Tools for Creating Your Digital Portfolio

In today’s digital job market having a digital portfolio of your work makes it easier for you to stand out among the sea of plain resumes. Digital portfolios are not only useful for job seekers but also for professionals wanting to keep track of their work for their yearly review and for those seeking job advancement, tenure, etc. These handy electronic files are extremely useful and fairly easy to create (albeit a little time consuming, but totally worth it!). I have created a list of tools and tips for your eportfolio creation. If you have any suggestions please share in the comments below. 🙂

Information to Include:

Resume
Publication history
Writing samples
Images
Videos
Presentations (share w/ links)
Academic and Work history

Step 1: Gather Content

Save your material in a cloud storage (Dropbox, Skydrive, etc) folder. Saving in Dropbox (or any cloud storage) makes it easy to share links to supplemental material. For example: You don’t want to post your entire 30 page paper on a poststructural reading of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, but you could post the abstract/introduction, and include a link to the paper for those who want to read more. A digital portfolio is a visual sampling of your best work, and cloud storage makes it easy expand on those samples for those who are interested.

Step 2: Choose a Portfolio Builder

Website Version

This is just scratching the surface of free Website creators that are out there. I am currently using Wix. I like Wix for it’s ease of use and categorized template listings. I like Squarespace’s template selection a little more but didn’t find it as easy to use.

Step 2: Choose a Portfolio Builder

Infographic Version

Infographics can be used to include a portfolio portion combined w/ a resume (see my re.vu ex).

Re.vu

www.re.vu/paigealfonzo

Visual.ly

http://visual.ly/igor-menghini-visual-cv– Love the left/right brain concept on this one
http://visual.ly/paolo-zupin-infographic-resume
http://visual.ly/infographic-resume-2

Step 2: Choose a Portfolio Builder

Blog Version

Although not specifically tailored for eportfolio creation, if you are already familiar with a particular blogging platform this could be a great option for you.

WordPress

Tumblr

Step 3: Create Your Layout

Unlike a paper portfolio, eportfolios combine a design aspect, so it’s important to include aesthetic best practices. Here are some things to keep in mind when designing your portfolio:

Make it attractive and dynamic- Don’t go overboard on graphics or colors.
Utilize a clean design: good use of white space
Make sure it’s easy to navigate- In my example below I decided on top side navigation as well as repeat navigation using the circles in the middle and links at the bottom.

Link to additional content– Like I said earlier this is just a visual sampling of your work. I used a graphic and then provided a link so those interested could get more information.

Use images– The great thing about eportfolios is how wonderfully visual they can be. Here are some tips when using images:
- Brendan W. Lowry has a great infographic on image color tips called The Eyes Have It.
- Don’t forget about stock photos- Wix and other website platforms provide a bevy of awesome copyright free images you can use.
- Don’t violate copyright. If you choose to use someone else’s images make sure you are not violating their legal rights. I like to search for free use images using the Creative Commons Image Search, Pixabay, and Raumrot. Also don’t forget to always give credit.