i think that you should submit a portfolio with only the words 'this page intentionally left blank' on every page...talk about sweet minimalism

Have a sealed centrefold.

i talked to a prof at columbia, and we were looking at some portfolios submitted from undergrads. She spoke of one minimalist portfolio, where every picture and image was carefully selected and placed on the pages. She said it was a relief from seeing all the crazy portfolios, and that the faculty were all talking about it.

Just like any minimalist piece, you have to be so freakin' precise, you can't hide anything. Make sure you put in a lot of effort if you want to make it look like you know what your doing, and not just something easy.

make your portfolio reflect the style of work that you do..if you work is about color, dont make it black and white. If none of your projects are 'digital', dont make your portfolio 'digital' . I feel that a portfolio should be a reflection of who you are, and what kind of work you do. In the end, you want to work to be what people look at, not your portfolio. Saying that, however, you dont want the actual graphic part of your portfolio to look like crap.

I think that architecture schools should teach basic design principles...

mdler, excuse me if you were be facetious...but

If you don't have basic design skills going into an Arch program, perhaps embarking on a BFA or even some JC art program would be wise move.

To think that Arch schools should have to worry about teaching basic design principles seems ridiculous.

anyone ever consider humor in a portfolio? i'm tempted to try it, but afraid that it might just come across as crass.

Hey ANTS,
I'll volunteer for that humor assignment! I've got an interview soon & w/.my 'Don't Give a Chit Attitude', I think it might just work for me 'cause I'm nuts enough to do it. Actually, one of my projects has an existing conditions elevation on it w/ a profile of a nude woman in neon on it, I sent it as part of my work samples for review. But I don't recommend that anyone else try it.

In general, I think the very most important thing about folios is brevity. Most portfolios are too long. Most people I've seen reviewing portfolios prefer to just flip through portfolios. So I think folios should be designed with flipping in mind (so don't put much text).

For me it is easier to kind of let the projects inform the layouts. It just seems easier to rationalize decisions if they relate to the work.

I have actually submitted fake joke portfolios to offices I knew wouldn't hire me because of work permit issues. After working really hard on a portfolio it's pretty fun to turn your well crafted booklet into a campy sarcastic piece of rubbish.

my portfolio lets off a fart noise with every page turn because that grabs attention AND it's a stinker!

If your actual pieces still need work, I'd say don't worry about the portfolio. I ended up taking a few of my actual pieces to the interview. The digital printouts just couldn't justify for my colourful work. Also remember to include a variety of work if you can. finished sketches, painting (watercolor, acrylic, oil), photography, digital, sculptures

A Center for Ants : I don't know if you'd find this humorous. But for my portfolio, I did submit a large finished sketch of myself dressed up as an english woman sitting down on a beachside veranda sipping tea. All the admission directors got a laugh off it. If you haven't realized yet, I'm a guy btw. I think its good to have something humorous if you can. It just helps loosen up the atmosphere if you're going through hell during the interview.

guiggster, there are several important considerations to make when designing a portfolio, here are a few:

1. What are your goals with the portfolio. Is it for employment at a design firm, or an application to grad school. There should be a difference in the work, or the way it is expressed in each portfolio type.

2. A rule of thumb is to keep the portfolio design simple and let the work speak for itself. I personally have modeled my portfolio (academic) from the work of Bruce Mau and books that he has designed. His technique of text on the side, and images with plenty of balance of white space produces a clean, cool effect and lets your work express itself clearly. The text, (though probably won't be read!), can describe the philosophy and particulars of the work, it is also the best decoration and datum to the portfolio because it gives an effective intellectual appearance to the pages. I have also researched many published starchitect monographs, they contain lots of layout ideas.

3. Select the VERY BEST images of your work and be SELECTIVE. The fact that you can be reserved and restarined about your portfolio is more of an indication of your design skills as is a flashy, overdesigned piece.

4. get books on portfolio design. I looked on amazon for you and found three good ones. Just search under books with key word "portfolio design".

good luck!

i was thinking of modeling my portfolio after a tabloid or pop culture magazine. using the same kinds of colors and layout. i think it'd be hit or miss and sorta risky.

and it has been done many times. It can be good if your excecution is dead on, but this mimicking can fall short very quickly.

If someone needs advice on portfolio design, then it's a sure bet that the minimalism approach is the best path.

im a being serious about architecture schools teaching basic design fundementals. I felt that my education (six year MARCH) never really gave enough focus on the very basics. The 1st year of a 6 year program should be spent learing about design (not necessarily in terms of architecture)

I think the whole point of the portfolio/interview is to see if you are creative and have some design knowledge.

All this talk of working on making your projects better is slightly ridiculous I think. A quality project for studio class means almost nothing for a portfolio for admission to grad school. I maybe had one project in my portfolio that I actually did, the rest were made up.

For example, I took a picture, loaded it on the computer. took a picture of the screen, cropped it and distorted it and made it look like it was a projected video in a gallery and said it was an installation shot. Other made up projects included vague descriptions with blurry photos and a quick sketch, another is a couple of crappy photos labeled "stills from performance piece".

