Types of Portfolios
Depending on the year you are studying in, you will see different kinds of portfolios and you may not be able to judge for yourself which are successful, and which arenât. We donât want to focus on a specific style or type of portfolio, the possibilities are dependent on your project and the amount of work you put in.
In this article, we want to guide you on some of the necessary things you need in your portfolio as well as the extra details that can make it stand out to the examiners. By putting in a bit of extra effort, you can take your portfolio to a much higher level. First, we would suggest for you to look at as many portfolios and projects as possible. This might be in your own university or in other ones which you can usually find online through specific unit websites or at the end of year exhibitions. Ask the other students around university or even someone in your year whoâs work you admire or seems to be popular with the tutors.
When you think about it, regardless of which year youâre in, putting a portfolio takes up the entire year and most students will work on it till the last second. We definitely donât advise doing this, it not only puts pressure on you as a person but can give you a lot of stress that you could avoid by doing work in advance. If youâre in first year, you might not know where to start â this is why weâve put together this article. But whatever the case, if you want to improve your portfolio then keep reading.
Weâre going to divide this into two parts: the layout and presentation of your portfolio and the actual work youâll be putting into your portfolio. Weâve covered some of the design part in our article âHow to Maintain a Theme in Your Portfolioâ and weâll be referring to it often, so if you havenât read it yet, definitely give it a read.
What to Include in Your Portfolio
There are no real guidelines or a handbook on what you exactly need in your portfolio. This is because every university is different, the way they handle things or teach or examine your work. The following âpagesâ or work to include are just a general idea. If, for example, youâre designing a pottery factory or workshop, you might want to experiment with various shapes in the form of physical models. This can go as in-depth as you want and is a great way to show your tutors and examiners that youâve really thought about the materials in your project. This whole idea would require a few pages to explain what youâre going to do, images of the models you make etc.
Some units may also have smaller projects they do before the main design project. This is usually to give you an anchor point to get you inspired for your project. It has to link to the design project in some way and may even be a section of your portfolio at the beginning. Make sure that if you do have a project at the beginning that is supposed to link to your design, by the end of the project there should be a clear path of how you got there from the start. There may also be a section at the end for the final part of the design which includes plans, sections, model photographs and final perspective images or illustrations. This could be submitted separately if the university requires in which case you might want to change the size of the pages, orientation or paper quality to make it stand out as itâs the final design.
Having sections in your portfolio isnât necessary but can break down your project into groups of work that each have some kind of purpose. For example a generic order would consist of a site study, then development, then any technical focuses followed by design experiments and finally a series of images to complete the project. This is a natural order that is simply organised well so that the examiner understands the entire process. Having 30+ pages means there is a lot to look at and remember about the project within just a couple of minutes. But if you have sections, it makes it easier for you, your tutors and the examiner to understand. The best bit is that once you finish with the first couple of sections, you can present these in crits to get feedback and improve it until it doesnât need to be improved anymore. By the end of the year, you wonât have to work on your entire portfolio, just the areas youâre currently working on.
Letâs get down to the basics:
Title Page
Contents
Abstract
Design Drivers
Mini Project (if any)
Section 1 â Brief / Site Analysis
- Breakdown of the brief
- Initial ideas
- Site map 1:1000
- Site map and route 1:500
- Interesting areas within the site, analysing a site (can take the form of a map, collage, photographs or illustrations)
- Site study (3D modelled, fragment, image)
- Sun path diagram
- Opportunities and constraints
Section 2 â Design Development
- Initial sketches / ideas
- Research (desktop research; articles, interviews etc. or physical research)
- Design drivers
- Massing studies / massing diagram (tutorial coming soon)
- Breakdown of the building function via sketches, initial models, 3D models
- Case studies
- Initial plan / section
Section 3 â Initial Iteration
- Site map with building overlay 1:200
- Building development (depends on what youâre looking at in your project. Could be to do with the layout of the building, materials, structure, technical aspects etc)
- Models + photographs
- Plans and sections (these are your first iteration, so it doesnât need to be perfect, but some annotation or sketches might help the examiner understand what you need to work on)
- 3D model renders / physical model prototypes
Section 4 â (Optional â if you have more development to do / another iteration of drawings that are important to include. Essentially the same as section 3)
Section 5 â Resolution
- Building Summary
- Site plan 1:500
- Plans (well annotated, proper line weights)
- OPTIONAL â perspective plans, sections or axonometric views
- Sectional drawings (showing where the section has been taken from)
- Elevations (North, east, south, west)
- Collages
- Renders (if any)
- Illustrations / perspective images (if any)
- Hand-drawings (if any)
As we said, some of the things listed might not apply to your project depending on what kind of building youâre designing or the sort of style your prefer. There is also scope to add much more and work on certain parts in much more detail if it applies to your project. For example, if youâre looking into a public building that is catered towards a certain community, you might want to do more research in that area or interview people. If your building revolves around a trade or craft that you donât know about, you can explore this as models or further research.
