Hello and welcome to episode 45 of design.
Curious podcast, I'm your host and Mentor Rebecca Ward.
Today on the podcast, I'll be talking to you about how to get
your portfolio started. If you're just starting out in
the career and you don't have one already.
So there's a few tips and tricks you can learn in today's episode
and as I mentioned in the episode you will find that a
portfolio of review is one of the things that I offer.
ER in my design Mentor. So if that's something that
you're looking for a professional to review your
portfolio, then go ahead and click on the links to join my
design Mentor today and get started on the right path to
your career. All right, let's get into the
episode. You're now listening to design,
curious a place where you creative one are here to learn
about what it really is. Like, to be an interior designer
and I'm your host and Mentor Rebecca, Ward, if you're worried
about how to succeed in a creative career, if you're ready
to learn your next steps to become an Interior Designer.
And if you want the satisfaction of doing something, you love
every day, you are in the right place.
Grab a coffee, a notebook. Let's dig into today's episode.
So, when you're starting out as an interior designer, one of the
most challenging things is to develop a portfolio that you are
proud of and that you can show off to your clients and get them
to hire you. There's a couple Avenues to
this. So if you're coming out of
school you will definitely have some projects that you worked on
in school that are going to look decent enough that you can put
them in your portfolio because of the 3D during that you do,
that looks fairly photo realistic.
Those are great for showing what your capability is of developing
a design and finding design Solutions.
So if you haven't gone to school and you're coming into the
career from maybe another career, one of the other avenues
you can take is to start taking those classes in CAD drafting
and 3D rendering so that you can develop those types of Projects
of floor plans and some renderings of some interior
spaces so that you can have something to show people.
Aside from that though, the other thing you can do is use
your own home as a template for creating vignettes and scenarios
and redesigned. You don't have to do a whole
kitchen remodel because that is, as we know quite expensive, but
you can decorate the house and make changes that could ssibly
be like having a design client and sometimes you can do it for
friends or family and have them volunteer their homes that you
can maybe they'll give you a five thousand dollar budget and
you can go and redecorate their living room or refresh their
kitchen or something like that. So there's always an option out
there that you can take. I will tell you that when you
are working on your own home or even maybe the home that you
grew up in it's really challenging to see past what is
already. Exist because you're very
familiar with this space and things are where they've always
been and that's just the way it is.
And so you don't necessarily pick up on all the different
things that could be changed or could be developed because it is
something that you see all the time.
One time a few years ago, when I was working on that pilot for
HGTV, we used my parents home as an example of a client's house,
just to give a scenario for the pilot.
And it was really interesting to To think about it from the
perspective of a designer who doesn't know the house coming in
there and saying, like, oh, this kitchen is really dated, it
needs to be updated. And here we take a wall out here
and we'd change these finishes and add a window or something,
you know, and coming to it from that perspective, I was actually
able to see it but otherwise, when I go into the house that I
grew up and it was so familiar to me, there's like, this is
just the way it is and like, I was able to help my parents
update. Over the years.
But definitely wasn't seen major changes that were obvious that
need to happen. But I guess one way to get
around that mindset is to think like, okay.
You're going to be entertaining, 50 interior designers that are
season and are going to come over to your house and they're
going to because of their natural tendencies.
Look at your house and see the areas that might need
Improvement. So walk in the front door and
Look at your house from that angle and see like, oh maybe I
can rearrange this furniture to open up the traffic flow or
different things like that and then document it and take some
great photography, I mean even iPhones Daddy's can takes such
great photos if that's all he can do or you can even hire a
professional to take photos of your home and the better the
photography, the better, it sells to a client or to a
prospective employer. So it is worth paying For a
professional to do it. Now you want to have a
professional who has the eye for editorial photos and not real
estate photos. Real estate photos are entirely
different ballgame because they use a lot of wide angle, the
trying to make the space, look bright and spacious.
But with editorial photos, they want it to be realistic.
They are coming from a lower eye level, they'll drop the camera
lower. They usually have no lights on
when they're taking photos because they only want the
natural light to come through. Through and they take it with
several different shutter speeds and then overlay it.
And so, it really gives a professional and full-depth
photo, and I say it's 100% worth the investment to get
professional photos. If you have a space that is
worth documenting. The other thing you're going to
want to include with your portfolio, is a brief scenario
of the project that you're showing.
So as an employer or as someone who works with interns a lot, I
look through student portfolios, a lot and you know it's nice to
see their projects and if they're coming from the same
school over the years, I see the same projects again and again.
And so I kind of know what the scenario is what their teacher
had them do. But it'd be great to have a
blurb there to see like oh what was the obstacle here?