No one is going to take the time to understand your crappy undergrad studio projects, the goal is to make something that appears as if it is interesting and different, it doesn't actually need to be. Everything needs to look purposeful even if its not. If you have a bad photo, make it really bad, add some grain, make it look like you want it to be bad.

as for the design of the portfolio, I'd give it at least as much importance as the content. Someone asked if minimalist portfolios would not grab the eye enough. I don't think so, almost every other student portfolio I've seen is way over-designed with way too many colors, way too many pages, and way too elaborate and thick of a cover. I made mine black and white, 12 pages long, I took six 8.5" x 22" sheets of inexpensive drawing paper, printed front and back, and folded them together into an 8.5" x 11" brochure type portfolio. it was very minimalist, one or possibly two pics on each page, lots of white space. The cover was one tone of grey with my name in 12 point font in a corner. It was probably one of the cleanest, lightest, simplest and least expensive portfolios I've seen, don't spend a lot of money on binding, I think staples are the way to go and also print on both sides of the paper.

It worked out fine, I was accepted into Yale, Columbia, Parsons, Pratt and others. I know this post seems a bit cheap about not putting in real work, but you do what you have to. good luck.

wow

oh yeah, none of the projects were on architecture

so Kai, you've a BArch when you apply for grad school?! or you actually apply for MArch?!

I guess its cheaper than bribing the committee

As much as I respect people for being able to create beautiful abstract images, what is so wrong with showing architecture projects in an architecture portfolio? On my portfolio I went the minimal route with nice images and white space. Any text I had I treated as an object because we all know they aren't reading it. I showed my best undergrad projects and I am not ashamed of it. I showed process as well, but I didn't hide the fact that I was at architecture school for four years and made architecture. It seems like we are ashamed of actually creating architecture and would rather create a lot of abstract images which is why people don't like architects and think they are snobby. I love abstract images and understand how they can show potential, which is really what grad schools are looking in their students.

Now, I haven't seen your portfolio Kai and I imaging that it is really intriguing, because you understand how to take an idea and run with it, but could it have been possibly more interesting if you had shown your original images of your project and then shown how you transformed it ito something completely different. Kind of like revealing what is behind the curtain. You also have multiple layers of projects occuring at once.

I guess the idea for any portfolio is to give it your absolute best and they can determine if you are the type of student they are looking for. If you are wondering, I will be attending Rice this fall for grad school in the MArch 2 program.

I did a BA in art and a BA in architecture for undergrad, applied for M.Arch I

I suppose schools that accept fraud-portfolios with faux projects deserve the fraud-students they get. It would be even more impressive if the respondant who did this also was awarded scholarships. How grand that such a person could deny a deserving student school money and a seat at a good institution.

Well, I don't think that Kai's portfolio is a fraud, after all, Kai did all of the work by him or herself and Kai was accepted on the potential of the work showed in the portfolio which makes sense. It also has to do with the type of school being applied to and the program itself. In all honesty though, who has had performance pieces and installations at such a young age? The schools somewhat have to know that. The school knows your background through your paperwork. Also, I think going back and changing your projects is a misrepresentation of your work and the progress of work. When someone is looking through my portfolio, I want them to understand how I changed from first year through 4th year. I am not going to go back and improve a 1st year project because at first year I was not at that level of thinking that I was at in 4th year. Just to clarify, changing a project is different than finishing something that wasn't done to begin with, which is OK. Just finish it with the original intention you had or with information from the crit, but don't put in ideas you came up with three years later. That is just my personal take.

My real question is what is so wrong with showing architecture in an architecture portfolio? I am not claiming that I know everything about architecture, which is why I am going to grad school and will forever be a student of architecture, but this instance is not the first time I am have heard of students not really putting in a lot of pictures of models or drawings and skewing them to be more artistic. Every school is different and each school wants a wide array of students which is why they accept more abstract versus practical portfolios. I don’t see why you don’t want to show your undergrad work in its true form? I know they will never go through and read or take the time to understand each project, but I don’t think it is appropriate to be different for the sake of being different. Be different because that is a true representation of who you are as an individual and the work produced. I also understand no one is forcing you to show those projects and you certainly have the say in what stays and goes.

brightside- I went to the University of Minnesota for undergrad, and I'm going to start at yale this fall.

I'm not saying that showing architecture is wrong at all, I think it is great, I just think its easier to be accepted if you don't. The admissions comittee sees so many arch studio projects that I think it must be harder to get in with a portfolio that has them.

thenewold- I don't think that someone who applies using traditional projects is more deserving than me for a position at a good school. Do you really think that showing studio projects that are real vs. faux projects will determine who has the most potential?

I think one shouldn't spend so much time on a portfolio. I hired a project architect in my office based on the fact she went and worked in Africa building schools and buildings of various types in a couple communities by herself. she had good graphic skills knew how to assemble a CD set based on a few projects in other offices but what really worked is that she was a self starter and had to be because of her African experience. I can't teach that people either have it or don't.

