[ how to prepare design portfolios ]

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Updated 4/8/08

Employment:
How to Prepare a Design Portfolio
with focus on the Graphic Design Portfolio

A portfolio is an important process and package, whether you are fresh out of school, a designer, a freelancer, an art director, or seeking employment in the graphic design field. A portfolio gives studios a view of your potential as a representative of their company. It helps prospective clients determine whether you are capable of fulfilling their project's design needs. Many questions may arise during the development of your design portfolio. The following information and resources can help guide it in the right direction.

Some general tips:

• Include about a dozen designs in your portfolio.
• If you don't have 12 works that you would be proud to show, offer to design some pieces inexpensively or pro bono for a friend's or family member's small business, or for an organization. These projects may allow you the creative freedom you need to develop some great portfolio pieces.
• Place your very best pieces in the beginning, halfway through, and at the end.
• Focus your portfolio toward the type of design work you are interviewing for, but also include other types of pieces to show that you are capable of more.
• Design firms may also be interested in seeing your sketches developed through the design process.
• To keep your samples looking their best, slip copies of them into your portfolio case pocket for handling by and/or to leave with the interviewer.

The following are links to some good articles and other resources for planning a design portfolio. (If in PDF or MS Word DOC format, we linked to the browser-viewable version of the document.)

Carnegie Mellon University
Career Briefs: Portfolios

Portland Community College
Portfolios: Some suggestions for developing your portfolio and The mini-portfolio

San Jose Unified School District
Portfolio Guidelines: Format and philosophy of your graphic design portfolio (A portfolio project) [browser view of PDF]
(www.sjusd.k12.ca.us/sites/high/Leland/ masters_2004/Masters/mcgriff%202/Portfolio%20Guidelines.pdf)

Portfolio Books

- Building Design Portfolios: Innovative Concepts for Presenting Your Work
- Designing a Digital Portfolio (Voices That Matter)
- Graphic Design Portfolio Builder : Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator Projects
- How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising
- The Graphic Design Portfolio: How to Make a Good One
- The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design
- The Ultimate Portfolio
- Other books on portfolio design

Portfolio Supplies / Equipment

- Portfolio cases
- Inkjet printers
- Digital cameras

> Demand Attention and Land the Job
> How to Get a Promotion
> How to Prepare a Design Portfolio
> Job Hunting: It's Like a Job, Only Harder
> Resumes and Cover Letters: Quality Writing
> Sample Graphic Design Cover Letters
also see:
> Higher Learning Key to Career Advancement
> Rewarding Careers in Animation
back to graphic design jobs page