Different Types of Animation Techniques and Styles

Animation is the process of creating the illusion of motion and shape change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. Animation is all around us, be it your favourite tv commercials, music, movies or even videos you can see the stop motion animation type. Movement creation techniques incorporate the conventional traditional animation and stop motion animation techniques of two and three-dimensional figures, for example, paper set patterns, puppets and clay figures. Keeping Stop motion as the base of all animation, different styles of animation techniques can be used to create the animated sequences.

Traditional Animation or Classical 2D Animation :
Traditional animation involved animators drawing by hand for each and every frame. If you love the feel of pencils on a paper, then the traditional approach is very fascinating. Traditional animation is creating the drawings one by one on the frame. 2D animation involves creating numerous drawings then feeding into a plastic cells, hand painting them and create the animated sequence on a painted background image.
Traditional Animation Movies : Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty, Aladdins of animation and animation styles,
Computer animation - 2D, 3D: The famous Mickey Mouse animation was created using the 2d animation technique.The first 2D animation was called Fantasmagorie, it's a short cartoon made by Emile Cohl. It's shot entirely in black and white, the cartoon is all about a simple stick man in live action. The cartoon is 75 seconds long and it took about 700 different drawings to create. This historic animation was released in 1908. During the 1960s many popular cartoons like the Jetsons and the Flintstones were created using 2d animation.

Digital 2D animation
Creating animations in the 2 dimensional space with the help of digital technologies is known as digital 2d animation. You don’t need to create digital models, you just need to draw the frames. Create 100s of drawing and animating them to show some kind of movement is technically known as digital 2d animation. Using Adobe flash, animators can limit the number of drawings used, which makes them easier to create digital 2d animation. Small variations like changing the color or frame rate can be changed almost instantly, thus making it easier for the animators to work on.

Digital 3D animation
If you are interested in making the unreal characters into a realistic one, then it’s Digital 3d animation. Digital 3d animation characters are much faster to create and they are quite popular in the movie making industry. Using a computer software 3d animated images are used to create many short films, full length movies and even tv commercials and a career in digital 3d animation is highly rewarding. Comparing to 2D animation and the traditional approach, 3d animation models are highly realistic.

Stop-motion animation
Have you ever wondered if a piece of stone can walk or talk, well anything is possible in animation? Using frame by frame animation, physical static objects are moved around and during the post production it is shown in a fluid movement. Stop motion animation has been around ever since the evolution of puppets. There were many movies created using the stop motion method, some of the finest examples are “Fun in a bakery shop” created in 1902.Edwin Porter directed "The Teddy Bears," which was one of the earliest stop-motion animation films. The movie is a short sequence of playing teddy bears, just over a minute in length, which took over 50 hours to animate.

Mechanical Animation 
Instead of robotics, machines can be animated by using the mechanical animation technique. Instead of creating the original machine, creating these mechanical animations, allows the animator to understand how the machine works. Explaining the functionality of these machines is quite easy through this kind of animation technique.

Audio-Animatronics and Autonomatronics
Walt disney imagineering created the trademark audio animatronics which is fitted in its disney theme parks. Otto is a robot which can easily sense a person in a room, converse with them and can also tell if they are happy. Autonomatronics technology is different from Audio-Animatronics technology. Audio-Animatronics technology repeats a pre-programmed show over and over again. Autonomatronics technology is driven by sophisticated cameras and sensors giving Otto the ability to make choices about what to say and do.

Chuckimation 
Chuckimation is one of the popular animation techniques created by "Action League Now!" creators. It's a combination of stop frame animation and live shots, where characters are dropped into a particular frame. It has some similarities to the famous puppet shows.

Puppetry Animation 
Puppetry animation is created using the life like puppets instead of objects. The film ‘The Humpty Dumpty Circus’ (1908) created by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert smith receives credit as the first stop-motion animation film that features puppets. Nowadays puppet animation is most commonly used in children’s cartoons and films. An example of puppet animation used in cinema is in the film King Kong (1933).The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) is an American stop motion musical fantasy horror film directed by Henry Selick. It used 227 puppets to represent the characters in the film and also 400 heads were used to allow the expression for every possible emotion.

