I recently picked up a Motorola Milestone XT720. Browsing through the marketplace, I found a variety of PDF readers. Any graphic designer worth their salt maintains a PDF portfolio. This got me thinking; can I fine-tune my portfolio to display on my phone? I decided to test the idea with what I’m going to call a pocket portfolio. We’re talking tiny billboard here, or maybe an interactive business card; small, portable, quickly digested. Here’s a step-by-step look at my thought process and methods. You can easily duplicate the steps to create your own, but always keep in mind that your situation is unique and you’ll have to tailor the process to your own needs.
First, decide on the display. Cell phone screens are getting larger and sharper with each generation, especially touch-style devices like the iPhone. Many phones can hook up to screens via HDMI or attach to a mini-projector. I used my phone. It has HDMI out, but I’m trying to play up the “pocket” aspect of the concept. Carrying around the hookup cable would be cumbersome and there’s no guarantee of access to a high-def screen anyway.
Second, find a good PDF viewer. There are a many available, of varying prices and features. RepliGo, ezPDF Reader, Adobe Reader or BeamReader are all popular choices; you can find them on your phones relevant app marketplace. Make sure the reader you choose can open files from the SD card. I went with ezPDF Reader because it tested the best for full-screen page fit, has flick-to-turn, uses a nice page turn effect and was only $0.99. It was a good balance of cost and features. Most of the free readers have issues scaling pages (the Adobe one included) and more pricey readers are full of features you likely won’t need. Test out some of the PDF readers available on your phone OS and find the one that best suits your needs. For me, the key points were speed, scaling and ease-of-use.
Third, decide which pieces will go into the PDF. Five to ten pieces should be sufficient. Any less wouldn’t be enough pieces for a good sample. Any more would take too long to view; portability and speed are our focus. Which pieces to display? You’re a designer, use your best judgment. Anything with heavy body copy or a complex layout structure won’t reduce well to fit on a small screen, so be careful of that. I’m a big fan of the K.I.S.S. Principle; logos, business cards, posters… anything that will reduce easily and not require zoom or a dedicated viewing. Keep in mind the proportions of your display. Rectangular? Square? Vertical? Horizontal? Use pieces that will fit best within that area. For example, I’m using my phone laid out as a rectangular landscape; tall pieces will end up too small on the screen, as seen below.
“But turn the pone so that it’s vertical!” you might say. Okay, let’s try that.
Oops! That’s worse. What happened? The PDF viewer is auto-scaling the PDF that was oriented horizontally to fit on the vertical screen. Ok you could probably zoom in, but that takes time and precision. Nevermind that constantly fidgeting with the phone to zoom in & out is likely to annoy the person you’re trying to show this to.
Fourth, create your PDF. I assembled mine using a simple multi-page document in In-Design. What software you use to create it is entirely up to you. In-Design, Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark… whatever you’re most comfortable with. Make sure to size the PDF to exactly fit your display. Any auto-scale will likely distort the image and black bars will detract from the overall look. This is a portfolio we’re talking about here, something meant to display your expertise, so quality should be a top priority. Figure out the resolution of your display and set up a document in your chosen design software using those specs and apply standard grid structure using margins. In my case this happened to be 480 x 854 px screen with 30 px margins, so a 420 x 794 px display space.
Fifth, upload your PDF to your phone. Your phone probably came with a USB cable. Hook it up to your computer and upload the PDF. Or e-mail the PDF to yourself and check your e-mail on your phone. Or put it on a web page. Do I really need to go into detail?
Sixth, test, test, test! Test the PDF in the PDF viewer. Turn the pages. Do they all look good? Does everything run smoothly? How does it look if I turn the phone? Think of possible issues you might encounter and try them out. Devise solutions for those problems and repeat the different steps as necessary. Maybe one of the pages doesn’t look that great on the phone; take it out. Maybe everything looks a little squished; alter the document size on the PDF. Find the problems. Fix them. Repeat. Perfect.
Having your portfolio with you at all times can be a great client building tool. Think about all the potential clients that you meet on a day-to-day basis. Usually you hand them a business card and hope they’ll contact you. Having work samples to show that potential client could whet their appetite enough to transition from potential client into paying client. Granted, that chance meeting is likely at some public place like a restaurant, bar or grocery store; somewhere that you won’t really have time for a detailed presentation. The goal is to turn them into a client, not annoy them by taking up too much of their time. Be brief and only break out the pocket portfolio if they show continued interest.
