Course: Mastering Visual Portfolios by Mike Simpson and Tdot Connect
Greetings. Many of you are members of our community site Tdot.cc (Create Community) and some of you are premium members of our training site Tdot.co aka this site, Tdot Connect. Big thanks for supporting our endeavours!
You may be interested in joining our new course “Mastering Visual Portfolios.” It starts online the week of February 3, 2025, and the introduction module and lessons are free for everyone. Audit the course and if you like it, you can optionally upgrade to a premium membership (includes access to your own portfolio site and feedback on your portfolio).
What you will learn / course description
This six-week course is designed to help artists, designers, and photographers create impactful and professional visual portfolios. You’ll explore the history and evolution of portfolios, understand modern formats, and develop a personalized portfolio that highlights your unique style and best work. By the end of the course, you’ll have a polished portfolio and the skills to share it effectively across digital and traditional platforms, culminating in a capstone project where you’ll receive feedback from instructors and peers.
Useful links
Link 1: Course page
Visit the official course home page:
https://tdot.co/course/mastering-visual-portfolios-mvp/
Our first module and lessons launched Feb. 3! The first two lessons are free.
Link 2: Site membership
You can join the site and access a WordPress portfolio site and all our courses.
Register for a Plus or Pro membership.
Who this course is for
We are targeting this course toward artists, designers, photographers and creators interested in developing design and marketing skills. You should have some kind of existing portfolio and you are looking to improve it, expand it or build a new portfolio. As far as software goes, this course is for beginners and intermediates. We will look specifically at using social media and websites built with tools such as WordPress (most platforms have a free option).
Ansel Adams Life and Portfollio
In the course we look at a variety of modern and classic portfolios, from the WordPress-based portfolios of contemporary photographers to classic photo print-based works by artists like Ansel Adams.
In Modules 2 and 3 we take on the questions of rationale; Why build a portfolio?”; choice and selection, “How should I curate my portfolio?”; and meaning and impact “What does a portfolio say about me?” and “How can I share my work with my target audience?”
Are you ready to work? Your future portfolio awaits, and you can take practical steps to make it as effective as possible.
Course information / home page
Be sure to visit and bookmark the course information page. This is where the first module and lessons will appear. We welcome your questions. Send us an email to if you have any questions about the course.
Skills or software requirements
You do not need any specific design or marketing background. Just bring your passion and commitment. You will need to work with web software and design software to create a basic portfolio. For websites we recommend WordPress. You can create your own site or get a site on our network (tdot.co).
Much of this course does not require using any specific site or portfolio building tools. But using WordPress or other website builders will come in handy by weeks 3 or 4. We also cover creating general graphics which can be created in a variety of tools.
We will work with a variety of software, the choice is up to you: Photoshop (paid) or Photopea (freemium), Canva or Adobe Express (both free), PowerPoint or Google Slides (both have free versions). Lesson demonstrations may focus on using Photoshop but you can use free tools to create graphics for this course.
A modern portfolio featured on our blog and in our lessons: paulflynn.ca, the web-based portfolio of Toronto street photographer Paul Flynn. The site is made with WordPress.
Wrapping Up
If you are curious about building a portfolio or taking our courses this is a good way to get started. It’s up to you where you take it. Sign up for membership today and browse the first lessons in the course.
Questions?
Please feel free to reach out via email. Contact me via our contact page.
Thank you. Looking forward to seeing you in the course!
Mike Simpson
Founder Tdot.co, and Course Instructor