Clay animation or Claymation 

If you like to play with clay then this is of the best forms of stop motion created in Claymation. In this Claymation, pieces of clay are moulded to create characters and based on the imagination of the animator, a story is unfolded. There are oil based and water based clays available. Sometimes the clay is moulded into free forms or filled up in a wire like structure called armature. The animated characters are kept in a set and with only short movements, the whole scene is film. 

Zoetrope Animation 

The zoetrope is one of several animation toys which were invented in the 19th century, as people experimented with ways to make moving pictures. It was invented in 1834 by William George Horner, and is one of the early forms of animations. Some still images are drawn on a drum and when turned in a circular way, you have an illusion of movement. The visual effect created by a zoetrope is still used today to create animated GIFs.

Cut-out animation 

Cut – Out animation is probably one of the oldest forms of stop motion animations in the history of animation. The first cut-out animation was created by Lotte Reiniger in 1926 and it was named “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”. She used quite detailed paper silhouettes to convey a beautiful story. In this method paper cut outs are moved under the camera lens to say a story. Ever since the evolution of computers, it was much easier to introduce the computerised cut images in a queue.

Sand Animation 

This technique is messy as you will have to get your hands dirty with sand. A lit glass table is used as a canvas and the animator creates animation by moving the sand in certain directions and yes you guessed it right, animators have to constantly erase their creations to create another scene. The whole process is photographed and then during post production, they are merged to show the sand animation. Even though it takes hours to complete the animation, the end creation will truly blow your mind away. 

Typography Animation 

Typography is all about font faces and letters and animation is anything that is in motion, well a combination of text in motion is known as typography animation. Typography animation is widely used during the titles part of a movie. If you have a love for the font faces and types, then one must watch the stop motion typography animation created by Barrett Forest called the “The Atlantic”. It’s so easy to create new kinds of font face by using softwares such as Fontlab.

Paint-on-glass animation 

In this technique, slow drying paints are used on a glass canvas, which allows the animator to manipulate the art and photograph them simultaneously. Sometimes turpentine is used in the paints, which makes it easier for the animator to work on the paintings. It’s tough and laborious task as you have to paint on glass, take photographs and then create another scene which is then blended together in the post production, to give an animated version of the painting.

Drawn-on-film animation 

Drawn-on-film animation has been around from 1916, but most of the animations are lost from that period. This technique involves scratching, etching directly on an exposed film reel or alternatively can also be created in a dark room introducing the light in variations to create shadows which are permanently embedded on the film. Sometimes animators can just stick the black film reel on to a workboard and punch holes into them or stick just about anything on the film reel. This animation was one of the earliest forms of animation technique and probably one of the cheapest, since you just need a role of film, etching tools and a projector. 

Experimental animation 

Experimental animation is the art of combining two or more illogical paintings or art to create an animated scene. Different kinds of animation paintings are introduced at odd points which are totally irrelevant to each other. So the randomly introduced paintings create a different frame altogether in the animation process. Some animators have used a magnifying glass on paintings and multiple frames are captured to create an animation. 

Erasure animation 

Erasure animation uses 2d animation for motion graphics. Many popular charcoal erasure films have been created using this technique and one famous animator is William Kentridge. Photography and animation has to be done at every change to create a fluid motion in the animation film.

Pinscreen animation 

A screen being pricked by thousands of headless pins is used to create pin screen animation. Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker invented the pin screen animation technique in the 1930s. The two people used the pin screen to create Night on Bald Mountain. Once the pins are pricked, the screen is lit on one side, which casts shadows, based on the depth of the prick, the deeper the shadow. Night was the first animated film to use their pin screen, a 3×4 foot rectangle containing around 240,000 pins that move laterally in order to create different shadow lengths.

