Hello dear readers!
Last week I asked you to send in questions and a small number came in, so now I thought I’d try to answer them.
Otherwise, my mind is currently occupied by the Netflix series Three body problems (have you checked???) and garden thoughts. We moved to a house with a fairly large garden 2.5 years ago and now we are approaching our third summer here. From having very little interest in gardening, it has actually grown (pun intended!).
The first year was mostly about seeing what appeared, some staggered cultivation attempts and learning how to maintain everything. The second year I had high ambitions, but most things were a bit of a failure (except the potatoes, basil and mint, for example). Mostly because I started too late.
This year I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake so I planted a bunch of seeds back in March and therefore have a million little pots on all the windowsills right now. I invest in some simple vegetables and spices that I know will be used and some flowers! Haven’t tried flowers before, so I’m looking forward to it. Filling large pots on the patio and around the yard with flowers from the store is going to be very expensive, and cut flowers are bad for the environment, so now I’m going to try to kill two birds with one stone here. Wish me luck!
Yes yes, enough of that, on to your questions!
How important is a digital portfolio? How should it be used/look? What to bring?
For most creative professions, I’d say it’s beneficial to have some sort of digital portfolio available, either a website or a social media account. This makes you more searchable and shareable, and thus easier to be discovered by potential customers. They can quickly get an overview to see your experience, style and find your contact details.
It is also nice to have something to link to when you have to pitch yourself or present yourself in different contexts.
The contents of a good portfolio:
- It should only contain the most important and relevant information.
- It should be easy to navigate.
- Contact details must be close at hand.
- Clear regularly so that what is most representative of you at the moment is what is visible.
- Include some short descriptive text about you and your background, education, any prizes/awards/scholarships and experiences.
- Please be clear about the services you offer.
- Show the way to a potential buyer or customer how you want them to proceed.
Good services/tools to use are Squarespace, Behance or Canva (yes, they have a website service!).
