Portfolio and icons

Icon design is as much a show of your design chops as any other discipline. It's simply solving the problem of communicating information in a 128x128, 32,32, etc space rather than across an a4 page or business card.

If you think they work well, show them off. If they are intrepretations of something popular like cartoons characters or personalities, then maybe it would be best to just showcase your original work.

I'd go for it! (but listen to afterglow's comment).

I went to a student show last year, and I took only what my proffs suggested. It was a bit mistake! They didn't like any of my "fun" stuff, and that's really what seemed to be selling people. The guy who got the best internship dressed nice, but like himself. He had a pin-strip suit with a magenta shirt and socks! He had those old hightop sneakers on instead of dress shoes. He had corp stuff at the beginning of his book, but half way through he put all his best off the wall stuff. He had icons, logos, book covers for comic books, drawings and sketches of aliens... all sorts of really cool stuff.

In the end, follow your heart and do what you love! Make sure your portfolio and resume reflect YOU. Any company who doesn't see the heart and soul of your portfolio really isn't a company you want to work for. You won't be happy, and a year later you will look back over the black hole of your first "design job" and you will wonder what happened.... and why your portfolio sucks and is still all the stuff you did a year ago. Don't be caught in the trap... it's not worth it!

Oh... and take business cards!!!!!!

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very good advices!

i would only add that you should do something unexpected. as a good friend of mine once said, if you can't come up with anything better on a job interview at least shit in the corner. it's still better than doing nothing out of ordinary. at least they will remember you for something.

I would definitely go for it. If it's something you feel proud of and can stand behind. That would be much better then something going into your portfolio of lesser quality just because it didn't fit into what people perceive should be in your portfolio. Cover the basics of your work while leaving the person with a good impression. Set your portfolio up with your top 3 designs placed first, middle and last, that way you draw people in, hit them with great stuff in the middle and leave them wowed at the end.

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for the comments, it gives me more confident in what I should put in my book. I was skeptical about it first because my peers didn't like the idea of icons, but now I want to put them in after reading everyone's post. Thanks again!

icons are big and they will be more and more important as digital lifestyle and computerized interfaces are becoming more and more important part of our lives. every year we spend more and more time using different screens as part of our work and recreation, so showing your icons is definitely a plus.

I have to take exception with *part* of this mentality.

There's nothing wrong with putting icons in your portfolio... IF you're going for a job with a company that does multi-media/GUI work as a mainstay. But if you're applying for a job at an advertising agency, they really aren't going to be too terribly interested in icons – they'll have the same reception as a desktop photo, which is "oh that's cute, now where is the real work."

The most important thing that many designers forget is to customize your book to the company you are showing it to. If you're applying for a job at a newspaper, putting in a collection of full color brochures (as beautiful as they may be) is a complete waste – you need to put mostly newspaper ads, page layouts, with a few misc. pieces like brochures mixed in.

On the other hand, if you are applying at an ad agency, a little bit of everything is the way to go. Going for a web/multi-media job – those newspaper ads aren't going to get the job for you, no matter how great they look.

See what I'm saying?

One other thing, NEVER EVER send a resume for a design job without sending samples of your work. They don't have to be actual printed pieces, a few printouts or pages in a PDF will do just fine. The one thing that ticks us off when we get a resume is not to have samples... how the hell are we supposed to be interested in even speaking to you if we have no idea what you can do??? It's almost comical.

Sooo true MacGizmo. For us its links to sites (site design jobs). I must say there is no bending really, no links, no read yo resume....

Plus, People who DO send more than just links, like a pdf of some work get super special attention...or at least I check them out first.

I notice a lot of my recruiting is time based. With so many applicants I end up having to try and eliminate a large chunk of them so I can focus on a select group, and then repeat the process until I have 5-10 choice applicants to interview.

So, again, as MagGizmo says, I too think its pretty important to not fling a generic anything at someone. I get these long super obvious generic resumes, coverletters and so on....take the extra twenty minutes to avoid that if possible...