Happiness

Sometimes portfolios make me happy for reasons other than the good work inside. Now, don't get me wrong, I love love love when the work inside is great. But sometimes a book will affect me for other reasons right when I land on the site, before I see even one lick of creative which is cause for genuine happiness.

Like a really, really cool format.

Like a fun, sparky style.

And, like this recent one, a thoughtful insight into others' creative work.

Michael Wilson's portfolio made me instantly stop and call him up. Not send him an email. We're talking serious dialing of a phone. I really, really liked how he presented his work and wanted him to hear firsthand how it impacted me.

What he does that is not only unselfish but generally interesting, is show a collection of other people's creative work (before you even click through to anything he's done). And, he gives a short paragraph on why he finds each piece interesting. That enables recruiters like me to get a glimpse into how Michael seeks out creative inspiration, how he describes what he likes and how he is pretty daring to put his personal preferences out for everyone to see and judge. A trait that will serve him well in this industry.

I clicked through 4 or 5 links on that page before I ventured on. And by then, I felt like I already had a nice experience on the site. I learned a few things and saw some really neat stuff I hadn't see out there. Before anything else.

Now, to top it off, Michael had some very nice work to back all this up. I am proud to say he's been hired to be our summer intern this year. So I am even happier than I was before.