How to make a good portfolio case on Behance?
How to make a good portfolio case on Behance?
Surely many of you wondered how to make a really cool portfolio case on Behance. Since you are here, then you are :). I want to point out right away that the principles that I will tell you about are not just for the Behance community. They will come in handy in any case when you need to present your work favorably.
Why do you need a good Behance case at all?
A good Behance case is definitely a way to showcase your work and skills. In addition to the fact that a good case will tell about your skill without further ado, it will attract an audience, which may include your potential clients.
I’ve put together 10 principles you can follow to improve the quality of your portfolio and double or even triple the focus on your work on Behance.
1. Decide on your audience
The audience depends on the goals you are pursuing – it seems like an obvious idea, but I see too often that it is neglected. It’s always important to look at your work from the perspective of the person on the other side of the screen. Ask yourself questions – what does he want? What might he like? What can he pay attention to? What kind of feedback do I want from him? The answers to these questions will help you understand your audience, and therefore, achieve your goal and build your case in such a way that it is not only beautiful and concise, but also works effectively for you.
For example, if you’re just building an audience and promoting yourself in the community, then your audience is fellow designers. This means, based on your experience, you can soberly assess what other designers are looking for in such cases. Then it will not be difficult for you to make your case interesting for colleagues. Perhaps you want to attract as many clients as possible with your portfolio, or you are advertising your UI Kit. In this case, of course, the presentation will be completely different.
2. Plan your case
Do not rush straight into Sketch or Photoshop to draw a case, even if you are sure that you have the perfect picture in your head. You will spend much less time if you first sketch out the approximate structure of the case on paper, without detailing. It will be enough to formulate the most basic things without going into details.
Take, for example, a mobile application case. What blocks will it contain? What are the key features worth paying more attention to? How will you show the animation? Will you include a video in your presentation? Maybe you would like to show the process of working on the application? In what order should these blocks be arranged? Pen and paper will help you answer these questions and not think about it while working on the case.
To make the case interesting and want to watch it to the end, it is worth remembering the principles on which any good story is built, and it should be presented according to the following scheme:
- Start
- History
- Climax
- the end
First of all, any case should have a capacious and “catchy” beginning. It should have a “story” – a coherent, logical narrative that you offer to someone who looks at your work. Here you can come up with something creative or, conversely, trust the classics and talk about the technical details of the development. The main thing is to create a sense of the whole story.
The climax is what will be remembered in your case. This is the best and strongest part of it – it is important to correctly understand what exactly you want to show in the most favorable light. It is equally important not to spoil the impression of a cool case with an indistinct ending. “Thanks for watching, put a pzhlst like” is, of course, a way out, but we are making the best case. Therefore, I recommend coming up with something more original – it can be a joke, a thematic feature from your case, a funny “blooper” from the process of working on a project. Don’t ask for gratitude – do it in such a way that you want to be thanked.
3. Get inspired
If you are making a case for a mobile application, then, of course, the first thing to do is to look at similar successful works. But you can’t be limited only to your own sphere – for this reason, many mobile app designers have similar cases. Look at related areas, notice how product designers make cases, how architects or motion designers style their work. This will greatly increase your chances of making an unusual case.
4. Cover and visual style
Approach the design of your case as thoroughly as you approached the design of the product you are presenting. If you want your case to become popular, it’s worth serious work on it. The viewer will see and appreciate it. Don’t neglect the visual style of your case. Another important point is the cover (preview image) of your case. Many people simply insert the first image from their case, thereby duplicating them. It will be much better if you also work on the cover and make it as catchy as possible. It should be such that you would like to click on it and see what kind of case is there. The cover of your case is the first thing that the viewer sees, and at this moment he decides to come in to see or walk by.
5. History and rhythm
I would like to dwell in more detail on the “history”. What is a “story” in a case and why is it needed? Imagine watching an interesting movie in the cinema – what is holding you back? You probably want to watch to the end to see how it all ends, and enjoy watching. Because you are being told an interesting story. Now remember some movie that you turned off 20 minutes after the start. You turned it off because its story seemed uninteresting to you. It is important to arouse interest in a case, and this can be done using the same technique as in cinema – to tell a story. I am not suggesting that you write a script for your case, but you should definitely think about what will be interesting to your target audience (viewers). The narrative must be consistent and the blocks must be connected.
Let’s imagine that you have decided on the structure of the case and have a rough idea of its design. Now the important thing is not to let the viewer get bored – in other words, your case needs a rhythm. Here, too, a technique from the cinema works – we are always kept in suspense, alternately showing different locations, characters and plot branches, alternating dynamic scenes with more calm ones. The same should be done with the presentation of your work. First, show the block with animation, then, for example, the block with the interface, then break the narrative with the block with the text and title, and so on. This structured and rhythmic storytelling will help you keep your viewer through.
6. Come up with something new
You probably have some cases in your memory that impressed you, and they probably have some special detail that has sunk into your soul the most. If you manage to come up with something new, special to do for your case, then this will have a very positive effect on the popularity of your case. Try to be different from other cases, especially if they have the same theme.
7. Tell us about the details
When working on a product, there are always interesting details regarding the development process. It could be a special set of icons that you had to create, or an illustration that was so needed, but the client did not have an illustrator on the team. This can be any aspect of the work, and it will be interesting to know about it – because it concerns your product.
8. Show the amount of work and place the accents correctly
I would like to tell more about any project, show as many screens as possible. But this is not worth doing here – the desire to cram 150 screens into your case will play a cruel joke on you. People will see the amount of work, but they will not see the work itself, because they will be too lazy to look at and delve into so much information. It is much better to create the feeling that a lot of work has been done, but focus the viewer’s attention on the most important parts of your project.
9. Don’t write a lot of text
Watch your coworkers as they browse Behance. How do they leaf through cases? What exactly makes them stop and stare at the work? Ask them if they read the texts that designers write in their cases. The overwhelming majority will answer negatively – after all, designers come to Behance for pictures and inspiration. Therefore, it is very important to use short and succinct headlines and write as little text as possible so that this audience of yours assimilates the necessary information in the short time that it will devote to viewing them.
10. Finish your case beautifully
The end of your case is what will force you to evaluate the project or close the tab. A good ending is critical when deciding how to evaluate a case. Even if the user did not intend to like your project at all, it may turn out that he liked the end so much that he decided to praise you – after all, you made him laugh, smile or be imbued with your work.
Source: Medium
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