From the course: Art and Illustration Careers: First Steps

Presenting your work

From the course: Art and Illustration Careers: First Steps

Start my 1-month free trial

Presenting your work

“

- Presenting your work well can mean the difference between success and failure. It's a delicate art that takes practice and confidence and a general understanding of how to keep control of a meeting. Whether you're presenting your portfolio to a potential employer or work to a client, many of the same rules apply. In our Running a Design Business series, author Petrula Vrontikis provides a deep dive into the topic with her Presentation Skills course. This is aimed at graphic designers, but it's applicable to all creative professionals. She drives home the point that preparation is key, and really thinking through all the elements of the experience will give you the best chance for success with your client. She talks about body language, best practices for various types of technology, finding the right spot in the room to present from, tips for steering clients away from trying to redesign the work, and so much more. We all have to present our work at some point, so getting comfortable with that process now will really help you out down the road. I also suggest you watch the chapter on presentations and drawing vector graphics for some more great tips. Von unpacks the best way to reveal your work, how to talk about it, how to save ideas that are not chosen, and more. You'll also benefit from the movie Presenting Your Work in Todd Gallopo's course Making 2D Presentation Materials and Mockups. Lastly, have a look at creating and giving business presentations. This course is more tailored for those coming out of business school, but it will give you insight as to what clients may expect and the kinds of questions you may face. You have to really know your audience. It's key to getting through any kind of presentation successfully. Don't ever wing your presentation. Think of it like a performance and prepare accordingly so you can knock it out of the park.

Contents