Megan and Murray McMillan

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I don’t miss slides. They were expensive to create, were constantly deteriorating in quality and were difficult to view without a projector. That said, they were glorious when projected and efficient to organize. For good reason, photographic slides were the universal standard for visual artists to share portfolios.

There are many obvious advantages to working with digital portfolios. Yet, since there are so many formatting options for how digital portfolio files can be viewed, a universal standard seems to be needed.

To start off this series on new standards for digital portfolios, here is a list of top 7 current common strategies for sending digital images to art institutions, with the pros and cons of each:

7) CD with image files (no user interface)
Pro: universal media, easily forwarded, image info can be included as part of image
Con: difficult to view, managing lots of files at once can be tricky for the viewer

6) Traditional Slides made from Digital Images
Pro: familiar
Con: expensive to create and send, requires a slide projector

5) iPhoto Book
Pro: efficient, high quality
Con: somewhat over the top, expensive to send and expensive SASE, difficult to show to a group

4) Inkjet Prints
Pro: easy to view and handle, disposable
Con: relatively expensive to create and send, not easy to show to a group

3) DVD
Pro: best format to view 4D artworks
Con: requires the most patience to view

2) CD with User Interface (Flash, Powerpoint, Keynote, etc)
Pro: a delight with good interface
Con: requires artists to have interface design skills (Flash), requires viewers to be familiar with software (Powerpoint and Keynote) or requires artists to be savvy with export features

1) Email with a Website link
Pro: the easiest to send and share, easy for others to share
Con: requires web and interface design skills

Read Part 2