stuff that quotes you but isn't about you, if that makes sense; having articles quoting something you said in passing five years ago kind-of dilutes the significance of having big profiles all about you and your work
- About half of the word count for the general bio, including all the uni stuff except maaaaybe "XXXX degree from YYYY"
- The list of interests, which come through elsewhere. Maybe also the superpowers/skills, which also mostly are clear from elsewhere, and which are a bit "here is my CV" for something that should be "here is ME AS AN ARTIST". It's also not clear in this context what they mean - does "LinkedIn" there mean you have a LinkedIn profile or that you're experienced with using it for recruitment or something else entirely? You obviously can't answer those questions for each individual skill, and without being able to give more detail about them it feels a bit much, and like it devalues the individual skills a little.
- A lot of the details on specific articles in the "writing/editing" section - I'd also think about using the compact two-column layout you've got for press on "WHO AM I" for this
posted by severalbees at 3:36 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Violet Blue: the way Squarespace works, I can't really have different content for mobile and for web. The huge-pictures thing is more a function of the specific template - I'll see what else works.
posted by divabat at 4:16 AM on October 2, 2018
posted by divabat at 4:16 AM on October 2, 2018
Response by poster: There are parts where the page reads to me like the bio of someone who's relatively new to making work and who expects to have to try really hard to prove their competence and explain their contributions to different projects - which makes sense, if you work in a lot of different fields and are constantly having to demonstrate your credentials for being in each new space.
BINGO - I keep having to do this over and over even though I've been actively working in my fields for about a decade now (esp with more traditional jobhunting) because too many people don't seem to understand that transferable skills exist. Makes sense that it's coming through on my own site too if I've been used to it as a defensive measure. I am aiming to let more specific projects be the synecdoche for my work (especially those projects that employ multiple skills) but I'll work on being less defensive about it, so tips for that would be useful.
posted by divabat at 4:30 AM on October 2, 2018
BINGO - I keep having to do this over and over even though I've been actively working in my fields for about a decade now (esp with more traditional jobhunting) because too many people don't seem to understand that transferable skills exist. Makes sense that it's coming through on my own site too if I've been used to it as a defensive measure. I am aiming to let more specific projects be the synecdoche for my work (especially those projects that employ multiple skills) but I'll work on being less defensive about it, so tips for that would be useful.
posted by divabat at 4:30 AM on October 2, 2018
Other people probably have better tips about how to work around feeling like you have to be defensive about transferable skills, so I'll just give comments about readability:
-Big blocks of texts. Especially on mobile, this is overwhelming. Keep some paragraphs describing yourself - I like how your writing shows your personality - but make anything you can into a list so people can easily skim to spot what you do that's relevant to them. The places where you do this already are a lot less overwhelming.
-Some of what's in "who I am" can be transferred to "what I do" and trimmed down after being combined (eliminating duplication could help with the volume)
-Show, don't tell. I'd be more willing to read the blocks of text if each of them told a story (like what your artist statement does in some places). If, for each skill, you highlight the project you're most proud of with a brief description (making it clear that this is a "sample" of your work) this'll help with being too comprehensive.
-Honestly, your bio, artist statement, and attributes sections could probably combined. If you keep the artist statement (I like the concept), keep it to a few sentences and transfer key concepts to your bio.
-Keep in mind that, for artists, people are interested in your portfolio and what you want to work on in future. You do not need to provide a resume to show you're qualified for the job. Try to be confident that your work speaks for itself - coming across as confident in this will convey competence. Statements about skills like "working efficiently and effectively" or "learning new technology" can be eliminated.
-Try to highlight your work more - by looking at your website I can learn a lot about you but I still don't feel like I've seen any of your work. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HUGE PROJECT YOU DID IS, without really digging around, which is losing out on emphasizing work you should be proud of. Some of this can be done by separating out the Press and Media so that the articles about you are separate from the articles about your work and creating a headline for the latter that communicates the articles describe your work. You could add one-sentence descriptions to each so that people know what the article's about (and whether they should bother clicking)
-Also keep in mind that people don't need to know EVERYTHING about you from your website. They just need a glimpse into who you are and what you do so they know whether they should contact you about a specific project. If people really want to get into knowing everything, it seems like there's a lot of press and media they can dig into to find out more.
posted by ersatzhuman at 5:39 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
-Big blocks of texts. Especially on mobile, this is overwhelming. Keep some paragraphs describing yourself - I like how your writing shows your personality - but make anything you can into a list so people can easily skim to spot what you do that's relevant to them. The places where you do this already are a lot less overwhelming.
