This is a very long overdue post, of which I have had in my blog drafts for a while. Never the less it's still a very debatable subject. Creating the perfect portfolio always seems to be some sort of magical formula where only a magical circle of creatives can tell you that your book is great. The fact is there really is no right answer of what you should include. Back in May, I read a post on Hey Whipple's blog. Where he talked about what makes an ideal creative candidate and how digital knowledge and work are becoming increasingly important yet this alone will not make you hirable. It's the strength of creativity that makes you worth a paycheck and yes a Creative and not a digital programmer or coder.
I agreed with this post, for example the other week I went to crit some graduate books and I was gob-smacked at how they all looked like Wired magazine. Cut 'n' pasted and slapped into plastic wallets. Did a portfolio full of different new medias impress me? Well er... NO. I know the range of media platforms available to me and so do, it seems, most of the media savvy students. So, out of all the books the one that impressed me the most was actually pretty much straight forward press ads, with a couple of inventions thrown in. This got my attention as it showed they can think, solve problems and persuade people without the crutch of a gimmick or new media.
So back to basics I say, just show people you can think and that it's not the medium that carries your idea. In actual fact the media could be anything and it would still be great. I would like to see brave young creatives go back to basics. By all means show that they feel confident about how to use different media and digital platforms, but an Idea should be able to be written in a few sentences and work without any execution or technique.
