The last in our folio trilogy of articles looks at the E-folio; what you should put in it, what it should look like and how to make it best work for you. Artisan's Lawrence Akers explains what makes a great E-folio work for him.

"While i'm not intentionally getting all Forrest Gump on you all, an E-folio is a bit like a small box of chocolates. When manufacturers put together their selection range, they want to include just a taste of everything. You'll get different creams and flavours, textures, light and dark chocolate and the occasional nut however the intention is to allow you to taste the range that the chocolate manufacturer has to offer. Your E-folio should be the same."

Give us different creams and textures...
"Depending on the length of your career, you're going to want to include a little bit of everything. You'll probably want to aim for 10 pieces in total however you'll also want this to reflect your strengths..."

Toffee creams are so 80's...
"You don't want to include pieces that look too dated however. You might be proud of that Annual Report from 1992 however if it is beginning to show it's age, it might be time to retire that piece and include another one for your E-folio selection. Likewise, if you haven't updated your E-folio in some time, you might want to consider putting aside a day once every few months to see if you feel it still represents you."

People always want to see the chocolate description plate...
"People will always want a bit of detail into the type of chocolate that they're about to eat... or they know what they want and they'll go looking for it on the description plate. A good E-folio should always have some description next to the piece as to what your contribution to the piece is otherwise, how will they really know. They might be going for a Designer dipped in milk chocolate and end up with a Finished Artist dipped in Old Gold."

People don't want to feel fat...
"Keep your E-folio to an acceptable size - aim to keep it below a couple of MB so that it is easy to email. Many studios and agencies may have filters that prevent files over a certain size being accepted into their email accounts and so you'll want to ensure that you keep it small and not overly bloated."

People want to be tempted by the packaging...
"A beautifully presented chocolate box is always going to be far more tempting than a couple of half melted chocolate treats sitting on a piece of paper. Have some fun with your E-folio and let your creativity go wild so that you can present you pieces in a way that represents you. You're a creative, after all! Have some fun with it."

The manufacturer got it right with their different ranges...
"Research showed chocolate manufacturers that while their boxes sold, there would inevitably be one or two pieces that got left behind and chucked out because no one wanted the Turkish Delight or the Nut Surprise. In response, they made different boxes featuring all creams, or all dark chocolate... they catered to their market. Likewise, you could create E-folio's based around your various skills and experience. If you're done lots of packaging, do a packaging E-folio. If you're done lots of annual reports, do an annual reports E-folio. You can still do one that covers all the bases however there is no harm in branching out and creating some tailored to certain types of jobs."

Chocolate companies get it right by asking for feedback...
"They're always going to want to know if you liked their latest version of the Kit Kat or their Crunchy Frog; likewise, you should be asking for feedback on your E-folio's and adapting them accordingly. Remember, this is often going to be the first document people look at in order to get an insight into your ability so you may as well make sure you keep it as strong as you can."

Do you have an E-folio that you would like to share? Then you should contact one of the Artisan team now and they can offer you some feedback.