VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE

Written by Rachel Hawkins

PrESENTING a boDy of work

VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 2

Presenting a body of work is one of the most important skills required by a graphic designer. It is how a designer shows their work to their world. The quality and context of a presentation can impact on how the work is received, perceived and remembered.

What is a ‘Body of work‘?a ‘body of work’ is a collection of several pieces that communicate a story.

A body of work is:• A series of drawings that tell the story of your experimental

phase and process. • A series of design concepts for a client to review. You might

include your process and sketches in with the concepts to enrich the narrative.

• A collection of all your personal work in a portfolio to get a job.• A show at a gallery• A power-point presentation filled with research,

experimentation and the finished work

all these ‘bodies of work’ are equally deserving of beautiful and clear presentation.

PrESENTING a boDy of work

What makes a presentation?The are endless opportunities for how you can present work. It is up to the designer to be creative and innovative. creating a presentation is a design brief in its own right and should be given due time and energy. Have a concept run through your presentation will help to enrich your design as well as assist you in keeping the design cohesive and consistent.

your presentation may be limited to one format however it may reach across several formats. for example, a good designer presents their portfolio in several ways. They often have a printed portfolio book, a website of their work and a leave behind piece to hand out at interviews. The three pieces together make up the full comprehensive presentation.

other presentation format examples are:books, Posters, Models, Slideshows, Movies, Printed and mounted image boards, websites, folders etc.

The following pages will outline the step-by-step process of how to develop a successful presentation. Throughout this lecture you will see examples of presentations to help communicate the key concepts of this lecture.

3VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - ExPErIMENTaTIoN & PaINTING

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 4

sTEp 1. DEvELoP a coNcEPT

a successful presentation is built around a detailed underlying concept. It is important to develop an overall presentation concept that encompasses the message and information you are trying to communicate to your audience.

wHaT yoU NEED To coMMUNIcaTEyour concept may allow you to communicate information explicitly; plainly and clearly informative with graphs and tables. alternatively, your concept may allow you to present information and messages with subtlety by expressing a mood and feeling through image and touch.

First define your information and messages by reviewing the presentation brief and then apply your creative thinking skills to develop a unique and achievable concept.

Your concept and delivery of a presentation should always reflect your personality, sensibility, motivation and possibly your sense of humor. The individuality of your creativity and design work is what sets you apart and it is important that these aspects are at the forefront of any presentation.

TELL a SToryTo develop your presentation concept it is helpful to identify a narrative in your work that can be communicated. Is it your personal story? a story about a product? A journey of experimentation? Or possibly a documentation of time and progress.

PLay To yoUr aUDIENcES INTErESTSyour presentation concept is closely aligned to the content and purpose of your presentation. The concept must be appropriate to your audience and this should be reflected in the format you choose. by knowing your audiences interests you can develop your concept to engage and excite your audience.

all the above aspects with result in a complex and deep concept which will give you layers to work with in the next steps of developing your presentation. Just remember that your concept should support your body of work but not overshadow it.

5VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - PrINTED PorTfoLIo foLDEr

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 6

sTEp 2. cHooSE DELIvEry forMaT

once you have established your concept you can choose the delivery format for your presentation.

The goals is to be creative and innovative in developing the delivery method. a good presentation is unique and engaging. you are free to engage your audience by appealing to their senses. Don’t limit yourself to eyes and ears. Touch is extremely powerful in evoking emotion and memory.

you may choose to use more than one delivery format and combine methods to communicate different aspects of your presentation. For example; when presenting logo concepts you could put together a neat printed folder containing the three or so logo designs for the clients review at a meeting. To further excite the clients imagination, you could also present a slide show with music that includes images of the logos superimposed on t-shirts, billboards and bus shelters. This would help to give the client an emotional response to the ‘vibe’ of each logo and help them to picture your designs beyond the 2D page in front of them.

when selecting your presentation methodology it must be based on the intended purpose of the presentation.

There is no point in having a brilliant looking presentation that doesn’t communicate the process and ideas in your work.

The delivery method you choose should cater to diverse tastes, interests and be widely accessible. you don’t want to create a high tech presentation that an older executive can’t work out how to view or use music that is appealing to a very small group of people, eg. Metal.

Some ideas for delivery formats are; 3D prints, e-book, websites, movies, slideshows, books, posters, models, printed and mounted image boards, folders.

