BP4 - Carbonmade

One of the graduation requirements for our Digital Media Arts students is to have a portfolio that showcases samples of their best work. Currently, they take a 4th semester portfolio class where they assemble a professional print portfolio that they can take on interviews. Students are encouraged to have a website, but they often lack the funds and technical knowledge to create a 'dot-com' portfolio site. So, in searching for a solution to this problem, I came across Carbonmade.

Carbonmade's  artistic homepage.

Carbonmade allows users to create a clean, professional online portfolio without the hassle of writing code. Because Carbonmade specifically caters to designers and artists, I felt it would be a great solution for my students. So I decided to give it a try.

Creating a sub-domain address

Signing up for Carbonmade is free and easy. Once you create a unique sub-domain (somename.carbonmade.com), username and password, you can begin setting up your Projects. Think of Projects as separate categories of your work. Carbonmade's free account allows you to have up to 5 Projects, and each Project can contain up to 7 images. For example, a student can create Illustration, Photography, Branding, Web Design and Package Design Projects. I created a Project showcasing some Custom Chocolate Bars that I designed a while back. Users can include an “About Me” section with contact information and a link to their PDF resume. Upgrading to a premium account gets you 50 projects, 500 images, and 10 videos.

You can customize your profile that reflects your interest and skills

You a few custom settings with a free account

Organizing the images and adding captions

I really like Carbonmade as a professional portfolio option for design students. Their quality of service and ease of use will certainly earn a thumbs up of approval from my students. Here is a link to my sample Carbonmade portfolio of Chocolate Bar Wrappers.