Portfolio

CliffyBiro · 17 Dec 2010 at 13:52

Back with another one of those block rockin' threads!

Or not...

So it is time for me to start putting together a paper portfolio of my work so far, or what I can find of it.

It will be used in my Uni interviews next month but I am not quite sure on how to present it.

Should I include just my best work? This would only be a few examples of logo design, web, animation.

If anyone has perhaps photos of the portfolio they used for this purpose it would be a great help.

I also want to present it in a creative manner rather than just, "Here's a load of sheets with images on them".

Someone told me to have final pieces displayed in A2. Surely this is overkill? I wouldn't have thought anything over A4 would be required for such things, maybe A3 for websites with annotated notes?

Ta.

Nimzicki · 17 Dec 2010 at 14:00

If I get a chance I'll post up a couple of pics of mine later but basics are:

- don't use a zip up black 'college' portfolio (not so much a concern for uni interviews as it's sort of expected but it's good to be a bit different without being too 'wacky')
- don't use plastic sleeves
- Go for A3ish, A4 is more portable but it feels a bit cheap and tacky.
- pick a good range of work but also make sure you're proud of everything in there, you want to be able to talk about each piece and be passionate about what you've done and why you did it that way.

My GD portfolio is in a box similar to these, with anything that needed print outs mounted on to board.

You want the work to speak for itself but a bit of well designed type below the images that is consistent across the whole of your portfolio that says a little bit about the work will stop it just looking like a bunch of images. If you have any finished pieces such as books etc. pop the actual thing in there too.

It's not especially 'creative' just clean, well designed and professional and has had good comments in all the interviews I've taken it to

I'll try and post up some photos of how I showed my actual work when I get home. Hope that helps.

CliffyBiro · 17 Dec 2010 at 14:15

Nimz, that is great

Thanks.

I've just been through my old external HDD and my DeviantArt account to scavenge some of my older work. Only problem is that most of them are .jpeg form on a coloured background and such, so I will redraw the best ones I think.

Pity I'm not organised enough to keep my old sketchpads.

I have 3-4 what I think are really good examples of logo development with accompanying notes which I think could work well on boards of A3.

CliffyBiro · 17 Dec 2010 at 19:58

Would this on A3 (mounted images and text) be a good way of presenting the work?

Nimzicki · 17 Dec 2010 at 23:40

It's a personal thing but I wouldn't write notes about each design, I would keep the logos in a grid format like that and design an area at the bottom where you can put something generic about the brief such as:

"Creative Nerd - logo development for an online portfolio and blog"

You also then haven't given away much about the project, allowing you to wax lyrical about your ideas and development progress. I believe the boards should act more like a trigger for you to talk as opposed to doing all the talking for you - think bullet points in a presentation except this is your work, so it should be easy to talk about!

I would then do a separate board with the final logo, show it in full colour, in black and white and also how it looks on the website or any stationery etc. to show how it was utilised.

You can then apply that generic blurb/design across all the rest of your boards so the portfolio looks consistent and considered.

This is obviously massively basic but to show you what I mean:

CliffyBiro · 18 Dec 2010 at 00:05

That's great man. Thanks.