I really need to get myself on the prowl for my summer internship, which means getting my portfolio in order. Obviously I can't turn up somewhere with a big zippered doo-dad full of loose examples of my work in oblong sizes, so I'm going to digitally compile my chosen pieces for my portfolio.

Now.. the dilemma is what format to display said portfolio in. I will, eventually, be setting up a website portfolio (original, I know...) with my own domain and make up some business cards, but I need some input on the actual physical thing I'll be taking with me for interviews.

Should I use a traditional portfolio case full of work? What about getting a portfolio book printed up? These can be done fairly cheap via online print stores now, and I've seen several examples of designers who have taken this route. It's A LOT of (graphical) work to do up a 20-30 some-odd page book, though, and I don't even know if I'll have enough work of a high-enough calibre to support such an effort at this point. A printed book that's smaller than that, though, will look.. odd I fear.

If I go the traditional route, what size should I use? A lot of my initial conceptual work is done on 8.5/11" paper, most final (printed) work is done on 11x17", and I have more on some large format newsprint, as well as more work of various oblong sizes. I'll need to digitally compile my work to get everything to a standard size, but don't know what kind of size to use. Too big and it'll be a hassle, too small and it'll be underwhelming. Should I just cerlox-bind a printed book of select work and forgo the whole portfolio case?

I have a couple ideas in mind for graphical style (as far as borders, website, business cards and the like are concerned) which I will work out further, but I'm hesitant to actually begin working on it until I have a direction for the physical product sorted (or at least well on its way to being sorted).

Any help you guys can lend is very appreciated, especially anyone here who is a professional designer or handles HR for companies who hire designers.

Ryan

My tattoooo I would PM you but my PM box is full again and im fed up with it!

Ah hell, I forgot (I have a stalwart memory, clearly)! I'll do something up for ya tonight.

Cheers Ryan, ive emptied my PM box now but i shall not hold my breath!

When I make a Profolio I usually try to include the geniue outcome, if I made a poster, I will roll it up and bring the real deal, same goes to books, editorials and most branding stuff.
For 3D work such as packaging I will just take some photos.

It might sound fiddily but seeing real work really counts, because it's the details that reflects your ability. Size is actually where you can get creative, how you wrap it and organize the content is a concept in itself, time consuming but it's what you should do.

I've seen profolios from simple ones that can be stored in a CD case, to something close to a 3d Scrupture, it's totally up to you really, but it's best there's a concept, or an identity of some sort that reflects yourself as a designer.

I actually pack different contents and use different method of packaging depends on who I am interviewing with, old school designers tend to like seeing very tactile things, they like to touch and smell (lol yeah true) the products, same goes to womens, then I will pack more printed materials, editorials etc. Some others prefer a lot of direct visual impact and tend to flip through the works very quickly, then I'll pack posters, brand identities and else.

You should compile a standard digital profolio for your convinience, cos usually studios will ask for a digital profolio over the internet before they see you, make it clear, short, concise and not more than 20mb in size.

But the physical profolio should really be a labour of love, the choice in size, choice in paper, choice in browsing method and the flow should all mean something, avoid standard and convinient solution, and consider what message do you want your interviewer to receive when he/she opens it.

Start from the contents you have, consider which are more representitive to your strength and think about how these examples can communicate your design vision, when you decide what content you will actually have, the format will come to you.

In short, let the content govern the form, not the other way around.

Some sound advice there, JJ, thanks! This is going to take quite a bit of thought.

You may also want to add notes to long term pieces, explaining the way you've worked around problems and developed ideas etc.

I can't say much as i'm only doing GCSE Art/Design, but I think it would be helpful for the interviewer to see the way you work. That's what i've been doing so far anyway, but like I said, i'm unsure how it will work for you.

I may have to take notes on this thread, as I'm also looking to head down the design route.

Good luck with your portfolio anyway

Quote from JJ72 :

You should compile a standard digital profolio for your convinience, cos usually studios will ask for a digital profolio over the internet before they see you

I can't comment on putting together a physical portfolio, but last year I made a quick website around a very nice 3rd party viewer called Simple Viewer. Very easy to use, very smart design and quick loading, unlike certain other 3rd party viewers I've seen on the web which seem to take ages to load an image, which can be annoying. Another benefit is that I've only come across one other online folio which uses it, it doesn't seem to be commonly used, unlike Lightbox for instance.

If your web skills are limited (mine are) then I'd have a look at this program because it can quickly cut out a lot of work in presenting images online. There may be others out there which are equally as good.

My current online portfolio is in my sig (as an example) and Simple viewer can be found over here.

PS, good luck!

Cheers EK, it's a nice tidy little viewer. I'll look into integrating it once I get to making my site.

For the record, anyone remember recommended pixel dimensions for a 1024x768 format website? I run 1440x900 so I can't properly check the pixel dimensions of the viewing window in a browser

Always make a case example where you tell the x in short, the goals, target audience, did it reach/fullfill them, budget and available time.

I've seen my fair share of designer portfolios and unless I hear the budget and more crucially the amount of time he had on the project it means nothing to me.

Rushed projects could be your greatest asset in your portfolio if you were short on resources yet still delivered a solid work.

Only professional work I have I have no idea on budgets through the design process, but I can indicate time spent and tasks undertaken by myself. I'll make a note to include that information, thanks Spanky!

Quote :

anyone remember recommended pixel dimensions for a 1024x768 format website?

I think the standard is 955x600

Thanks mate, I'll work around those dimensions. I've got a couple ideas in my noggan right now.

Quote from MAGGOT :

I run 1440x900 so I can't properly check the pixel dimensions of the viewing window in a browser

Get the Web Developer plugin for Firefox - you can resize the browser window to any dimensions (amongst other very useful features).

Thanks for the tip, Kev. I'll look into it.

Kev, can it make email clients have more HTML rendering support?!

(****ing realtors.. they all want ****ing email stationary.. well, that works just DANDY when Outlook 2007 supports like NO CSS anymore..)

Worst part of my job so far. Everything else is okay, not to mention the 2 beautiful women I happen to work with

Also Gayboi, I'm now on Wave all day every day (hurray for it being my To-Do list ).. go on that more so I can scream at you.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Kev, can it make email clients have more HTML rendering support?!

The big webmail services are a swine for it too. Try viewing your work in Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail and watch it fall apart in new and interesting ways.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Also Gayboi, I'm now on Wave all day every day (hurray for it being my To-Do list ).. go on that more so I can scream at you.

January is try to make the tax man some money month.

I ****ing hate Paypal's API. It's retarded.

/thread.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

I ****ing hate Paypal's API. It's retarded.

/thread.

Hey we hate all the same stuff these days.

PayPal's API isn't that bad really (you should see some of the others, PayPal at least has a lot of features, even though their initial callback procedure is useless) but their sandbox test environment is awful.

I looked at it today, because where I work needs to implement the "Paypal Website Payment Pro" or something... It's not quite impossible to use, but they're very retarded, especially because the server has to meet some kind of standard, but never tells you what the **** to do or if there even needs to be proof.. It's absolutely retarded.

Along with conflicting reports if it needs to be perfectly matching everything, all the way down to simply supporting SSL (and even one that says it doesn't, because Paypal does the SSL.. which is bullshit).

My head almost died from that, although atleast I get money for work.

On the bright ide, I don't haffto implement that crap.. other people do so far