Im new,but not new - how do I describe my Portfolio?

Bit of a brain-spinner this one but I’m sure it would be useful to others in the same position as me to read the replies so please join in. (Maybe even blog it).

A Little Intro.
I got into web design in early 2004 when I had a Blogger blog I wanted to make funky. In September 2004 I paid £2,000 towards a £4,000 course to become a Certified Internet Webmaster with Computeach which I quit half way through because, in my opinion, it was teaching me nothing of any use. With a background in Interior Design I was saddened to find no way to learn Web Design in Devon (at that time) so I got into graphic design and became quite good at it.

Here’s What I Know As a martial arts instructor, I’ve never had the time to sit down and read books about CSS etc so I have mainly based websites I’ve made thus far on templates from Templatemonster, ThemeForest and others. I’ve got pretty good at template customisation and was good with HTML until CSS came along.

I’m quite handy with Photoshop and have sold many types of graphics from logos to business cards and flyer designs.

What I Don’t Know I am not able to build a CSS website from scratch and know no other languages besides HTML .

But I’m Learning At Uni.. In the past month I have been chatting with Plymouth University here in the UK in the hope of doing a three year course to learn web design; they make it over-complicated and never give a simple ‘do this course’ answer but I’m getting there.

So How Do I Word My Portfolio? With all that in mind, how do I word my Portfolio?

Are You A CopyWriter? I’d be interested to hear from anyone who can give me a sensible price to do the wording of my site for me. I am not into the QVC -style crap you see online ‘Click here to learn how I earnt $6million in 5seconds’...yeh right!

....hmmm…any ideas? .

As in any business trying to sell it’s wares – concentrate on the things you have done and can do rather than the bits you do not – Someone going to your site / portfolio will always want to see what you have done thus far – give links to sites you have put together for clients etc – showcase your print work you name it put it on there.

One thing to remember when it comes to a portfolio – same as those going through college or looking to get in college – only choose a few items that are your BEST work but show a broad spectrum – 2 x websites 2 x print 2x logos etc – people don’t need to see pages and pages of stuff – they will not look through it – just provide latest ones – get some client quotes and their permission.

There are thousands of people out there who offer website construction – most buy templates – change and complete for their customers – this is fine as long as you do not state that the design was yours – how do you do that – don’t mention it – Just say work done was what you did not what you didn’t do.

You also do NOT need to go to college to learn web basics and enough to create a site – as you have said templates are FANTASTIC ways of learning how to html / css etc – PSD templates that come with them (here at TF anyways) help you understand the structure – read blogs – follow the tutorials on the tuts networks and thousands of others for free or little money.

Now, if you are looking at going into full blown design a simple 18 month course on graphic design will give you a good foundation and here in the US that will give you an associates degree (what my daughter starts next week!) – I know this because many years ago in my youth I attended college in the UK (original country of origin) and did a foundation course in pottery, print making and graphic design – bare in mind this was pre computer at my college – well we had 1 but it was a dedicated graphic system and unlike what we have these days – but what I learned there stood me in good ground for understanding typography, white space value, basic layout colors and so much more – all hand laid out and drawn / painted and transfered on (letterset anyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letraset ) – I then took a long break as a video game business for some years (quite successful also) then years later got into web design, print design, animation, you name it – I earn a living from my portfolio, word of mouth and referrals – for 10 years now.

That’s my advise Mr RobbyDesigns – I hope it helps.

Holy f! a 4000 pounds webmaster course? Highway robbery that’s what it was. My recommendation is to start learning CSS . It’s actually surprisingly easy to learn. Contact me and I’ll send you some stuff to help you out if you want.