Hey Ladies and Gents!

I am so excited to introduce my graphic design series Rebuilding Your Graphic Design Portfolio! Since I’ve been out of school for the past two years, I haven’t always had consistent design work coming in. Which means I’m not committing the time needed to keep my skills up to par.

As some would say it takes 10,000 hours to perfect your skills and that the importance of habitually practicing will eventually make you an expert. Well I agree and with wanting to make a career as a Graphic Designer, you must have a portfolio with stellar content. My portfolio has some decent projects in it but most of it consist of school work and is not a reflection of the work I would need to do as a professional Graphic Designer for a State Department or even artistically for my freelance business.

So this year is all about getting my career established and the only way I can ensure that happens is to rebuild my portfolio. I will be discussing brochures, business cards, infographics, logos and identities, page layouts, provide templates and much more.

Due to working on multiple projects my goal is to produce gd content every other week as I will be balancing it with my sewing projects. So one week sewing, the next gd and back and forth like that. I have had to create a schedule so that I can equally give my love to my portfolio and my sewing. I can’t help but want to sew where as my gd work, though equally important, takes a bit of initiative and is important in the advancement of my career.

So no more excuses, it is time to get rebuilding!

First up: Do the project you fear or struggle with most! Is there a project you procrastinate doing, that you haven’t quite accomplished, that you dread doing. Well I do! I hate 3 fold brochures, well at least my last two were far from stellar. Maybe it was a lack of content or the use of images. Whatever project you struggle with the most, whether its creating identities, working with typography, creating packaging; it is the one you need to do immediately. Grab that fear by the balls and stop procrastinating!

Be back soon,

BEautifullyODD

Olisa Rachele

DISCLAIMER: I feel the need to add that in no way do I consider myself a top-notch professional. I’m just sharing my experiences as I continue to learn and grow and find what works best for me. I want this to not only be informal but inspiring. I know what it’s like to be stuck in a rut, trying to find your motivation. But we aren’t supposed to be waiting on motivation to come find us, we are supposed to be actively hunting it down. This is the only way I know how to hold my self accountable while committing to nurturing and developing my skills. With much love… and O Please feel free to share your experiences, critique, love and grow with me.