It sounds innocent enough but the entire purpose of portfolio process is to show someone your creativity, your body of work and your thought leadership - so why the hell would you start that sales pitch with someone else's words and creativity? I see portfolios all the time with a quote from a famous person as the first thing you see on a resume or portfolio. I decided to compile a list of the 5 biggest mistakes I see happen all the time in creative portfolios and explain a creative directors point of view how we view them in the hopes that people will understand them and stop making them. After seeing the work of that many people you start to see patterns emerge as resumes and portfolios become a crystal ball to tell a lot about someones creativity, confidence and leadership style before I have ever met them. Every year I look at hundreds of portfolios for designers, writers and creatives of all level of experience across a wide variety of disciplines.
