NEED ADVICE ON CREATING A DIGITAL PORTOLIO? ASK AUDREY

The résumé is a time-honored format for presenting information; its basic conventions are well established, and plenty of resources and advice are available for the résumé writer. But where does a graduating senior turn for guidance when putting together a digital portfolio?

Next spring, try Audrey Flattes '06. For her senior project in computer science, she is developing a set of guidelines that students in all disciplines can use to create digital portfolios.

"The digital portfolio is an up-and-coming tool, especially for students who are applying to graduate school," says Flattes. "It's especially prominent among artists because it can represent visual work so well, but people in all kinds of disciplines can benefit from it."

A digital portfolio can overcome some of the limitations imposed by the résumé format, Flattes says. "The hardest thing about writing a résumé is getting your personality across on one sheet of white paper. Digital design can be a lot more flexible."

But that flexibility carries its own risks. "It's important that design doesn't completely overpower content," Flattes explains. Her guidelines will help users work toward a balance.

Flattes has been researching both technical and visual aspects of design, including standards aimed at increasing readability. Her project also encompasses content — what sort of material is appropriate and how to organize it in ways that are easy for readers to understand.

As a Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Flattes participated in Bryn Mawr's Summer Multimedia Design Institute in 2004; that's where she got her first introduction to digital design. Last summer, the Mellon-Mays program funded an internship at a marketing company where she got some experience with graphic design. She has also done an internship with Kimberly Blessing '98, who describes herself as a "Web developer and standards evangelist" who specializes in "fixing broken and slow Web sites."

Through Praxis, Bryn Mawr's community-based learning program, Flattes is engaged in an independent-study project at Design for Social Impact this semester. She is creating a set of benchmarks to evaluate the Philadelphia-based organization's digital portfolio; the project will conclude with a set of recommendations. Her other coursework has included courses in digital design and digital photography at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a course in computer printmaking taught in Bryn Mawr's Arnecliffe studio by Haverford Assistant Professor of Printmaking Hee Sook Kim.

<<Back to Bryn Mawr Now 12/01/2005

Next story>>