Or what was the challenge that you had with this project or
what was the thing that you actually did to the space?
Because perhaps all the walls in the paint color and the flooring
was there and you just added the furniture or the The furniture
was existing and then you changed the walls and the
artwork and the flooring. And so being able to know what
part of it, your hands were on and what kind of change that you
made to this base? Really tells a future employer
or a client, what kind of talent that you have.
And so you're trying to use a picture to capture your
experience, your talent so that you can repeat it into their
project another way to Your portfolio, if you're starting
now and if you have worked for someone else, would be to ask
your employer. If you can feature any of the
photos of the projects that you worked on with that employer
while you are working there. So normally if the employer
allows this to be used as promotion for you, even though
it was done under their supervision and under their
firm, you will have to give credit for that original firm.
As work. And then you can say that this
was a project that you worked on as a junior designer while
working for Rebecca Ward design. So that people looking at that
photo know that that's not actually fully your work but
that you are a part of it and that full credit goes to the
original firm. And that's just one way to
bolster your portfolio, if you don't have a lot starting out.
And if you have an employer who's very supportive then they
will, you know, usually let you do this.
Sometimes they will not do because they're using those
images for their own promotion as well for their own clients
and they would be a conflict if it's in both places at the same
time sometimes. So there's another Avenue you
can approach. You've been working for someone
else and you're going out on your own but it is a delicate
matter and don't always expect that person to say yes because
those photos actually belong to the original design firm, bottom
line, I'd say if Nothing else and you have a lot of time on
your hands yet not a lot of projects then dabble around with
the 3D renderings. Because I think those are really
where you can be fully creative. You're not actually working with
a literal budget so that you can kind of do some fanciful
designs. If you want, if you want to do a
whole bunch of contemporary designs or you want to do a
bunch of Farmhouse designs and kind of build a portfolio that
is in the style of the projects that you're helping to work on
or one that you Really good at working within.
So that would probably where I would spend some time working on
my portfolio if I were starting out nowadays, whereas, when I
was starting out, we kind of did a lot of 100 during which does
not come across as professional. I think as if the photo
realistic 3D, renderings nowadays.
So that is an advantage of starting out.
Now, one of the things that I offer in my design Mentor is a
portfolio review for people in this.
Situation. So, I can look over your
portfolio and tell you which projects look good and what
projects I want to get more information about and what would
be the best pieces to put your best foot forward?
Show on your website or even just in a document that you can
send out to people who are interested in your services, or
even a prospective employer, because the only some kind of
portfolio as well to show a perspective.
Employer that you have some design experience in that you
have the ability to put designs together.
Yeah. So, besides the resume, which I
also offer reviews for in my design Mentor, the portfolio is
going to be your next tool to show the employer, what you're
capable of or prospective client.
You can use all of these things from your portfolio, on your
website. That you create as well as in a
presentation that you might show to a perspective.
Employer or client. So those are the tips and tricks
for a portfolio a picture is worth a thousand words so you
want to get your pictures looking good and it might take a
little extra hard work, a little extra prep and time but is
definitely worth it to have a portfolio.
You can present. Oh and one last tip I would say
also include a photo of yourself maybe in the space or doing some
design work, I think that's really important.
That the client or the employer can see what kind of Vibes you
send through your Photography in the photo of you.
So, yeah, include a photo of yourself in your resume to.
So those are my few tips on trying to develop your
portfolio. It is important to have.
And but then again, we also remember, there's so much more
that goes into a client hiring you or an employer hiring you
besides your Leo. This is just a piece of the
puzzle. So you want to make sure it's
polished, it looks great, that it answers all the questions,
but it's just a part of what you're offering is because it's
more than just what the designs you produce, is how you produce
them, and how you work with clients, and your personality,
and everything like that, all comes together in the decision,
to hire you. So a few quick tips to getting
your portfolio started and don't forget that, if you're looking
for more help with how to get started in the career, you can
join my design Mentor today and get one-on-one feedback from me
and other students in the group to help develop your skills to
make you marketable to a future employer, or even for going out
on your own and getting your own.
Own clients. You will also want to download
the three things. I wish I had known when I
started my career in interior design and the roadmap to
Interior Design. So if you want either of those
you can find them in the show notes or on the website podcast
page. And stay tuned for next week, we
have in our summer series, three consecutive interviews over the
next three weeks that you're just going to love.
So stay tuned. And until then, stay.
A creative. Thanks for listening.
If you loved this episode, please leave a rating and a
review. This helps me reach other
curious. Creatives.
Like you, if you have a topic request or would like to contact
me, simply head over to my website, our Ward design.com or
email me at podcast at our Ward design.com.