Portfolio = Dead Zoo

Last year I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Dublin. Two of its attractions are Dublin Zoo and the Museum of Natural History. The museum’s large collection of preserved animals earns it the nickname “The Dead Zoo” among locals. We chose to go to the alive zoo instead.

I’m analogising. Bear with me.

Folio pieces are like museum exhibits - old works, frozen in time and presented out of context. Designs that may not even be in print or online anymore. Although they serve a purpose in an interview situation, they offer little insight into who you are as a designer/developer. Your personality, thought processes and influences don’t really come across. How often is the sketchbook as fascinating as the painting, the concept art more inspired than the finished film?

A previous version of Ste’s website was a one page affair, with a small Flash animation that chronicled the development of the logo for Help To Move.com. Put together quickly for a client meeting, this little animation said far more about his creativity than his current site. I’ve urged him to return to this approach with the next revision.

In time I’ll add a folio here, but I consider it a very low priority. There’s something more alive about the website-as-scrapbook.