A little goes a long way, or a designer is not a brand.

A little goes a long way, or a designer is not a brand.
Some confusion can occur in talking about branding with regard to portfolios. The Brand identity of a portfolio needs to be subtle. Never over-bearing. Analyzing the situation, one is reminded of the observations of Beatrice Warde’s famous crystal goblet analogy in speaking about typography.

"Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your own favourite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson in colour. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain."

Of the person who selected the glass goblet, she goes on to state.

"the first thing he asked of his particular object was not 'How should it look?' but 'What must it do?” …Without this essential humility of mind, I have seen ardent designers go more hopelessly wrong, make more ludicrous mistakes out of an excessive enthusiasm, than I could have thought possible.”

The portfolio must serve as a frame, a delivery system and a navigation device for the projects it contains. Any personal messages must be hushed when the viewer is looking at content. To add another analogy one can apply to this, a ring tone for a phone may be functional in attracting attention and alerting its owner, but once the conversation commences, it would be counter productive if the ringtone continued. Having served its function, it needs to fade into the background.

And the most effective portfolio presentation is one that allows the viewer to examine the work presented in a clean, clear, uncluttered space. So how does one make a portfolio that is both individual and serves is contents well?

It should be pointed out that Warde speaks of the above approach as modernist, and in 1955, when her address was delivered to the Type Directors Club in London, modernist has a very clear meaning. It is with somewhat less certainty that things can be formulated so directly. Perhaps then even Warde sensed the dead end of strict minimalism as she wrote :

And with this clue, this purposiveness in the back of your mind, it is possible to do the most unheard-of things, and find that they justify you triumphantly. It is not a waste of time to go to the simple fundamentals and reason from them.

It is for this reason we urge “reasoning from the fundamentals” as a guide to successfully completing the portfolio design process