Flip book Animation 

Even before the time of computers, animation was very much in practice. Artists used to carry a small flip book or flick book and draw a series of images, with little variation to the pictures, so when the book is flicked rapidly, you can see the series of images in a fluid motion, trying to show a scene. Flipbook animation is one of the oldest but fascinating kind of animation.

Interview Portfolio Tips for Architecture

Your portfolio is a creative expression of you, your skills, your ability to communicate and a general self-promoting tool! It provides a brief snap shot of your talent and gives you the chance to create a great first impression. Therefore, you need to spend the time to get it right.

There are a few quirky things you can do to leave more of an impression on potential employers. Firstly, do send out a mini portfolio with your application. Give them just enough to leave them wanting more. Show them a few snippets of your work that will impress them, then they’ll want to meet you in person – which is then your time to really shine.

Make sure you know your portfolio. This is something we can easily forget to do. You may be asked in your interview “so, talk me through your portfolio” – be prepared for that. Make sure to get across the key points of the portfolio. Don’t be afraid to do this – it shows that you are organised and passionate about your work, and the interview! Go through your portfolio and practice telling someone about your work, pick out some key features that you would want to discuss. Be prepared for questions you that might be asked about your work.

The Details

• Make a plan. Have a look at your work and figure out what you want to show, how you want to present it, and get ideas of how it will go together. You want the portfolio to flow, so consider this first instead of randomly placing images and text to create an architectural muddle!
• Keep it simple and clear. As always, don’t try to overcomplicate things. The bottom line is that people want to see your work, so make sure that you portfolio does just that – shows your work. If in doubt a few really good impact images are far better than a mish mash of ‘ok’ images. Think quality not quantity.
• Try and include variety. Show the different skills you have by demonstrating them in a variety of projects you have worked on. For example, if you are a bit of a ninja when it comes to model making, get that stuff in your portfolio! Make sure you take really good photos that show the model off at its best. Or, if you spend hours sketching ideas and design processes, scan it and get it in there. Don’t forget, you are unique, demonstrate.
• Make it digital. I would highly recommend that your portfolio is digital and not an old school cut and paste job. It is so much easier to adapt a digital portfolio for specific interviews/reasons, and have different versions for different uses. You can also add new work easily, and take out old irrelevant work.
• On a digital note – make sure the images you use are high quality. Don’t use pixelated or out of focus images, it looks terrible and makes you out to be unprofessional.
• Quality and quantity again. Don’t forget you are trying to show your best stuff not as much as possible. If you did a project that wasn’t great or you weren’t particularly proud of, leave it out. Or just pick out the good bits. Say you did some great drawings of the site, but your design was a bit rubbish, just show the drawings!
• White is alright. I have seen a few portfolios that have got a bit carried away with fancy backgrounds. I say, go white… or grey… or some light pale colour. The big old crazy backgrounds often detract from the images you have worked so hard to create. So, I’d say, white is alright.
• Show a range of image sizes through the portfolio. Think about how the portfolio reads, if each page is the same it could get a bit boring.
• If you have text on your pages make sure it is clear, a good readable size, and consistent. Maybe use bullet points or captions if you want to demonstrate particular elements of a project, or give a brief description. Whatever you do, don’t use too much text as it takes away focus from your images. 
• When putting your portfolio together consider: flow of presentation, range of images, portrait or landscape, size, binding, format, balance, variety, impact.

Why is a scene shot in green background for animation or adding special effects?

It's called Chromakey, or just Keying for short. Any time you hear somebody refer to "keying it out," they're talking about using color and/or light to key out or make invisible certain parts of the image, so that a second image resting underneath the first will show through. Chromakey is specifically keying out color, a lumakey is when you key out something based on light. However, most modern systems for chromakey make use of light/brightness levels as well as color.

