Portfolio Pointers From a Graduate Student
Written by Laura Garcia Gomez. Graphic by Nicholas Latham.
When it comes to showing all your work in portfolio reviews and job interviews, there are some tips you can keep in mind to make it more interesting and appealing to the industry’s eye. This is a collection of all the pointers and insights I’ve gotten from professors, professionals and leaders in the industry regarding the best way to portray your skills and strong suits.
Put quality over quantity. At the beginning, you can be really excited to show everything that you have done or all the projects you have been a part of, but for a good portfolio you don’t need to have a lot to make it outstanding. It’s best for you to pick what you think is the best of the best, the ones you are really proud of, and elaborate on them. It’s important to keep in mind who you are pitching your work to and what kind of industry you are trying to get into. Display the pieces that resonate most with what you are aiming for.
Once you get those projects selected, you must make them visually interesting. Remember that everything goes through the eyes, and getting attention is becoming more difficult due to the constant consumption of media that we do every day. A good tip to figure out a way to show your project is to think as if you were about to sell it, to pitch it to the market, rather than just showing it to your classroom peers. Finding some key elements in your visuals that could be highlighted to make your presentation more attractive and cohesive will be the hook that makes the person looking at it want to know more. (Also, I know you may hate this tip, but GIFs and little animations can catch anyone’s attention and can enhance the graphics in your portfolio.)
On the other hand, you don’t want to rely solely on the aesthetic part of your work. When recruiters are looking through your portfolio they want to get a glimpse of how you think, what’s behind the scenes and how your creative process impacts the way you take on a challenge. For that, you want to create a personal narrative, a way for you to tell your story about how you came up with what you are presenting. For example, you can include some key points and interesting insights on what to take into account when developing your concept. You don’t want to include long bodies of text, because nobody is going to have the time to read them. If you want to include them anyway, complement it with short phrases that help the reader understand what is going on without putting in too much effort. You have to think of it like you are explaining your project to a child. How would you make them understand it in an easy and clear way?
Last but not least, “the medium is the message.” How you present your portfolio has a direct impact on the perceived quality of your work. It won’t speak for itself, so make sure it is presented in a way that highlights its full potential. That goes from the background color you choose to place your pictures on, to the layout of your webpage or printed book. The format, media and material play a crucial role in displaying your work; choose wisely and make sure it aligns with your personal aesthetic, what you stand for and what you want to say. For example, if you are all about analog processes and handmade elements, you’d better present real pictures of your process and even print some examples to give out to potential clients if the tactile aspect is an important part of how you want to engage with your products. If you present them in some stock downloaded mockups on a generic webpage, you’re going to kill all the meaning that your visual narrative was trying to portray. It works for everything, see the display as another one of your projects that needs to be connected to your personal brand.
Laura is a Graphic Design M.A. student with a professional background in branding and editorial design. When she’s not creating new content for District, she’s probably at Forthside Park, running, drawing, having a picnic, or simply soaking up the sun. She’s Colombian, so she takes her coffee really strong.
