Quick question about portfolio length, I'd love to know your thoughts.
I am in the process of applying for graduate studies in Urban Design, and as of now, my portfolio is exactly 50 pages from start to finish.
The reason for this is that I like to keep my pages quite clean, with decently wide margins and "showcase" images quite large. I tried to keep the information as digestible as possible per page, without overloading graphics/diagrams/text.
Do you guys think that this is an appropriate length? Is there a sweet spot?
Thanks! Katie
Non Sequitur
Dec 7, 15 12:38 pm
^yes. It's about 25 to 30 pages too long.
Flatfish
Dec 7, 15 12:45 pm
Most programs give page and size limits. For those that provide limits 50 pages is nearly always too long. For some the limit is as low as 12 pages.
Even if there are no rules or suggested guidelines provided, it's probably too long anyway.
There's no perfect one-size-fits-all answer to this, but usually if you can showcase 3 to 5 projects, each in a 2 or 4 page spread, that's enough - so that would be somewhere between 6 pages (probably too little) and 20 (probably plenty). A lot of people also have a section at the end of their portfolio for the randomness that didn't belong to a particular project - like an especially good drawing or painting or two, or some photography, sculpture, whatever. If you decide to do that it would add perhaps two to 6 more pages. I can't see any reason why anybody's portfolio would need to be more than 25 pages max.
What I can tell you definitively, having been involved in admissions while I was teaching, is that if the school does provide guidelines re size or number of pages, and you decide that you are an exception to the rule and must make yours longer, it will end up being in the pile that nobody really wants to drag home or to their office with them to review. Make it compact, lightweight, and able to withstand wear and tear - that gives it the best chance of being taken and perused by the most committee members.
citizen
Dec 7, 15 12:46 pm
It's fine to have a compendious/ comprehensive version of your portfolio/ work to take to job interviews, where you are there to guide the conversation or answer questions.
But if you plan to send one out digitally and hope for people to look at it, then cut it by half, at least. Even in pdf form, nobody (aside from your mother*) wants to click through fifty pages.
* and even she probably won't make it past page 30.
Hi everyone,
Quick question about portfolio length, I'd love to know your thoughts.
I am in the process of applying for graduate studies in Urban Design, and as of now, my portfolio is exactly 50 pages from start to finish.
The reason for this is that I like to keep my pages quite clean, with decently wide margins and "showcase" images quite large. I tried to keep the information as digestible as possible per page, without overloading graphics/diagrams/text.
Do you guys think that this is an appropriate length? Is there a sweet spot?
Thanks!
Katie
^yes. It's about 25 to 30 pages too long.
Most programs give page and size limits. For those that provide limits 50 pages is nearly always too long. For some the limit is as low as 12 pages.
Even if there are no rules or suggested guidelines provided, it's probably too long anyway.
There's no perfect one-size-fits-all answer to this, but usually if you can showcase 3 to 5 projects, each in a 2 or 4 page spread, that's enough - so that would be somewhere between 6 pages (probably too little) and 20 (probably plenty). A lot of people also have a section at the end of their portfolio for the randomness that didn't belong to a particular project - like an especially good drawing or painting or two, or some photography, sculpture, whatever. If you decide to do that it would add perhaps two to 6 more pages. I can't see any reason why anybody's portfolio would need to be more than 25 pages max.
What I can tell you definitively, having been involved in admissions while I was teaching, is that if the school does provide guidelines re size or number of pages, and you decide that you are an exception to the rule and must make yours longer, it will end up being in the pile that nobody really wants to drag home or to their office with them to review. Make it compact, lightweight, and able to withstand wear and tear - that gives it the best chance of being taken and perused by the most committee members.
It's fine to have a compendious/ comprehensive version of your portfolio/ work to take to job interviews, where you are there to guide the conversation or answer questions.
But if you plan to send one out digitally and hope for people to look at it, then cut it by half, at least. Even in pdf form, nobody (aside from your mother*) wants to click through fifty pages.
* and even she probably won't make it past page 30.