Professional Portfolios

 

Jake Tuley

Induction Task 3

Professional Portfolios Examples

Samuelcare.co.uk

First impressions can make or break a website from the user’s perspective, especially for a professional portfolio which essentially sells yourself like an interview to any future employers or contacts. The very first page to appear is a wide, dark shot from a film with little to none context. Followed by several other shots from movies, TV shows and advertisements the cinematographer has created. This doesn’t clarify anything about his profession or who he is until you scroll through several pages which is disappointing to obtain a first impression. Using the page director on the top tab, the next page consisted of many images across the page as a Narrative. Again, I felt this was a poor effort to present his previous work. Once clicked on a particular piece of work, this is only followed by more shots used in that piece of film. This works well as a display wall, however, gives very little context or descriptive detail about what the film was for and the techniques he used to show true understanding of his projects. The improvements I would make are clear, to add more descriptive context on who he is, why he should be employed to go the extra mile and detailed writing about his work.  However, his contact page concerning his personal and agent contacts is very clear and straight to the point which arguably is the most important part of the website.

Mattygray.co.uk

In comparison to the previous website, this seems to tick more boxes informing the audience from the get-go. There is a characteristic headshot followed by a small yet detailed description of who he is and what he offers. There are links to his social media profiles which takes you direct to his business to get a good glimpse of his work. Down the bottom of the home page is a school-boy error however as there is a title Featured Videos with the quote ‘Here's a selection of videos I've been involved with:’ with no actual videos or links below. He clearly has entrepreneurial traits as he even has his own shop on his website with novel tee shirt designs relevant to his projects. In order to attract more sales, the shop should be its own website so that the user can see the products from the start rather than having to browse his professional portfolio to find it. Altogether it ticks all the boxes for a professional portfolio and what employers are able to read from it. On the other hand, he is an asset within the creative industry yet the layout and display of the website would show otherwise. It is simply a white background with minimal interactions, colour or design. As a result of the lack of creativity and missing content, it wouldn’t surprise me if this website was rushed when being made.

Dancrinnoneditor.com

As mentioned, first impressions can often make or break a professional portfolio or any kind of website online. From the first home page, it is clear he is proud of his work and projects. This is because his home page is littered in adverts and photos from his work including Killing Eve, Critical and No Offence. This is particularly effective at his level of expertise as these are all well-known productions. This technique doesn’t quite work with Matt Gray’s since his projects are less known and therefore needs to promote himself as a person rather than his products like Dan. Uniquely, the website even features the most up-to-date reviews and tweets concerning his projects and offers a variety of photos and descriptions about himself. This has an edge over the previous two as it combines detail and image hand in hand. However, I still believe that creator to his level should have a more developed CV and professional portfolio via design, layout and website interactions.