Top 10 Tips for Creating a Compelling Portfolio
By Tobi Fairley
There are many design firms competing for clients in this post-recession economy. So how can you stand out to your ideal prospective clients? I believe it’s with a knock-their-socks-off portfolio. And how do you create one of those, you ask? Here are my top 10 tips for making your portfolio top notch.
1. Hire a Professional - If you do nothing else, hire a professional photographer that specializes in shooting interior projects. The best photographers are not cheap, but they are worth every penny. Study the work of several photographers and compare their work to your favorite magazine shots to help you make a decision on the photographer that’s right for you.
2. Edit, Edit, Edit - It is almost impossible to take away too many accessories from a room these days. Just because an item looks great to the eye, doesn’t mean it translates well in 2 dimensional photographs. Study the styling of the best local, regional, and national magazines and then take cues for your own work. Even Traditional projects today are executed in a clean and edited way. When you think a room is just right to the eye, take one more thing away and I promise the camera won’t miss it.
3. Work with a Stylist—If after studying magazines, you still can’t get the styling just right, hire a professional. Like a great photographer, a great stylist can make your work go from drab to fab!
4. Diversify—It is important to have a combination of overall room shots and vignettes of some key design elements of your work. This gives potential clients a thorough appreciation of your attention to detail, while helping tell the whole story of what is happening in each space.
5. Organize—It’s imperative that you organize your portfolio in a way that is user friendly and easy to navigate. It isn’t important whether your portfolio is displayed by project, by room type, or by style, but that visitors to your website can access your photos easily and quickly. If images have to load, you can be sure visitors will lose interest and move on.
6. Prioritize—Just because you have photographs of 20 projects doesn’t mean that you should show them all. Only your best work should be part of your portfolio and only if the photography is up to snuff. You can’t assume that your potential client will be able to “get an idea” from less than par images. If in doubt, leave them out.
7. Eliminate the Unnecessary-It is not necessary to show every single angle of every single room you have ever designed. Give your viewer enough “information” in your photography to get a good idea of what a room looks like, but avoid too much redundancy or your potential clients will get bored.
8. Forget Flash—The goal for your website is to be available to your potential clients 24-7. But if you are still using flash on your site, you are missing out on all mobile devices and iPads, which could equal a great deal of your target audience. Sure, flash makes websites exciting, but as far as technology goes, it is old school. It’s time to get current and get the attention of all your potential clients.
9. Showcase your Signature Style—Most clients are coming to a designer for a certain look or style. It is proven that a niche strategy is more successful than being all things to all people. Have the confidence to display the work that is most in line with your style and your brand. It will peel away the type of projects you don’t love and make it much easier for your ideal clients to realize they are a perfect fit for you.
10. Know your Ideal Client—How can you attract your ideal customer if you don’t know who they are? You must know the style, age, income level, and other key demographics and preferences of the client you are trying to attract, so that you can tailor your portfolio to appeal to them. Before you select those photos for your site, try creating a profile of the client you would like to reach. Then you can ask yourself with each photo, would this appeal to my ideal client and why?
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Tobi Fairley is a nationally-acclaimed interior designer based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Named by Traditional Home Magazine as one of the Top 20 Young designers in America in 2009, Tobi’s work has graced the cover of House Beautiful and been published in Traditional Home, Southern Living, and At Home in Arkansas numerous times. Tobi recently launched her own fabric line and will release several other products lines in 2012. Her DIY design service InBox Interiors and her Design Camps have been wildly successful. Tobi recently launched Tobi Fairley and Associates, a consulting group dedicated to helping firms with the business of design. She also blogs at Tobi's Blog.
Photo credit: © 2011 Tobi Fairley Interior Design
