From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
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Desktop publishing or graphic design portfolios should be more than just a few samples thrown into a folder. Potential employers or clients use examples of your work to help determine whether they want to hire you. The samples you choose to display and how you present them can affect whether or not you get the job.

Use Graphic Design Portfolios to Strut Your Stuff

Who needs graphic design portfolios? If you aren't taking on new clients or if you're so well-known that your name alone can land an assignment, then maybe you can forget about formal graphic design portfolios. However, few of us fall into those categories.

Most graphic designers and others doing some type of freelance desktop publishing need graphic design portfolios of some kind — a way to show potential employers or clients the quality of our work, our level of expertise, and to establish credibility.

Job seekers will probably need both résumés and portfolios. Skills in specific software programs and experience in print design and digital file production go into the résumé. Clients of freelancers are generally less concerned about the specific software you use but they are interested in the final product that you can produce.

Graphic design portfolios are graphical résumés. They show real examples of the type of work you have done in the past. It is an indication of the type of work you can do in the future.

The first step in building a portfolio is deciding what will go in it.

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