I just ordered some new vinyl stickers featuring my logo. I will mainly be using these to seal packages and letters. I also plan to hand these out in conjunction with business cards. Since these stickers don’t feature my website, they are more for looks and less for getting the word out; the much more flamboyant Mouth With Pill stickers have that area covered. I have a few more personal projects in the works, mostly consisting of the list below. Slow but steady progress!
Melinda says: I’ve been desiging my portfolio for Teaching, and made a very minimalistic style to it. Mom says that it looks unfinished, my design friend said I tried too hard, I just wanted to stand out from other teachers who put ABC’s and stuff like that. I’d like to see your portfolio for some inspiration since I’m getting mixed emotions about it.
Melinda
Melinda: The thing about portfolios is that they’re completely subjective. During my final semester of school, we had portfolio reviews and I had the chance to meet with three design professionals. The first two were impressed enough to offer potential work opportunities while the third felt the exact opposite and was very harsh. It can be really mind boggling!
There’s no right or wrong way to build a portfolio but my advice would be to veer on the more minimal side because the point is to showcase your work and let it shine through, not the design elements of the portfolio….which, if too ‘fancy’ can overpower everything else.
To a non-designer’s eye, your portfolio might appear ‘unfinished’ but in a way that’s a complement because they probably think that ‘busier is better.’ if your design friend feels that you tried to hard, I’d ask for specifics. Take what they say, step away from the project for a week and come back for a fresh look. You only have to pick and choose what you might want to change but some of what they offered might be really valuable. With portfolios, you can’t please everyone!
Oh God, you’re doing all that?!?!? Soooo much work. But you know how they say, design has no end. You’ll be revisiting your portfolio forever. My only concern is that you have such a handle on your identity that I would hate to see you change everything too much. Where do you print your portfolio? I, like you, have the same portfolio book (which I love). The only thing is that the printer I use at school always alters the colors. 
Do you ever create leave-behinds or mailers?? They tried to get us to do that in our professional practice class, but I didn’t want to invest too much money in something that I knew I was going to change (and did). Since I’m happy with my identity, I want to do some books to mail out. Are you familiar with the designer Irma Boom? She does these fantastic little books (literally 1″ by 1″) and I’d love to do something similar to that. Happy designing, and I can’t wait to see what you create!!! xo
Lola: Great questions!! I think that the second you’re 100% satisfied with what you do, there’s nowhere else to go. So it’s always good to try and find ways to improve! It’s always funny to look back at old portfolios and see how much you’ve grown.
I should mention that I’m not changing my identity, just refreshing what I have with better layouts. Same color schemes, same logos. Same look as my identity refresh from earlier this year, I just never got around to getting my portfolio updated at the time! I usually just print my portfolio off at Kinko’s but on heavier stock. And just like you, I used to have issues with the school printer being really off-color. For leave-behinds or mailers, I always did standard-size postcards because they were really inexpensive and fun to change up pretty often though I don’t do any these days. I’ve never heard of Irma Boom but I’ll have to see what she’s doing! I have a pretty standard 11×17 white acrylic portfolio cover but my goal this year is to step it up and have custom hardback covers made with screw-posts. Think that covers everything! 
The stickers are amazing, and a great way to add something extra to your stationery. I’m planning on sending out my folios soon (in a CD case/booklet format) and a sticker would be the most awesome way to seal the envelope!
May I also ask, what measures do you take to make a web-based (or e-mail ready) portfolio, without losing all of the minor details and overall quality? most places like 3MB or below, but my folio just looks pixelated and awful. It’s 10 pages long, so I can always remove a page or two.
Lauren: I used to resize my portfolio from 11×17 in. (print) to 11×8.5 in. for web but now I just leave it. And I export (Command + E) from InDesign at Smallest File Size but then go into Compression and change Bicubic Downsampling to 150 px or change Image quality to Medium. You just have to play around to get the best look but it’s always gonna be low-res and a bit fuzzy. Just the way of the email-friendly file!
P.S. Check your links and make sure every image is at least 150px Effective PPI before outputting your portfolio.
Hi Nubby,
Great stickers and I really love the mouth with pill ones. My question is do you have anyway of knowing if your stickers (in this case, the mouth with pill ones) bring people to your site? If not, how do you measure whether your stickers are worth the money? The reason I ask this is I’ve been toying with making stickers for my blog too but I’m not sure if I should. Part of the reason is I don’t really use stickers myself: my car is sticker-free for example so I wonder if other people would use them.
Thank you.
Lape.
Lape: At this point, I don’t worry as much about the potential return on my investment and printed them for fun. Six years ago when I printed my first batch and hadn’t started my blog in its current incarnation yet so self-promotion was much more important. In your first few years, it’s worthwhile to get the word out however you can. A lot of my Mouth With Pill stickers made their way onto bikes, scooters, etc. There’s a ton of places they can go besides cars!
As always your identity is stellar. Love seeing you tweak and change things with your portfolio as years go on. Just keeps getting better & better. Wondering where do you get your stickers printed? They look awesome!!
Liz: I always get my stickers done through Sticker Robot (http://stickerobot.com/). There are other places out there that are less expensive but the quality of SR is the best. Super thick vinyl with perfectly registered colors.
Hi Nubby!
Where can we get one of these stickers, and also the mouth-with-pill stickers? I didn’t see them in your shop.
Also, this image http://www.nubbytwiglet.com/site2007/shop/merch/11.html#top needs to be printed on a black t-shirt and made available for sale! 
Cheers
j.j.
DJ Medusa.
Medusa: I will try to get them up in the shop soon and make an announcement once they’re available. xoxo
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Hello! I'm Shauna, a graphic designer, blogger and co-founder of The Blogcademy. Oh, and I love shoes. Read more…
