Salesforce projects are a great asset to your portfolio, showcasing your creative architectural process by mapping out a problem you want to solve, and working through it to deliver high end results. Creativity when designing a project can be found anywhere, in hobbies and passions, or even in any issues you are currently facing – and there are not many issues that the Salesforce platform can’t solve.
You’re probably really excited to get your portfolio started, but you may need a little help playing with ideas, designing, and knowing where to start. Throughout this article, you will learn about the importance of a quality project and hopefully take inspiration from others’ creative journeys to help get you started!
Why Complete a Project?
As you finish up studying for an upcoming certification, you’ll probably be eager to put your knowledge to the test and get some hands-on experience. This is the perfect time to get creative with a project to show off your newly-learned skills – grab a coffee, create a free developer org, and write out some ideas.
Use this as an opportunity to address skills (and interests) you want to show off in a portfolio, rather than putting them in “About Me”, or relying on your certifications.
You may be wondering: “how will creating a project help me?” The answer: by demonstrating your creative skills through projects in your portfolio, you provide an opportunity to be remembered for your creation, design, and architectural process by those viewing your portfolio. It will help a company or individual see your potential and how you would be able to help future clients – and it may just land you the job.
Activating Your Creative Brain
Working through a ‘creative process’ will be different for each person. You can start anywhere, from creating an org to manage your upcoming birthday party, to creating a fitness app – the opportunities are endless.
Sometimes thinking of things you do in your daily life is the perfect place to start! It could be a problem that you face all of the time. Perhaps the Salesforce platform could help you solve it?
I spoke with Amos Go, who had the amazing idea for a project to create a safe movie night database for his kids:
“I just thought, you know what, I understand the capabilities of Salesforce already, and with my needs, I know I can use the platform to help solve this. It’s not a ‘creative thought’ that just came to my brain, there was a problem, right in front of me and that’s where the opportunity presented itself. I could build something to make things better.”
Understanding Your Audience
As you’re starting to work through and decide the approach you’d like to take on your project, it’s a good time to think of who your audience is, and what your viewers’ user experience will be once they arrive on your website.
Ask yourself: what journey are you taking your audience on? What emotions do you want them to feel? Once you have that answered, you can start to design your project.
Let’s look into Amos’ approach to creating projects. He took the time to research his audience, those who would use the website, and the experience he wanted them to have once they landed on his web page. By having this pre-thought out, he was able to envisage the design, color scheme, and overall experience.
Let’s check out how he designed his website by focusing on his audience:
Who does this website relate to?
- Parents with young kids
- Families who have movie nights
- Babysitters
- Local libraries and elementary schools
What emotions does this website give?
- It gives trust that movies will be for the younger crowd (13 or younger).
- Kids feel excited once entering the site to select a movie.
- The ability to play trailers helps parents determine if their kid can watch the movie.
Amos had to create his design to be audience-friendly, but also make an effort to appeal to different groups of people. It’s important you do the same as you create your projects – you want to bring your audience on a journey and make them feel excited, curious, or inspired.
The Architecting Process
Alright, by this stage you have decided on a project and have a focused audience, which means you’re ready to move forward! Think of this as the architecting and design process. This is where creating a visual diagram will be helpful as you work through your thoughts, processes, and ideas – a central spot in which your idea will grow.
Remember that you aren’t restricted here, this is the exploratory phase – don’t be afraid to experiment with different ideas. After a while, you’ll start to see yourself connecting one idea after another to build your projects. In short, you need to think freely, but also in a focused way to help tell your story.
Ask for Feedback
Throughout your project you should be asking for feedback. Reach out to the Salesforce community for their opinions. Focus on who would use your product, how it could benefit a business, and how it may help everyday processes. It’s a great way to have a second pair of eyes, and to incorporate external ideas. The main benefit of asking for feedback is continued learning, which is the key to improving and taking your audience on a journey that makes them want to find out more about you and your ideas.
How does my project make you feel? What features in my project stand out to you? Did my project idea flow? These are just some questions you could ask, but also, make sure to tailor them to your project.
Publish Your Project
Once you receive feedback on the final version of your project and you believe that it’s ready to go, it’s time to publish. Congratulations!
Now you can show the audience your understanding of the Salesforce platform, as well as your skills, capabilities, and interests. Social media is a real asset at this stage as it’s the best free marketing tool.
A great place to start is on LinkedIn’s Featured Section – check out how Amos Go showcased his project to give you some ideas. He incorporates videos, direct links, and posts to showcase his audience engagement and make navigation to his portfolio user-friendly and accessible:
Summary
Creativity when designing a project can be found anywhere: hobbies, passions, or issues you may have. We all have creative potential – sometimes we just need a little direction and encouragement to find it.
I hope that this article has given you the inspiration to either start the projects you’ve been thinking of for a while, or to find ideas that you can share with Trailblazers all over the world. Use Salesforce projects to build solutions, get hands-on experience, and show your audience you can create something amazing!
Check out this video to learn more about Amos Go’s Salesforce project, or see the final product here.