How can I collect and archive my sketches?

Question

In the course of my short UX careear, I've accumulated a hefty pile of sketches from apps I designed. I know it's a good practice to save those sketches, for your portfolio.

My questions are:

1. Should I keep all of my sketches or just part of them (which part)?
2. In what format should I keep them (keep the originals, scan them or something else)?
3. How should I organize and archive those I choose to keep?

Answer 1

Clients or prospectives or your future job employers, will definitely like to see your PROCESS, the approaches you have taken to deal the problems and design solutions.

I would recommend to have them as-it-is in converted digital format, such that they are safe by time. Now, these can go into a section called "Processess", "Approaches", "Methodologies" apart from your final products or design artifacts. All your process and roadmaps can provide your thinking model to people who be interested to see it largely. This entire will form your Selling point.

Definitely pull-out main ingredients from your sketches and start creating an useful compilation. These are MUST-HAVE to create a quickfire impression. So also, this should be at a latter portion of the portfolio compilation.

Answer 2

It took me about ten seconds to find a step by step tutorial on how to build a good portfolio. Maybe you should have mentioned if you had done any research before posting the thread, just my opinion.

Build a Killer Online Portfolio in 9 Easy Steps

And from that I would answer your questions like this:

1. The freelancer showcases a wide range of great work. You head to their ‘About’ page, only to discover that they’re only looking for work in one of the areas covered. They’re presenting their portfolio as a vanity folder rather than a useful resource for potential clients. If you only want web design work at the moment, for example, don’t showcase your photography. The items in your portfolio should always demonstrate your skill in the area you’d like to be hired in.

2. Online portfolios tend to come in one of three shapes: a blog, a website, or a dedicated solution (something that’s just a portfolio, without any of the extra stuff).

3. Research and find inspiration from existing portfolios that appeals to you.

EDIT : I see now that I totally reconfigured your second question, not my intention. =)

The presented work should be depicted in a way suitable for the context. Meaning for example that the images should not be collectively presented in large resolution, since this would irritate the visitor with a slower Internet connection. Find a suitable categorization of your work. Maybe depict them with thumbnails showing a fraction of the image inspiring the visitor to click the image link to see the whole image. This is an approach I've seen many times before and I find it to work very well since it triggers a curiosity of the visitor to see the entire image when the thumbnail is only depicting a fraction. This in contrast to having the entire image sized down to thumbnail size which as far as I am concerned doesn't trigger the same interest.

Answer 3

If you want to present your skills and references to potential customers, you should create a website that is dedicated to this purpose. People should be able to browse through your designs, but they certainly don't want too spend to much time with it. That's why it is important to chose only some outstanding examples.

The page should be very attractive and stylish, as it advertises for you. Don't show hand-made sketches, but screenshots or links to the apps. Potential clients don't want to see sketches, but (images of) real applications.

I have something like this in mind: http://frankyoo.com/ or http://www.niyati.com/uidesign-portfolio