less is more
i love ordinary =)

Primarily think of yourself as a character...are you the sort of person to spend much time and effort on the portfolio as a crafted thing (and therefor it, the portfolio, itself becomes a presented project within/through it) or do you see it as merely a pragmatic tool (in which case, it is like a blank canvas-you fill it with some elegance and restraint). It could also depends on the sort of school you apply to...though this should not be the base principle. There is nice eye wash and yuk eye wash...being a maximalist is not a sin in itself, just as being a minimalist is not a virtue in itself. There was someone here,sometime ago, who adviced another to look at Harvard architectural publications..the minimal elegant clarity...however, that way could also be easily clinical,lukewarm (banal)and completely unindividual (and a bit cowardly) unless you take it to mind and heart. The advice stipulated that it is ALWAYS a good way..thats just dumb.

your portfolio can be a design project in itself. imagine you picked it up off a shelf in a store.

consider:

1. the content: i've seen great portfolios for applying to architecture school that have included everything from poetry to music compositions, comicbook panels, essays, ceramics, watercolors, charcoal drawings, montages, collages, photographs, etc... (not just architectural related things, but of course its good to have some of that too) the content is about you, reveals what kind of person you are, architecture or otherwise

2. the layout: how are things arranged... is it a heavily photoshop stunning page layout? how big is it? is it the size of a CD cover booklet? what proportions are the panels? how does it fold out? how does the person looking at it browse it? what is the sequence of images and what does that tell about you?

3. the packaging: how can you be creative about how you package it? how is it bound? what kind of material do you use? you can use the actual "housing" for the book/panels as an opportunity to show your creativity and how you put things together... is it a series of postcard panels that slide nicely into a box? or a series of 8 x 10 cards enclosed in a kind of cool home made briefcase... or a book where the cover plays with materiality and transparencies and masks images so that the cover image is revealed gradually? or is it just a really nice clean kinkos bound book, and the emphasis is on the layout and power of the content?

i'm not saying you need to do something unusual just for the sake of being different, but you can decide fro yourself what would make your portfolio a cool object to pick up and browse through if you picked it up... how you want to represent yourself to stand out...

You should defiantly research the school requirements before thinking about designing your portfolio. Some schools have very strict guidelines that must be followed. These guidelines vary, but may include size limitations, page limitations, media guidelines etc. Once you figure out what's accepted you'll be able to work within these boundaries and show your creativity there. A school portfolio can be thought of differently than a professional portfolio. Often times scholastic review committees like to see a progression of improving work from one year to the next. Our school requires work from each semester to be placed in the portfolio and labeled accordingly. Another thing to think about is the usability of your portfolio. Committees may look through several hundred portfolios. In this case simple things like page orientation and readability make a big difference. While making a creative little briefcase full of 8X10 cards may sound like a good idea, they'll probably get jumble up and separated as they are passed around the review table. These are just a few things you might want to think of when submitting a school portfolio.

bRink I loved your ideas.

I need a portfolio myself, not applying for anything specific right but, thought it would be nice to have one handy.

no one noticed that uneDITed just posted an almost normal response to a topic?

j/k uneDITed... i for one love yr um... post-y thingies.

That was a great post Brink, thanks.
I'm currently working on my portfolio and
was also thinking of including panels of
my comic book / 'sequential' art, but scrapped
the idea in anticipation of some judges turning
their noses up at it. On the other hand, sequential
art much reflects who I am -- pretty much the intersection
of my interests in illustration, film, and storytelling.
What do you guys think?

If you say your comic books "are so you", you shouldnt miss the chance to be in your portfolio. I think its a great way to show your creativity, just dont pick any nasty ones....