For a long time, when shooting on actual film stock, a blue screen was the standard for several reasons. First, there is very little blue in a person's skin tones, so there's less to worry about making part of a person's skin invisible. Second, the blue shade used tended to have less grain in the image, which made it easier to isolate the background cleanly and remove it. Third (and this is why blue will sometimes still be used today), for scenes set outdoors, if you have blue spill onto the actors and/or props, you don't have to worry about trying to remove it completely, you can attribute it to natural cast from the sky. And when we say blue spill, what we were referring to is shades of blue from light reflecting off the blue screen and falling on the actor, a common problem when actors aren't well lit or are too close to the screen.

Green began being used for the screen with the rise of digital cameras. Most digital cameras compress the color information with a 4:2:2 ratio, or for lower end cameras, a 4:1:1 ratio. What essentially happens is they have 3 channels - red and blue chroma channels, and then a luma channel that carries only brightness information. The red and the blue channel get compressed to save space (hence the 2:2 part of 4:2:2, meaning those channels are compressed in half). The luma channel remains uncompressed. The green in the image is derived from looking at the blue and red channels (sometimes referred to as 'difference' channels), and calculating what's left after removing that information from the luma channel. If you see a color system labeled as YCbCr (or YPbPr for analog systems, like the red, green and blue component digital cables found on pre-HDMI TV's), it uses this sort of system of transmitting the color and brightness information.

So what does all that mean for green screen? Because the green in the image is derived from observing the difference between the luma and the blue and red channels, the result is a greater amount of green information compared to red and blue information, which translates to a better key when trying to remove the green. The more color information your computer has to work with for chromakey, the better. Also, as mentioned earlier, many chromakey systems will also utilize brightness values, in addition to hue and saturation, to narrow down the exact spectrum to key out, and the YCbCr system maintains the full range of uncompressed luma information. Lastly, like the blue screen before it, there tends to be very little green in a person's skin tones, making green the better option for chromakey compared to red, orange, etc.

Once you've seen exactly how chromakey works, you'll probably start noticing more often where it's being used. Green screens for driving scenes are extremely common, because if you shoot while in a moving car, even a car that has its engine off and is being towed by a truck off-screen, the actual sound of moving down the road (especially a poorly paved one) will drown out your actors' lines, and you'll have to re-record that dialogue later and attempt to sync the new lines up with the footage. These days, it's just easier on everybody to green screen the car shot on a nice, quiet sound stage.

So in short, the solid color screen in the background is there to present an even, smooth surface to cut out around the actor/props. It's not necessary that the screen be green, you can use any color. The trick is to use a color that isn't present on your actors and/or the props on screen. It just happens that most chromakey footage uses people, and green and blue both have very little amounts in skin tones, hence the common use of those 2 colors.

Do's and Dont's When Writing a CV

What is a CV or Resume?

In simple terms, your CV or resume sets out your skills and experience.
Your CV should demonstrate to any potential employer why they should hire you above any of the other skilled candidates who have presented themselves for employment.
Technically a CV (Curriculum Vitae) is a detailed document outlining all of your life achievements, qualifications, associations, awards and skills.

Things You Should Do When Writing a CV

Include your contact details at the top

Start with your name, address, phone number and email address. If your CV runs to more than one page, then make sure you include an identifier on every page, probably as a header or footer, and page numbers.

Decide whether you want to start with a personal statement

This is optional, although many CV-writing companies recommend it. If you decide to include one, it needs to say something real about you, and not just be an anodyne statement that could apply to anyone. Try to avoid jargon such as ‘forward-thinking’ or ‘strategic’ and use this to showcase your strengths, if possible focused on action.

Include sections on Key Skills, Knowledge and Achievements, Work Experience, and Education

Precisely how much to include in each section depends on the sector to which you are applying. Try to get some advice from someone in the sector if you don’t already work there. Start with the most recent achievement, experience or training, and work backwards in each section.

Include everything relevant in ‘Work Experience’ and ‘Education’

Once you’ve got plenty of work experience, it’s OK not to include the paper round you had when you were 16 and the summer jobs you had as a student, but you don’t want any gaps once you’ve started work.

