they wouldn't mind. but i've tried it myself. good luck getting it printed anywhere for a decent price. you'd have to have them print on 8.5x11 and trim it down. that costs a shit load, trust me.

they might try to file it and the max in the drawer could be 9"..... plus, do you want to take the chance of getting tossed out over an inch


b

If they ask for a specific size, be as creative as you like within that given size. Like cryzko said, it's only an inch.

if you intend to do any sort of bleeds, you will have to trim it down anyway. to me when i receive something that is exactly 8.5 x 11, i think the person was too lazy to critically think about trim size.

i missed the 10 x 10 part in your first post. you can certainly do that, but you'll have to print on 11 x 17. and trim down, adding substantial cost to your project. i'd consider what i can best do with 8.5 x 11. how does the trim size affect the presentation of the work? trimming down to allow for bleeds is a good idea. making it square because you design in squares is a good idea. arbitrarily picking a trim size because you think it is cool, probably not a good idea.

I don't think it would hurt if you printed it at 9x9 - you are only looking at 1 inch on either side...and it would be substantially cheaper as well

my portfolio was 8.5x8.5 - so that I could print full bleed on an 8.5x11 sheet. i actually had it printed professionally on a digital press and found out that they still printed on larger sheets anyway, then trimmed up the set...so in all actuality i could have gone larger w/o adding much cost. that said, if it were me i wouldn't diverge from the max dims. a school gives you. it's not area that they're concerned with - it's the height and width that they have available to store your portfolio.

If a school gives you a certain max size, definitely don't go over that due to storage concerns. Plus, there's a psychological advantage to having a portfolio with a smaller "footprint," as it will have a tendancy to stay on top of a pile when being stacked, usually working in your favor. I shouldn't have let that little secret slip out, but I'm feeling generous tonight...

i wanted to make mine 8.5x8.5 (a bitch to print or get printed and trimmed) but a lot of schools required the standard 8.5x11, which was totally stupid because theirs no reason that i see to constrict the size of something that you created.

just my two cents.

8x10 will allow you full bleeds on standard letter sheets, as well as being slightly different enough to get you noticed.

I asked UO about their portfolio size when I applied, and the adviser was kind enough to explain the procedure and reason behind the required size.

The portfolios are placed in folders (which restricts a max size) and I believe, at times, they are placed in stacks by themselves. She was concerned that an odd sized portfolio would get lost in the larger sized recommended size (which restricts a min size).

I ended up going with a smaller size, and I also ended up not getting into UO. I am definitely not scapegoating the size, but I would stay within their required specs if I did it again (I would also have improved the work...oh, the remorse).

to 'think critically' about 8.5x11 does not mean that you're obligated to change it. working creatively within constraints is a positive attribute. honoring the constraints is not a liability.

okay, but i hope your creativity does not include bleeds.

honestly, when applying for grad schools, i took my home all-in-one printer's given 1/4" margin as a constraint. no big $$$ printing here.

the best work i have ever seen came in a black A4 ring binder.

when i did grad school i did same as steven, no worries. my printer today does full bleeds on A3 sheets, and my portfolio is double sided with full bleed a4 in a regular MUJI binder using plastic insert sheet thingies...NO ONE cares about this. they really don't. but full-bleeds at any size under a3 should be easy to do on your own.

that said...

if you have a custom sized monograph from croquis i will be impressed, but til then there is no need to waste energy making a booklet of odd sizes. To be honest, i find them a bit off-putting when they come across my desk...the reason? simply because when i see non-standard sizes i am expecting the content to be up to the effort put into the little (or biggle) book-size...and the content is invariably not there...and i feel like i have just been victim of some overhyp-ing and undersold-ing...so now i feel suspicious by odd sizes, trained pavlovian dog style to immediately wonder if the author is compensating for lack of content by putting time into the packaging...

which is my sad + cynical way of saying just what steven said above. contraints are not necessarily there to be balked...unless you gots a really good reason (it can happen)...sometimes these kinds of moves just come across as novel rather than creative...