-Some of what's in "who I am" can be transferred to "what I do" and trimmed down after being combined (eliminating duplication could help with the volume)
-Show, don't tell. I'd be more willing to read the blocks of text if each of them told a story (like what your artist statement does in some places). If, for each skill, you highlight the project you're most proud of with a brief description (making it clear that this is a "sample" of your work) this'll help with being too comprehensive.
-Honestly, your bio, artist statement, and attributes sections could probably combined. If you keep the artist statement (I like the concept), keep it to a few sentences and transfer key concepts to your bio.
-Keep in mind that, for artists, people are interested in your portfolio and what you want to work on in future. You do not need to provide a resume to show you're qualified for the job. Try to be confident that your work speaks for itself - coming across as confident in this will convey competence. Statements about skills like "working efficiently and effectively" or "learning new technology" can be eliminated.
-Try to highlight your work more - by looking at your website I can learn a lot about you but I still don't feel like I've seen any of your work. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HUGE PROJECT YOU DID IS, without really digging around, which is losing out on emphasizing work you should be proud of. Some of this can be done by separating out the Press and Media so that the articles about you are separate from the articles about your work and creating a headline for the latter that communicates the articles describe your work. You could add one-sentence descriptions to each so that people know what the article's about (and whether they should bother clicking)
-Also keep in mind that people don't need to know EVERYTHING about you from your website. They just need a glimpse into who you are and what you do so they know whether they should contact you about a specific project. If people really want to get into knowing everything, it seems like there's a lot of press and media they can dig into to find out more.
posted by ersatzhuman at 5:39 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
An example of something that can be definitely taken out:
Think masterpiece, not the random drawing you did when you were 18 and in art school, metaphorically speaking...
posted by moiraine at 6:47 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
l i m i n a: NaNoWriMo 2014 project about identity and technology via powers-granting Google Glass-style specsFor one, I definitely would not put any NaNoWriMo references in any part of my portfolio. It's like a red flashing sign for Amateur Writer, Keen But No Clue here.
Think masterpiece, not the random drawing you did when you were 18 and in art school, metaphorically speaking...
posted by moiraine at 6:47 AM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I agree with the comments above, there needs to be a lot of culling and curation. As others noted, looking at this I have no idea which things are important (e.g., key projects, articles in important magazines featuring you) and which things are more just filler. Without you curating it, it is just an overwhelming mix of stuff to look at.
For one random quick example of how I think almost every sentence could be trimmed:
I hold an MFA in Creative Inquiry from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where Ialso was part of the Center for Writing and Scholarship Fellowship (for pedagogy and practical experience in college-level academic tutoring), as well as a Bachelors in Creative Industries (Creative Industries Management, Creative & Professional Writing) from Queensland University of Technology, where I was a recipient of a Student Leadership Award in 2007.
(And really, that information should probably go in two bullet points under "eduacation" somewhere rather than in your bio, unless it is genuinely key information for your target audience.) The further you get away from being entry level, the more that things like this can just be ticked off on a resume rather than featured in a big way. At this stage it is your work/accomplishments that should be featured, not all the small things that were a big deal at the time but don't have the same importance now.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:03 AM on October 2, 2018
For one random quick example of how I think almost every sentence could be trimmed:
I hold an MFA in Creative Inquiry from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where I
(And really, that information should probably go in two bullet points under "eduacation" somewhere rather than in your bio, unless it is genuinely key information for your target audience.) The further you get away from being entry level, the more that things like this can just be ticked off on a resume rather than featured in a big way. At this stage it is your work/accomplishments that should be featured, not all the small things that were a big deal at the time but don't have the same importance now.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:03 AM on October 2, 2018
Ah, you're on Squarespace. That's why everything is oversized. Their designs are really not great for anything out of the box or complicated unless you're prepared to code a lot. The way they set up text is often unreadable too. To give them their due, you can edit your mobile pages there, but only if you're willing to trudge through a lot of ugly code. I don't recommend it.
Really, for your purposes, you might be better off with Wix, which is also certainly a lot more fun to use. Wix makes it much, much easier to make proper columns, and their mobile screen is WYSIWYG. Their templates are also more practical, more focused, and easier to change if you only want a piece of the original. Their only drawback, really, is the way they are coded if you have a million huge pictures it may slow the site down a bit. But you shouldn't have a lot of huge pictures.