If you’ve taken a career break for some reason, or had a period out of work after redundancy, say so. Otherwise you’ll be asked about it, if they don’t just assume you were in prison and bin your CV.

Don’t include every last course you’ve ever done, but do include everything that’s relevant to the job. If you’re going for a job as a forklift driver, they won’t want to know about your catering qualification, but your Health and Safety certificate might be relevant.

Check the essential requirements for the job, and make sure you’ve included anything that’s mentioned.

Make sure that your spelling and grammar are all correct

Many employers bin any CVs with spelling or grammatical errors.

Look at our pages on Grammar and Spelling, use your computer’s spell-check function, proof-read it yourself, and get someone else with good spelling and grammar to have another look before you send it.

Work on your presentation

Use a standard and professional-looking font such as Arial or Calibri, which is easy to read, and generally no smaller than 10 point for body text, larger for headings. Do not, under any circumstances, be tempted to use Comic Sans Serif.

Lay your CV out nicely on the page so that it’s easy to read and looks professional. Remember that it will probably be printed in black and white. If you’re not sure where to start with design, there are plenty of free CV templates available online.

Mistakes and Pitfalls to Avoid

Do not be tempted to lie

You will be found out sooner or later and, if a lie has got you a job, it will lose you one too.

Avoid leaving gaps in your career history

You may be ashamed that you had to spend time flipping burgers at McDonalds, and perhaps you don’t think it fits with your planned career as an astrophysicist. But, especially if you don’t have much work experience, every bit is useful and you should show what you learned from it: teamwork or time-keeping, perhaps.
Large gaps in your CV look like you’ve sat around doing nothing instead of having the initiative to go out and get a temporary job.

Do not start your CV with the dull bits

Many people make the mistake of starting with their education and qualifications. That’s really dull.
Start with your key skills, and what you’ve actually achieved in life. If potential employers like your key skills then they’ll read on to your qualifications.

Don't make your CV too long

Two pages of A4 is plenty. Nobody wants to read more. By all means make the font smaller, widen the margins and shorten the gaps between paragraphs, but no more than two pages.

Do not use an unprofessional email address

Get a professional-looking email address with your name, not a nickname. A jokey email address is fine for your friends, but it’s not OK for potential employers, and may even cause your CV to be rejected.

Do not include your hobbies and interests

Unless of course they have developed skills that are relevant to the job.
Nobody really wants or needs to know that you do karate, or like going to the cinema. If you do include something relevant, don’t be tempted to show off by including something that sounds impressive, but isn’t really.
Murphy’s Law says that the person reading your CV will be an expert in that subject.

The Golden Rule of CV Writing

Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes and think about what they need to know about you. The job description should give you a reasonable idea.
Use your CV to tell them what they need to know upfront and clearly, in a way that looks professional and believable. 
Your CV will not get you the job but, if done well, should give you at least a foot in the door.

The top 10 skills that'll get you a job when you graduate

With so many graduates now on the market, employers will look for evidence of skills and work experience, which will make you stand out from the crowd. Start gathering them now or work on what you've got so you are ready to impress recruiters.
Graduate employers place a lot of emphasis on finding candidates with the right skills and competencies for their organisations. Depending on the career sector and profession you choose to work in, there could be very specific skills, abilities and knowledge needed to do the job. However, complementing these are general competences and behaviors that are essential for successful working. These are often overlooked by candidates, but they are the things recruitment professionals want to see evidence of.

The top ten skills graduate recruiters want

1. Commercial awareness (or business acumen): This is about knowing how a business or industry works and what makes a company tick. Showing that you have an understanding of what the organisation wants to achieve through its products and services, and how it competes in its marketplace.

2. Communication: This covers verbal and written communication, and listening. It's about being clear, concise and focused; being able to tailor your message for the audience and listening to the views of others.