I look for other skills than just graphics and portfolio. Any decent Architect doesn't need to analyze a drawing to death to either know if you have the skills or not. If anybody has bothered to read "Blink" you'll know it before your mind registers whether they are a keeper or not.

whistler,

i agree with you completely, unfortunately, however, you aren't on the admissions commitee of all of the schools, and there aren't enough educators out there with the point of view.

i don't understand how anyone can get into an M.arch without a BA in architecture and an architecture portfolio, i don't think it happens in the UK. is this common in the US schools?

Agreed getting into school is definately different than getting a job. Having said that please recognize when your profs( for the most part ) know shit about what it takes to design and construct a building given the issues most architects deal with on day to day basis.

Its not all about the sexy graphics.

the righteous fist of archinect...your name -

I've heard that roughly 1/3 of arch grad students have no arch background, but I wouldn't know, I just read it in a thread a while ago

kai--
how did you figure your strategy? someone give you advice? (i think it's very shrewd)
what would you put in a portfolio for a job?

6 MB quicktime movie slideshow of scanned sketches with soundtrack of your choosing

the righteous fist of archinect...your name

welcome 2 the wonderland of grad studies....
in the US u can get into grad school following a ca. 3 1/2 yr curriculum with no previous experience in architecture (called 4 example MArch I in the GSD) all you need is an undergrad degree.
In Europe, having done an excessive research, I can say they grant you no such possibility to do a Master unless you have a eg Bachelor in Architecture or sometimes another engineering degree...
but what's great in hte States, this MArch is accredited as a first professional degree in Architecture by the AIA...
It's like doctors, who in Europe start directly with medical studies, whereas in the States the have to do first an undergrad degree in some descipline with eg a biology major or sthg like that...

cyn-

I spent a lot of time reading threads on archinect and looking at other peoples portfolios. Everyone says try to stand out and keep it simple, I took these two themes to the extreme.

kai ... i think your approach to all this. shrewd and refreshing.

...and do any of you have portfolio advice for a student who has just completed his first year and is seeking internships

I would say give examples of your work in terms of computer skills, model building and drafting for an internship. I say this because you need to convince them that you will help them produce their work because you won't be doing any design work.

On the teaching of graphic design fundamentals - perhaps it is reasonable in America to expect that the qualification you've obtained before studying architecture should have a large design content. In the UK, however, where many students are just eighteen when they begin the course, and the other students are unlikely to have been given design tuition, I'd say that it's essential. Not necessarily a whole year of it, but some accelerated programme in colour, typography, layout and printing would work wonders if well taught.
I ended up shunning the computer for layout this year, on the whole, to set my work apart from the sea of dire printouts which tended to be pinned up.

I think it's important to differentiate between portfolios for schools and portfolios for employers. deluganmeisslfan is spot on with his suggested approach for the latter. Of course it's necessary to show some flair to stand out from the crowd, but it's important to face up to reality.
In the case of applications for schools, there's surely more scope for experimentation, but I've never really taken part in that judging process. I wouldn't recommend 'making things up' though. Be prepared to defend your work if interviewed about it.

I find this thread very intersting. I've never heard of anything like Kai's approach. One comment made by mdler earlier "make your portfolio reflect the style of work that you do..if you work is about color, dont make it black and white" is something I was struggling with myself--- I have a series of life drawings and paintings I'm using for my portfolio and was killing myself getting the photography/printing to come out right in color. Although there is color (burnt umber washes, conte' crayon, etc.) I'm not actually using color to communicate information. I converted all my photos to b/w simply out of frustration, and it actually looks better. Printing will be cheaper and attention will, I hope, be given to what I consider important, the drawing skills.

I think glitter and puffy paint really gets their attention, becareful not to get too gaudy...and dont use the colored gem stones. Oh and nice paper is key.

And a note at the back of the portfolio that says "Do you like me? Please check one." and has a box marked "yes," and a box marked "no." That way you know if they liked it when they send your portfolio back.

I hear drawing lots of hearts helps too.

A portfolio that grabs attention is not filled with crazy graphics, I't one that's simple, straight forward, organized, clean, and about your work. your portfolio should bring attention to your work not take away from it.

I try to slip a little porn into my work too, I think it as always good to give the reader a little freeie... think about what would get you interested in the work, to take a second look

i've always wanted to send an app like that

whatever you do, avoid the font helvetica.



nothing says you're a wannabe architect like helvetica.

uh oh, what about verdana?

I used helvetica thin if I remember correctly, I think nothing says I'm a wannabe architect like using some weird "creative" font, just to be different. I'm not talking about really crazy ones either (although those are right out also), I'm talking about ones that are very slightly different from helvetica but have a different name so you feel like you're not mainstream (but you still are)

although I have something against serifs, I went with courier for mine. I also used courier gel transfers on the cover.

caffienejunkie, I have had a few friends with a bit o porn here and there. A project or two had to do with it, so it fit. Wasn't a giant beaver shot, but done well.

nothing says "Im a wannabe architect" like makeing a portfolio and applying to and architecture program....

If only we could all be real architects like Brad Pitt or Lenny...I bet they dont give a crap if its helvetica or arial