This post is for, Hump Day, which is a SexiDesign.com weekly blog series dedicated to investigating subliminal messages and sexy popular marketing techniques.

Don’t send visitors or potential paychecks away with melancholy work, instead, celebrate your technique by “designing happy.”

Not Everyone “Gets It.”

On the front page of DeviantART.com’s popular artworks of all time, is a photo of what appears to be a syringe piercing a tongue; blood spills with such dramatic beauty of course. Discovering more about it, one realizes that the photo creatively utilizes the artist’s tongue-ring hole. Essentially, an illusion is depicted without the need for a major photomanipulation.

And as cool as the photo is conceptually, it still makes me squeamish whenever I log on.

Is Your Portfolio Welcoming?

If a client stumbles upon your portfolio, will they also encounter a physical reaction to your work? And if so, will that reaction ultimately lead to an inquiry?

Evaluating the content of your portfolio could be detrimental to improving your reach to potential clientele. And though moody grunge Photoshop tutorials have become the norm in the industry, it’s a distinct genre that may not translate as easily to clients. In the DeviantART example above, a potential client may not even recognize the beauty in the artist’s photographic abilities because of their initial adverse reaction to its theme.

Emotions Are Contagious

Turn on your favorite powerfully upbeat song and feel the energy surge throughout your body. “It’s only music” but you become quickly engaged in the emotions of the song. This same concept goes for design of all kinds.
vaccine shot sketch
Image: Emotion Vaccine – Has your portfolio gotten its shot yet?

Photos of people smiling and enjoying themselves are frequently used for products because they make the viewer happy. And if you have consideration for how contagious emotions are, then ask yourself, will your audience leave your site or portfolio happy, mad, or sad?

Negativity Affecting Artistic Expression

Negativity has a way of creating a vicious emotional cycle which greatly influences artistic expression. Imagine a designer who is upset about the current standings of his career. Because he’s mad he creates a series of dark and moody photomanipulations which he later showcases in his online portfolio.  But when potential clients reach his site, they become easily turned off by the mood in his pieces.

emotion sketches
Image: The stages of emotion which affect artistic expression – “hopeful, worried, P.O, and hysterical.”

Months go by with little to no work, and the artist is back at square one, mad about his career–a vicious cycle indeed!

Feng Shui Your Portfolio

If you’ve realized that your portfolio may emit a negative energy that would ward off clients, do not be alarmed for you can easily rework it much like the manner of traditional Feng Shui. It’s first important to understand that by repositioning (even eliminating) a few emotional pieces, you’re not sacrificing any of your philosophies as an artist , but rather celebrating your technique for future work.

The following is a set of tips to consider when revitalizing your portfolio’s energy:

  • Open your portfolio site with a design reinforcing positive themes.
  • Open your portfolio site with an image of a subject smiling.
  • Close your portfolio’s gallery with a design which provokes thought and intrigue.
  • Enliven your audience by placing energetic pieces throughout your portfolio.
  • Utilize the theories attached to color meanings to further optimize design placement.

Showcase Variety Where You Can

Another solution to this is to showcase a variety of conceptual designs in your portfolio. See if you can engage your audience in as many emotions as you can by varying the themes. Not only will it showcase your diverse talents, but it will leave viewers with incredible intrigue.

fail whale sketch
Image: “Fail Whale” design combats the mood often associated with technical difficulties.

Twitter’s popular “fail whale” is displayed during frustrating technical difficulties, but it’s colorful and jubilant design has made it an internet phenomenon.

The Realities of Positive Design

Not every designer is fortunate enough to be publicly recognized for one genre of design.  And regardless of your design interests, your portfolio is meant to sell your skills and technique.

Besides, how many companies do you see marketing themselves with depressing graphics–so why litter your portfolio with them?

Resources

  • NLP at Work - Book by Sue Knight on the fundamentals of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP basically means the relationship between the mind and language and how that relationship affects human behavior).
  • The Definitive Book of Body Language – Book by Allan and Barbara Pease on useful advice regarding body language.

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