Challenge Course Portfolio
Summary
The challenge course portfolio is a critical tool for any facilitator. It is a record of all his or her experience and training. Many practitioners use the standard ACCT template, but I felt the need to design something a little more modern looking and to my nature. My portfolio includes experience both on the challenge course and outside it, although it currently does not include my hours doing management or my hours guiding outdoor trips.
The Challenge Course Portfolio Redesign
Excel is a powerful spreadsheet tool, but it has limited abilities with document layout. The ACCT template had a very old look and feel to it (see below), and was somewhat difficult to manage do to the inability to separate out individual tables on a single “sheet.”
For that reason, I decided to convert the original ACCT template from Microsoft Excel to Apple Numbers. Although Numbers does not have as powerful pseudo-database features like Excel, it does a far better job of layout, allowing you to arrange multiple tables on a single canvas. It also allows for easier pagination formatting. The first thing I did was separate out the different components into individual tables and then decide which fit together. My next step was to take a look at design and typography. I removed the patterns and reduce the complexity of the shading to make a cleaner look. I also made use of header rows to insert the samples so that there was less confusion when entering your personal information. Finally, I changed to Helvetica Nueue and made use of a stronger contrast, using Light and Bold weights to give a strong finishing touch to the portfolio. The result is this:
The result is my new portfolio. You can download a blank template of this portfolio in Numbers or Excel format below or download the PDF of my challenge course portfolio above to see an example in use.
