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Adobe Acrobat/Kuler
Building a rich PDF portfolio
Creating a clear, succinct and visually rich PDF portfolio has never been easier using Acrobat Professional 9
Adobe’s CS3.3 update introduces Acrobat 9 Pro and Pro Extended to the design community as a far beefier package than its predecessor. Its new tool sets allow any designer to create a rich, feature-packed portfolio of existing work in minutes. Utilising Flash, you can now compile and present video and other elements of your design portfolio in one, slim PDF document, which you can email to prospective clients, or enable them to download it from your website. In the following pages, I’ll show you how to use Acrobat 9 to compile such a portfolio. You’ll need the latest version of Acrobat 9, as well as extracts from your existing work formatted to the appropriate dimensions. By the end of the project, you’ll have a feature-rich PDF portfolio that mimics iTunes’ coverflow technique, showcasing your work in a thoroughly effective and eye-catching manner – which, after all, is any professional freelancer’s most vital asset.
Tom Dennis Features editor on Computer Arts magazine where he writes on digital art and design, Dennis has been sent hundreds of portfolios, and knows what makes a compelling visual calling card.
Skills Learn to use Adobe Acrobat Professional 9 Gain experience using Adobe Kuler
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Before even opening Acrobat, our first stage of preparation is to appropriately format the images that our fictional freelancer needs to showcase. Acrobat 9 can do this automatically, but because we want our images scalable, we need to save them at a slightly higher resolution. Locate the images you want to include in your portfolio and duplicate them to a new folder.
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Now using Photoshop or any other image editor, save each image as a 72dpi JPEG measuring 500x500 pix. Once your images are saved – you could set up a Batch Process and edit all at once – it’s time to think about your splash page.
Our splash page is going to be the show-opener to our freelancer’s portfolio, so it needs to be striking. You could perhaps crop to one of your existing works, create a montage of several of your pieces, or create a bespoke piece that fits your style. Save this image as a slightly larger 800x600 image into the same folder.
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The first stage of events in Acrobat isn’t particularly taxing, thanks mainly to version 9’s new feature list. Go to the File menu and select Create PDF Portfolio. From the pop-up window select Revolve. This apes Apple’s Cover Flow style and will present your work in a sleek carousel fashion using an ActionScript backend.
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Next, follow the pop-up window’s instructions and locate the folder containing your pre-prepared images, and drag all but your splash page image into Acrobat. Although Acrobat auto-formats images, we want users to be able to blow up examples to full screen, so you need to save them at a slightly larger resolution.
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With your images imported and on display, the next stage is to create your splash page. This is page one of your PDF portfolio, so needs to be clear, informative and visually impressive. Click on the Edit PDF Portfolio sidebar and highlight Start Page. Select Image, and locate and import the splash page image you prepared earlier. Don’t worry if Acrobat crops to the wrong area of the image as we can fine-tune this at a later stage.
Splash pages Although Acrobat 9 allows users to hide your splash page when viewing your portfolio, it’s a good idea to work hard on this element. Not only is getting your contact info, experience and client list across an absolute must, but a poor opening page can actively put potential clients off.
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With your Start Page displayed, click on the Welcome Header tab within the Edit PDF Portfolio sidebar. This causes the Start Page to open and makes the header text editable. We need punchy, direct copy here, detailing who you are, what skills you have and what services you offer.
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We want the PDF to be searchable, so make sure your headers, intro and other information are all written in Acrobat. You can import a logo or styled text as a graphic, but keep all your important information in editable copy.
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The next stage of creating the splash page is to insert your contact information. You can do this directly and style it up within Acrobat, or you can attach a vCard to download. Here we’ve kept things simple, inserting telephone and email details for our fictional freelancer with a link to the embedded vCard.
Once you’ve formatted your contact details appropriately, select your email address and Ctrl/left-click. Select Mail To and hit OK. Your email address is now linked to your viewers’ email clients, so they can hit it and open a new email, as the MailTo: command works in HTML.
Stylish headers Acrobat 9 limits font use to regular Sans and Serif faces, but for custom headers, logos or call-outs, you can create an image in Photoshop or any other image editor, and import it as an Image Only Header.
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That’s our fictional freelancer’s splash page finished. From it, you can see his bio, contact details and logo. Because our freelancer specialises in static work, we don’t have any video to add, but this is a great place to insert your showreel if you’re a motion graphics designer or rich media specialist.
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With our splash page and portfolio of work now complete, we can begin to customise the portfolio. To fit with the ‘Juritsu’ look and feel, we’re going for a dark, paired-back style to let the work shine through.
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In the Edit sidebar, choose ‘Select a Colour Scheme’. Anyone familiar with CS3’s cross-platform colour palettes can import a Swatch Exchange file or download a palette from Adobe’s Kuler app (http://kuler.adobe.com).
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Experiment with the colours of the document and see what works with your particular portfolio of work. We’ve selected a black background and dark grey navigation (see step 15), keeping the text and bio information white. Darker work may need a brighter navigational colour to frame your work in.
Creative colour Creative Suite 3.3 really refined the way each app works with shared colours. Chiefly, CS3 lets Illustrator, Photoshop and now Acrobat 9 import predefined Swatch Exchange files, meaning you can ensure a colour match across all your design work. Acrobat 9 supports this .ase file format and can automatically edit your documents’ colours to match your predefined palette.
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Once your colour palette has been refined and you’re happy with the way it looks, click back to Home. Your pages will be displayed in thumbnails across the bottom of the document, while your work rotates on the Cover Flow style carousel. Spend 10 minutes checking your colour palette, contact details and bio, and that any other information you’ve entered sits well, is in a clear and obvious place and doesn’t become obscured as users page through your portfolio.
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The next and final creation stage is to add information about each of the images within your portfolio. For our fantasy freelancer, we’ve entered the title of the image, how and where it was used, and the client it was created for, into each individual page example.
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Select Specify File Details from the side bar tab. Using the text tools, annotate each of your images, including all the detailed information. Rich text gives the option of inserting embedded URLs, so if a client’s site can be linked to showing your work in use, highlight the header, Cmnd/left-click and select Add Link. Simply type in the destination URL and your portfolio will link to it.
Importing content Although you can copy and paste content from Word or any other text editor, you can also drag documents directly into Acrobat from your Desktop, Finder window or Windows Explorer. Simply find the text file you want to add, drag it into the Edit PDF Portfolio sidebar and reorder it as necessary.
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The final step is to publish your portfolio. Hitting Publish will automatically create an Acrobat 9 version of your document on your desktop, but Acrobat 9 also comes with the ability to upload to www.acrobat.com (though you’ll need an Adobe ID). You can then give the URL out, or pop it on your business card or website, saving you the time, effort and cost of delivering a physical portfolio to every prospective client.
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Once you’re happy with your PDF portfolio’s order and look, it’s a good idea to add metadata - particularly if you are going to make your PDF available online. Within the Portfolio Properties (Ctrl/Cmnd+D), you can add metadata and a full document description. These keywords will help make your portfolio searchable by Google’s servers and allow it to rank your site accordingly.
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