Your Portfolio Site Part 2: The About Section.
If your creative portfolio is a version of you, then the ‘about’ section is, consciously or otherwise, where you lay your personality bare for all to see.
That’s because you can use it to write absolutely anything about yourself, so those choices will convey your personality as much as the work conveys your mad skillz.
Bearing that in mind, I think ‘about’ sections tend to come in four different varieties:
The first is no-nonsense, where you just get down to brass tacks about your advertising life. This is really just a more elaborate version of your resume, where you take the opportunity to simply list your agencies and the years in which you graced them with your presence.
Sometimes this is a literal list, while other times it’s written as prose, turning a list into a paragraph that’s less convenient to read, but a bit warmer. Either way, it says that you’re either very straightforward, you don’t like to write, you can’t be bothered to write, you’re intensely private, or you’re massively dyslexic and don’t want anyone to know.
Then there’s the self-referential, meta version, where you recognise that the whole thing is a bit silly, and suffuse the facts with an attempt to be an aw-shucks version of charming.
I would count my own ‘about’ section as one of those, but just to prove it’s not just me, here’s one from another creative (I’ve left his name out in case he doesn’t want to be highlighted in this post).
Cheers, I’m (full name) or just (first name), a 34 years old art director and graphic designer currently living in São Paulo, Brazil. I’m very much into branding, editorial design and branded content. Hit me up for a coffee or just to say hi. Here are some random bullet-points to make this about page a bit more personal: Firm believer that RainyMood is the best soundtrack to work. Plays Dungeons & Dragons (just like those kids from Stranger Things). Catdog-person. +3 luck when buying plane tickets.
See? The boring facts, followed by a bit of personality, but presented with post-modern self-awareness. A reflection of personality.
Talking of reflections of personality, you could try for the third type of ‘about’ section and go even further in that direction, mentioning some quite random things that are entirely unrelated to advertising.
If you go through this deck (thanks, Loz), you’ll find the following information:
I’m an ACD Art Director, designer and hot dog enthusiast.
I love podcasts about design and architecture, all things sci-fi, cats and NBA drama.
I drink whiskey in the winter and mezcal in the summer.I’m not an asshole.
Would a recruiter care that you like architecture podcasts, hot dogs or mezcal? Probably not. Would they believe your own opinion that you’re not an asshole? Also probably not, but it’s all a bit of colour that offers a bit more than a list of agencies you’ve worked at.
Finally, and very unusually, you can just go all out and wrap your life’s work around one quirky-yet-important fact:
One thing you should know about me is that I’d pay a million dollars to go back in time to see Outkast’s 2014 tour. Every penny earned will go to my savings so that if time travel happens during my life, I’m ready.
Professionally, for the past 7 years, I’ve been leading all-star digital content teams for fashion e-commerce and entertainment brands.
Now as an Art Director, I am smashing all my experience, skills, and lifetime desires together so that by the time I finally see the most prolific rap duo of all time, I can return to direct their ads, merch, and everything in between.
I never had the pleasure of seeing Outkast in 2014, but now I really wish I had, and I like the vibe of the person who wrote that short, funny, memorable insight into their personality. Maybe that ‘about’ section is partly why its author works at Mischief@No Fixed Address…
So make your choice, write your little biography and remember the two most important things:
- Pretty much anything goes.
- The ‘about’ section doesn’t matter if the work sucks.