I'm with you two there. I used the non-printable borders as a constraint and it still turned out great. I got into grad school with no previous architecture experience, and am one of 8 people in my program.

As designers (no matter the field) we will always have to work within certain constraints. How you deal with those, while still producing something better than expected, shows your true creativity. That could be margins for printing, a specific website resolution, a certain material for some furniture, a specific cieling height...... You get the picture.

I hadn't considered simply putting my 'in-progress' portfolio into a ringed binder with the plastic sheets until I saw the portfolio of a senior-year grad student a week ago. It was amazing, even WITH the plastic sheets. She's gotten work with it, so I don't see the problem.

At least that way you can update it without having the entire portfolio reprinted as well.

Ultimately, there's lots of options. It's good to know about 'em all.

...i should just mention that lulu.com will let you do full bleed. and i'm pretty sure there's no markup. will cost you way less than a kinko's or whoever. However, you can't do your fancy galv sht mtl cover. (barf)

as for the intitial question, i've been advised to not go to big or too small, small you lose them, big doesn't fit in the file cabinet.

if you're unfamiliar with lulu, you should check it out, it's a pretty decent option. plus, if you want to look at others' portfolio's, you can download a bunch for free to peruse through.

also, lets say you want to customize it for a certain firm, just delete some sheets and insert some new sheets in the PDF file, load it, and order it. viola!

(barf)

follow the rules. they'll always look for quick ways to eliminate, and an odd size port is a quick way to do that.

If they don't specify, then go crazy.


You'd feel really stupid for losing a chance due to an inch.

i thought the 8.5 x 11 size requirements stated by schools meant that is the maximum size accepted, not that size were the dimensions they required specifically.

for example:
http://www.arch.virginia.edu/admissions/graduate/
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/admissions/howto.html


i wanted to do an 8.5 x 8.5 portfolio, but not if it will be frowned upon!

I agree with others above- why risk it getting tossed out over an inch? There's nothing you can do at 9"x9" that you can't do at 8.5" or even 8" square, so stick within the guidelines.

but the next question is landscape 11x8.5 or portrait 8.5x11

wow, my portfolio is only 5.5x8.5...probably too late to change now, damn it!

7x8.5

I just finished a 10x10. Printed on 11x14 paper myself, with a 1/4" bleed top, outside edge and bottom and then cut the binding edge myself. I have a lot of large images that benefit from the format.

Submitted to Yale and GSD. Yale does say 9x12 max I think..but figured I am smaller in one direction and larger in another.

Kinkos tape bound (sure to fall apart eventually, but it is fast and cheap)

The proportion is great IMO, which is why I chose the size. Opened up is 2:1 which is nice.

Do not exceed the max! Most schools divide the portfolios up into stacks that the members of the admissions committee cart around with them and review in their free time between committee meetings. If your portfolio is bigger in one dimension that everybody else's then the edges of yours get all scuffed up in somebody's backpack or briefcase, and by the second round of deliberations it's in the worse shape than the others. Another potential problem is that as the portfolios arrive they're stored in boxes or folders in drawers - but the "non-conformist" ones don't fit, and they end up being stacked separately on top of a filing cabinet. The ones on top of the filing cabinet get browsed more often by curious faculty and student stoppers-by to the office - so they already look worn by the time anybody on the committee sees them, and they also have the potential to get forgotten or misplaced when the ones in the boxes or folders get taken to the first committee meeting. (I'm writing from experience on this. I've seen all of these things happen.)

Submitting a wrong-sized portfolio isn't going to keep you out of consideration anywhere as far as I know, but it isn't going to help you and comes with potential problems. There are always a few portfolios that don't meet the rules - not many, just a few. So you'll stand out. But is that really what you want to stand out for?

A4 just screams 'i'm european and awesome'