To get back to mobile, you can only have a small fraction of the content on mobile that you have onscreen, including images. So what most people do with mobile is delete, delete, delete. But to have a nicer, more effective mobile design best practice advises you design mobile first, then expand. Thus, the experience is something like creating a tagline. You start with the least text for the most impact. Then when you get to the big screen, you add back on.
As for bio v. resume, by the way, the Website should have a short bio, emphasizing your multi-platform multimedia work. If you want to include a resume, put it in a downloadable PDF, people can click to see. But keep in mind, amid the ton of advice you've gotten here, including from me, that the average length of time folks stay on a Website is a matter of seconds. Most of that time is spent "above the fold" on the home page in the space you can see as soon as you get there. All the key information — Clients, Skills, Subjects — should be super clear there, and on mobile.
posted by Violet Blue at 9:19 AM on October 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Really, for your purposes, you might be better off with Wix, which is also certainly a lot more fun to use. Wix makes it much, much easier to make proper columns, and their mobile screen is WYSIWYG. Their templates are also more practical, more focused, and easier to change if you only want a piece of the original. Their only drawback, really, is the way they are coded if you have a million huge pictures it may slow the site down a bit. But you shouldn't have a lot of huge pictures.
To get back to mobile, you can only have a small fraction of the content on mobile that you have onscreen, including images. So what most people do with mobile is delete, delete, delete. But to have a nicer, more effective mobile design best practice advises you design mobile first, then expand. Thus, the experience is something like creating a tagline. You start with the least text for the most impact. Then when you get to the big screen, you add back on.
As for bio v. resume, by the way, the Website should have a short bio, emphasizing your multi-platform multimedia work. If you want to include a resume, put it in a downloadable PDF, people can click to see. But keep in mind, amid the ton of advice you've gotten here, including from me, that the average length of time folks stay on a Website is a matter of seconds. Most of that time is spent "above the fold" on the home page in the space you can see as soon as you get there. All the key information — Clients, Skills, Subjects — should be super clear there, and on mobile.
posted by Violet Blue at 9:19 AM on October 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
the fact that I'm so multidisplinary is a selling point. So I'd like to maintain that rather than just hyperfocusing on ONLY writing or ONLY performance. But I also recognise that just laying out everything I've done doesn't really highlight my interests and skillsets very well. My current thinking is to feature a handful of key projects, then have links to the full portfolio sections if people want to know more.
So, I've been thinking about this. It seems unclear who your target audience is with your portfolio, and what you want them to know about you. Who would be looking you up? What are they looking for? Are you answering the questions they might have?
Right now it looks like the question you're responding to with your website is "what is every piece of work you have ever created?" Is that what you want?
Make up one "persona" for who would be interested in employing/contracting/collaborating with you, and see if you are speaking to that person. I recognize the breadth of your work might require imagining multiple personas, but it would help to start with one.
posted by MonsieurBon at 8:13 AM on October 8, 2018
So, I've been thinking about this. It seems unclear who your target audience is with your portfolio, and what you want them to know about you. Who would be looking you up? What are they looking for? Are you answering the questions they might have?
Right now it looks like the question you're responding to with your website is "what is every piece of work you have ever created?" Is that what you want?
Make up one "persona" for who would be interested in employing/contracting/collaborating with you, and see if you are speaking to that person. I recognize the breadth of your work might require imagining multiple personas, but it would help to start with one.
posted by MonsieurBon at 8:13 AM on October 8, 2018
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Maybe I missed it, but I don't remember seeing your geographical information on the site. That'll affect what types of of interest and opportunities the web site brings in. Maybe break out what sort of geographical spread you're interested in by category - writing can certainly be an international thing, but performance art might be primarily limited to your state or whatever.
Separate the writing and editing sections so it's clear what you did for the different pieces.
Get some production quality videos of your performances front and center, if that's a big part of your brand.
in-person work that doesn't necessarily have a visual component
Do you have an Instagram following? Can you create images that evoke your thoughts or concepts for those pieces and write a blurb about it? Not everything you do has to go on the website itself - a lot of people consume via social media now, and having a flow of things to remind people you're out there is helpful (while keeping your website from being too massive with ephemera from hundreds of projects).
Same thing with Tumblr if your demographic is still using it - put the decisive moments on the website but let some of the creative process and smaller pieces flow out through it.
posted by Candleman at 10:58 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]