These common formats can be packaged in creative ways to give them a new and unique feel and look.

once you have selected your delivery format it is important to take a moment to review and evaluate your choices to make sure you are happy. Evaluate you delivery format in line with your concept. Do the two correlate or conflict. could you make it better? Is it accessible? will it appeal to diverse tastes?

7VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

http://www.onlinemarketizing.com/marketing/images/indice-ecotech-onlinemarketizing-design-portfolio.jpg

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - braNDING DESIGN PoSTEr

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 8

sTEp 3. SELEcT coNTENT

To develop a cohesive presentation you need to select the appropriate content that will best communicate your message.

The idea is not to automatically include every drawing, every piece of information and every ounce of research but rather selectively choose the aspects of your work that will present the final message best.

when selecting content you need to consider the length of your presentation. How long can you hold your audiences attention and communicate all the information? The challenge is finding a balance between keeping your audience engaged and communicating the message thoroughly.

cHooSE THE right coNTENTIt is important to include a breadth of work examples for each part of your presentation. This is the part of the presentation that sells you and your talent. you need to communicate your concept, the narrative in your work and the skill required in producing the work by choosing appropriate content. choose pieces that communicate your message best and are cohesive when viewed

together as a body of work. The body of work should demonstrate your all-round experience. If required involve other people to help you choose the content. often people view personal work very differently.

SHow yoUr work IN coNTExTSome pieces of work in your presentation may require explanation. In this case you should include a short description of the work or show additional images that give context. you don’t want your presentation to be ambiguous as it might result in the wrong message being understood.

owNErSHIPIt is important that your presentation is ‘yours’ and filled with original work. as a designer you have an ethical and legal obligation to copyright laws. If you are including sourced content like information, quotes or images you must document the original source in the presentation.When doing portfolio presentations it is fine to include work from group projects. In this instance you need to give credit to the project collaborators. This is a common occurrence in the industry.

9VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

http://blog.fidmdigitalarts.com/fidm-graphic-design-student-association-hosts-portfolio-night/

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - PrINT & DIGITaL MaGazINE

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 10

sTEp 4. DEvELoP a PLaN aND DESIGN!

as discussed in Lecture 3 it is best practice to manage your design projects to achieve the best results. Designing a presentation is a project in its own right.

Use your management skills to set a realistic budget, timeline and work flow plan. Identify the required resources including your time to complete the project.

In Step 3 you determined the work/content to be included in your presentation. In this phase you will need to plan and execute the presentation.

you need to establish if you will include the original works or if they are better photographed. Photographing the work helps to make the size manageable and protects the originals for future presentations. Scanning can achieve the same outcome.

Plan and consider the structure of your presentation. The flow of the information. Do you need a contents page? what about page numbers?

once you have completed the planning of your presentation and are ready to begin the execution it is a good opportunity to review your timeline and budgets. Make sure you have enough time to complete your

presentation and that you haven’t been over ambitious.

consider your proposed monetary investment in the presentation. Is it appropriate? will it blow out?

when creating a personal portfolio the budget can easily blow up with printers, paper and card. be clever with your planning in these sorts of projects.

11VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - foLDEr of SaMPLES

VIRTU DESIGN INSTITUTE: VISUal CommUNICaTIoN SkIllS, VDIS10015 - Lecture 5 12

sTEp 5. EvaLUaTE yoUr PrESENTaTIoN

as a designer we always come back to self-evaluation for self-development purposes.

when the presentation is done, take a step back from your it and ask the following questions:• Is your concept evident?• Does the content support the concept?• Is the presentation aesthetically appealing?• Does the presentation flow?• Does the presentation appeal to a diverse audience?• Is the message clearly communicated?• Is the message explicit or implicit?• Does the content have context?• Will the presentation engage the audience?• Is the presentation length appropriate?• Is your personality evident?• Does it sell you?

Show your presentation to the people around you to get feedback. They don’t have to be designers. Sometimes it is better to get feedback from people that aren’t designers because they see things differently.

Evaluate the feedback you have gathered and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your presentation. Identify any aspects of your presentation that could be refined and improved.

Think of this step as the opportunity to give your presentation a trial run. It is the time to work out the kinks and make improvements.

13VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - PrINTED PorTfoLIo

14VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - boDy of TExTILE work

15VIRTU DEsIGn InsTITUTE: VIsUal CommUnICaTIon skIlls, VDIs10015 - LEcTUrE 5

PrESENTaTIoN ExaMPLE - PorTfoLIo wEbSITE