"You Have 6 Seconds to Get Their Attention." Ray Smiling's Tips to Level Up Your Creative Director Portfolio
Michael O’Donnell / EDITOR
Our community of 100,000+ creatives extends across more than 45 different creative roles, which means our advice for putting your best foot forward and landing work isn't one-size-fits-all. So last week, we launched a new monthly series called Level Up, which offers role and industry-specific advice from hand-picked experts on everything from portfolio sites to bios to pitches.
To kick things off, we tapped Ray Smiling, Malika Reid, and Justin Li, some of the best in advertising, to lead three crash courses on the do’s, don’ts, and tips to make your portfolio stand out to hirers and creatives alike.
Scroll down to read some of the key takeaways from Ray Smiling’s Creative Director Room. And if you’re an art director or creative director, or just want to take in more portfolio advice, see the takeaways from Justin Li’s Copywriter Room and Malika Reid’s Art Director Room.
Ray Smiling is a Los Angeles-based Creative Director, whose career trajectory has taken him from Rockstar Games to Mishka NYC, RG/A (Beats by Dre), Droga5 (Under Armour, Covergirl), Johannes Leonards (Adidas Originals, Amazon Music), and now Translation (Beats by Dre, NBA). He’s a writer and director as well on the side. Here’s Ray’s portfolio site.
Read our interview with Ray on this WNW Magazine on being a Creative Director, what comes with the job, and what inspires his work.
Ray offered his class of creative directors a new approach to their work and portfolio, a way to create a clear vision of who they are, and methods to creating the work they want to make. What he didn’t offer? A tour of cool portfolios, a UI seminar, or a trend report.
He first asked, “Who Are You?” If you can’t succinctly explain who you are as a creative, it’s going to be very hard for you to communicate that to other people. It’s a challenging yet powerful prompt. “What do you do best? What experience do you have that’s rare? What’s your POV? What do you want to do? How far are you from there?” Your portfolio should answer all of these questions.
Key Components of Your Portfolio
Clarity: Make sure your website has clarity, make sure you can find your way around, and it’s easy for somebody to digest. Less is more. The key is to make it clear where you’re headed and reinforce the breadth of your work.
Insight: Let people know not only what you’ve done but who you are. Convey how you see the world and worry less about checking boxes. “As a Creative Director, you have to communicate your worldview. That’s why people pay us.”
Beauty: Put the most beautiful work first, catch eyes, have friends outside of the industry take a look and watch them use your portfolio. Watch where the cursor goes and their eyes go.
Dynamism: Vary the order of work, keep it interesting, be critical of the way people can move through your work.
Designs by Working Not Working Member Martin Salazar