Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

topic posted Tue, August 5, 2008 - 8:22 PM by  Here & There
I am getting into the mode of presenting stuff anew once my website hosting is affordable for me again. In the last month I have been doing alot of work in creating templates for a shopping program. I want to see if I can incorporate examples of hybrid designs in a good way. If I can, how can it be listed?

Kat
  • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

    Tue, August 5, 2008 - 10:43 PM

    I may be clueless, what do you mean by hybrid?

    What I have done is just use screenshots scaled down, or if there's detail I want to explore and note, excerpted sections following screenshot or sequences.

    • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

      Tue, August 5, 2008 - 10:49 PM
      When you do template design, using ideas from 2 different designs.
      • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

        Wed, August 6, 2008 - 10:35 AM
        Hmm...further clarification

        Basically, taking 2 designs and combining them into one using ideas from each of the 2 designs. At my job, I am doing alot of that with templates they created before but would like to combine with another.

        • Well, you say in a "good way", do you mean "in a way that hides the origin", or "in a way that shows your skills in adapting to a new form".

          The real question may be, *who* are you showing the work to, and what skills matter in what they are looking for from a designer. End customers who aren't techie won't care as long as it gets done. Techie users on the other hand might engage in endless discussions of technical merit.

          There's a safe road in the middle which plays up your skill and insight, methinks.
          • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

            Wed, August 6, 2008 - 10:59 PM
            Well, imagine a company has 2 designs that they designed themselves. However they want a new design that crosses the characteristic of each for a brand new template. Thats what I mean by "good". Basically alot of problemsolving must be done (as with most templates) but also adaption from the format that the old 2 company templates were into something a bit more modern in hybrid form. How does a web designer use "hybrid experience" as a compliment to the problem solving and creative resourcefulness that it might take.


            Kat
            • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

              Thu, August 7, 2008 - 12:27 PM
              My portfolio has gone through several stages of development. It's a bit more stripped-down now, but for a while, for each item in the portfolio I had three headings: the project name, client, and type of project; these were followed by a brief description of the project, a short section outlining the challenges presented by this project, and a conclusion detailing how those challenges were resolved. You could set up your portfolio in a format sort of like this, maybe? Then you could explain to your prospects what you mean by hybrid design and try to help them understand the magnitude of the challenges you overcame.
              • Re: Web Design Portfolio Question: Hybrid Content

                Thu, August 7, 2008 - 12:49 PM

                That's a great approach Jesse. It's typical of what I have seen done, and done myself in the past.

                Generally, in talking to HR/hiring people, there are camps who will hire you based on whether you've done work in a specific "industry", the work can be nearly anything, but you just have to have done something in say, Medical, or Entertainment, and they take you seriously. Then theres the camps who are into your "skills" more and "portfolio".

                I used to try to invent terminology to describe my work, but stopped doing that. I find that if you search Google, Dice, or Monster, and HR people don't use the term, you have to weight what you're pitching. You may get people asking what "hybrid design" is, but you should help relate it things they do, or problems they have to solve. Usually, the only folks who know that much detail are producers, administrators, developers, and the design staff interacting with the project. Hiring managers are normally clueless.

                That said, it can certainly help you to be the "only one" using that terminology, it might get you more attention. Are you freelance or looking for full-time? Which CMSes are you working with? The CMS market for templates and template revision is HUGE. Google "PSD to Wordpress"...

              • Yeah. Im trying to find out a short bit of terminology for that kind of "hybridification"

                AS for what cms, it concerns, its an individual software that our company sells with the ecommerce package. So, its nothing readily available in an open-source fashion such as wordpress or Joomla.