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Monday 8th December – Friday 12th December

Office hours has a special focus this week. Besides companies and teams who want to have feedback related to their projects (UI/UX and branding/concept) we are looking to meet local Designers who would like to show their talent. All designers welcome from graphic to product to fashion!

Office hour format is free and everyone can come and talk or ask questions related to design projects they have. Just let us know what time you want to come and we will set up a meeting to chat about design.

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Since our title says PORTFOLIO, we do not expect to see polished presentations of your masterpieces, but simply some examples of your designworks to discuss.

Some small tips to create an awesome portfolio:

Consider your aims

Know what you want to do as a designer. What kind of projects make you thrive?
If 80% of your portfolio consists of illustrations and other 20% of web design, you probably will sell yourself as an illustrator and you can’t expect to be offered many branding works anytime soon :)
So think about what you really want to do!

Your story
Since your portfolio has to sell you, it will be great if you could write about yourself in a unique and simple way, about who you are and what your work means to you (couple sentences are more than enough). Add your photo, so that people, who have seen your works, can match them to a face.

Keep your layout clean!
If you really like 3D – show your 3D projects in your portfolio separately. Don’t put some kind of hyper 3D frame with amazingly strong fireballs on every page of the portfolio.
Don’t kill your content! Portfolio is like a stage where your designs can perform and show their strongest side. So remember - minimal and simple!

Provide context to you work
Since you are designer and a thinker, show that you think and show how you think. Explain and clarify for the viewer – Why? What? How? Whom?
It is always nice, if you add some visual aspects, that show your process and how hard you’ve worked. Design is not just a picture, it is process with meaning.

Make it fresh
There is a saying, "Portfolio is different from your backup folder."
So use your latest and strongest works in the portfolio!

Usually, experts recommend to use 8-10 project in your portfolio, but I strongly believe that 5 is more than enough.
If you are in the beginning of your designers’ career and you have not chosen your specific path, then you can keep your range a bit wider and have 8-10 works in your portfolio.

So  if you have any questions or you just want to go over some ideas about design, let me know!

Jaanus Sakkis is a designer and creative director who has created a variety of works around the world from product designs to visual identities, he focuses mainly on branding, startups, UI/UX. He is in Uganda, mentoring in a project of the world-famous hackaton organisation Garage48,
to help local designers in building a designers’ community - Design Uganda (feel free to join: fb.com/letsdesignuganda).