3. Teamwork: You'll need to prove that you're a team player but also have the ability to manage and delegate to others and take on responsibility. It's about building positive working relationships that help everyone to achieve goals and business objectives.

4. Negotiation and persuasion: This is about being able to put forward your way, but also being able to understand where the other person is coming from so that you can both get what you want or need and feel positive about it.

5. Problem solving: You need to display an ability to take a logical and analytical approach to solving problems and resolving issues. It's also good to show that you can approach problems from different angles.

6. Leadership: You may not be a manager straight away, but graduates need to show potential to motivate teams and other colleagues that may work for them. It's about assigning and delegating tasks well, setting deadlines and leading by good example.

7. Organisation: This is about showing that you can prioritize, work efficiently and productively, and manage your time well. It's also good to be able to show employers how you decide what is important to focus on and get done, and how you go about meeting deadlines.

8. Perseverance and motivation: Employers want people to have a bit of get-up-and-go. Working life presents many challenges and you need to show employers that you're the kind of person who will find a way through, even when the going gets tough... and stay cheerful-ish.

9. Ability to work under pressure: This is about keeping calm in a crisis and not becoming too overwhelmed or stressed.

10. Confidence: In the workplace you need to strike the balance of being confident in yourself but not arrogant, but also have confidence in your colleagues and the company you work for.

There are certain words which are key to catching an employer's interest. Mention them in your CV and at interviews and see how impressed they are with your business-speak (but don't go overboard or you'll sound daft).

• initiative
• dynamic
• teamplayer
• proactive
• self-motivated

You can also talk in terms of actions that you achieve through your skills by using good, strong verbs in applications and interviews:

• led
• achieved
• completed
• co-ordinated
• delegated
• delivered
• identified
• presented
• promoted
• reported
• resolved
• organised

Top tips for developing the skills employers want

• Make the most of university life and extra-curricular activities to develop your general skills.

• Plan early to get relevant work experience and voluntary work which will give you transferables that will make you work ready: have something lined up for each vacation, and get ready for formal placement and internship applications at the beginning of your second year.

• Religiously record the skills you gain and work experience activities you do so that you can pull out good examples on applications and in interviews. If you want to identify your key strengths (and weaknesses you need to work on) sign in and use our free careers report tool.

• Network! Use family, friends and contacts to get work experience and to find out more about career areas that interest you.

• Visit your university's careers service: find out whether it runs any employability skills sessions; sign up for relevant courses and workshops; get help from a careers adviser to write a CV that really showcases your competences and abilities.

• Take advantage of careers fairs and employer presentations: talk direct to recruiters to find out what they look for.

• Always do your homework before applying for jobs. Employer research will help you identify the skills and competences a particular organisation places most emphasis on. In turn, you can tailor your application so that it stands out.

How to Make a Successful Portfolio or Demoreel

Portfolios

Put Your Best Stuff First -If the first 3 images on your site are “duds” your employer isn’t likely to look any further. Always sort by order of quality.

Remove the Fluff -Don’t include old works that are obviously worse than your newer stuff. It’s poison that will taint your good works and make your employer think twice about hiring you.

Make your Portfolio One Page – If you have 20 images in your portfolio, and your reviewer has to click 20 times, waiting each time for the image to load, he may just give up. Put it all on one page and he’ll love you for it. 

Don’t use a Flash Website – …ever! Flash websites are the most infuriating platform to host anything. Not only is it annoying to use, but it sends a message to your employer that you aren’t keeping up with current industry trends.

Link Directly to your Portfolio – About 50% of applicants sent link to their website homepage. Not only is it annoying to hunt for the appropriate page, but the reviewer may find the wrong page and judge your work off the “WIPs” category.

Demo Reels

Make it shorter – Anything longer than 2 minutes and the reviewer will probably just skip through to the end. Most people can cut out a LOT of fluff. Your work can be cut in half. So make it short. 

Music Doesn’t Matter – 9 times out of 10 your employer will mute your reel. Include music if you want, but don’t waste time trying to find the “perfect” track.

