This folio starts off with a nice clean presentation.

I love the simple navigation and the choice to limit it to just six sections.

But behind each of those six misleading homepage tiles is a ton of stuff.

Almost all of it is over-explained and not all of it is worth showing.

Writing lots of copy about what the project was, and why, makes your folio un-skimmable.

Busy CDs want to flick through first and read second.

Whenever possible start with the work, then explain it or add a case study to back it up.

The hierarchy matters.

The other thing this folio reminded me of is this:

When you are doing spec work, it not only needs to be better than anything the brand does for real, it needs to seem like it could be real.

I always tell people, when it comes to spec ads, don’t compete with the award winners.

Don’t try and out Nike, Nike.

And don’t take the easy options – hot sauce, condoms, beer etc.

If you can’t do a great ad for those, you shouldn’t be doing ads.

So a choice like Outward Bound is perfect.

But if the messaging of your spec ads feels off-brand, it may not matter how good they are.

Unless they are really, really, great.

The good news is the beginnings of a good portfolio are here.

N.S. makes some common mistakes I see over and over again:

• Putting everything you ever did in your book.
• Putting things in exactly as they were produced instead of the best version of what was produced.
• And not making small work feel big.

But with some more crafting – and editing – we can whip this bad boy into shape.

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