Credit what you did – In the corner of each shot, list exactly what you did for that shot (compositing, lighting etc.). Even if you did everything, say “Everything”, as it will answer the internal question in every viewer’s head: “What did he do in this shot?”

Include Breakdowns – They demonstrate that you have an understanding of the different elements that make up a shot, plus you it makes you look like a pro. Every bit counts! 

Include commercial works – Not everyone has commercial works, but if you do, flaunt it! It’s basically a testimony from the last studio that hired you. Your reputation will shoot up immensely.

Most Important Thing  Above All!

Most important thing above all is the work itself. If your work is average you won’t get hired.
All the above things won't guarantee a job unless your work is good. And good work should be applied and presented correctly so that it can make you appear more attractive to a prospective employer.
Post your portfolio or demoreel on forums and ask for critiques. You’ll get them. They won’t always be what you want to hear, but it’s the fastest way to grow and actually stand the chance of being hired.

8 Easy to Implement Tips on Creating an Effective Graphic Design Portfolio

Potential client will probably make up his mind about hiring you within the first half-dozen items of your graphic design portfolio. Thus your first order of business is to make sure that you show your best work at the very beginning. If it is buried deep inside your portfolio, the employer will inevitably have questions about your own understanding of the work.

Read these 8 easy to implement tips for creating an effective portfolio

• Don’t show work in isolation

Explain who was the client, what was the problem they were trying to solve. Keep it short, but give some details so that potential client can appreciate your work not only on aesthetic level,but on a practical project level too. Cover what was your role, did you do everything end-to-end or did you go outside your area of speciality. Design exists in some kind of context, so provide your potential client with this context, or risk losing out.

• Choose carefully which work to show

If your client comes from corporate or government environment, no matter how creative your arty or grungy work is, it won’t land you the job. Your potential employer is looking for someone who can work within their existing team and culture.Make sure that the items in your portfolio demonstrate your skill in the area you’d like to be hired in. And it goes without saying that you should only display your best work.

• Educate your leads

Some of your potential clients are really unsure of what kind of work they need. What they do know is that they have to have a website. Your best bet here is to explain what you can do.Educate them about the services you provide and how their business could benefit from that. Explain your portfolio items and how it helped your previous clients with their needs. Tell stories your potential clients want to hear.

• Include social proof

Treat your homepage as a landing page, include social proof, such as testimonials from previous clients, or just drop the names of the companies you have worked with.
A word of warning though: don’t just write the testimonials yourself. Save yourself the embarrassment, it’s easy to spot that kind of lie. Make sure it’s genuine and authentic praise from previous clients.

• Be professional

Make sure every link works, copy is well-thought out and there are no spelling mistakes. A portfolio that has validation errors also might leave the wrong impression on your leads, so make sure you use valid code.
Your portfolio should be fast, easily accessible and simple. Show your creativity in work you display in your portfolio, not on the portfolio website itself. All the work previews should be large enough and obviously include links to the websites.

• Little bit of SEO

If you’re looking for clients from specific area, like your place of residence, make sure to include something like “yourcity web designer”. If there’s a lot of competition in your town, don’t expect to be displayed on the first place of the Google search results.
Still, it’s a useful exercise, that can help you land leads in the long-term.

• Make it easy to contact you

Include a contact form and a plain text email address before anything else. Explain what kind of information potential clients need to provide to get the fastest response.
Include social networking profiles only if they’re professional. If the information you post there is not strictly professional, it might be a good idea not to advertise your personal social media profiles on the page that is designed to land you new work.

• Make a portfolio your clients want to see

There’s no universal rule here of course, but designing the portfolio your potential clients want to see just might be the best idea.
This means no experiments with navigation, this is not the place to stand out as unique. Use lots of white space, as it gives a professional feel to your portfolio. Like you have everything figured out to a point where you can afford to have all this space practically unused. Overall, move forward with idea that “less is more” and you should be fine.