You will also need to remember to cut down as you go. Yes, your portfolio pages need space and clarity and you really shouldnât bombard the pages with too much text or images but at the same time, having an entire page for each of the 10 sketches you have drawn might be too much. Remember, the examiner will spend less than a few seconds on each page and will eventually focus more on the last section. If your tutors can help you to go through portfolios (extremely helpful before and after a portfolio review or crit) and go through each page, add on sticky notes or remove pages entirely so that youâre constantly editing and improving the flow of work. You can absolutely do this yourself but just make sure youâre not printing the âfinalâ version each time until youâre absolutely sure that a page is fully complete, fits well and is understood better with the pages before and after it.
Portfolio Design
Weâve covered a bit of portfolio design and the importance of having a theme or structure in your portfolio in the article âHow to Maintain a Theme in Your Portfolioâ which Iâm sure youâve read by now. The things we covered there included a colour scheme, setting out your pages in advance and planning your pages. Weâve already given you the basic structure, so at the start of your project all you have to do is set up your portfolio on Adobe InDesign.
Usually, at the beginning of the year it takes a couple of weeks before you actually get the brief for your project or even speak to your tutors. Add in the generic introductory lectures and âsite walksâ and youâve pretty much wasted 3 weeks. After my first year, I realised we need to get ahead of the game. Students were often surprised to hear how my portfolio was done a couple of days before the deadline, giving me time to finalise the last few images or make sure everything works in a cohesive manner.
Setting aside an hour a day during that weird start of the year period could help you plan out your portfolio. Think about it aesthetically or practically. If you want inspiration on different layouts or themes, you can have a look at our Pinterest board. If youâre thinking budget wise, maybe moving from an A1 portfolio to an A2 portfolio seems like a wiser and lighter option. Make all these decisions now instead of getting frazzled later on when the work really begins.
If youâve been given the brief ahead of time, definitely research the hell out of it. Make a mood board, sketches, a Pinterest board and brainstorm the different routes you could take with the brief. Look at past projects or some of the reading material you might have been recommended. Ask students in other units to see what their brief is like â anything can create a boost of inspiration as long as youâre not waiting for your tutors to tell you what to do next. Take control and stay ahead as much as possible.
Portfolio Organisation Methods
We donât have to tell you repeatedly. Organisation is KEY. Organising your portfolio can get a bit hectic once there are other projects or essays or crits to prepare for. We would suggest keeping an online version and obviously a physical copy. For the pages youâre currently working on, it could be a good idea to print them out unfinished at a smaller scale like A3. Then, whenever you have a tutorial or crit, you can hand your tutors the page and explain what youâre doing and why. This is way better than showing them something on a computer screen because they can physically write or draw on it and give you advice that helps.
Similarly, if youâre completing your portfolio by hand, youâll realise just how much time itâs taking up. If youâre thinking about saving money for title pages or pages with just images on them, thatâs reasonable. Whenever you finish a page though, scan it in and add it to your InDesign file so you can re-order if needed or edit and actually be able to see the pages without having to take out your huge portfolio and search for the page.
Lastly, every couple of months, or even every month, sit down and go through your portfolio and see if anything can be improved. We get too stuck in the work we are presently doing that we might forget about the work weâve already done. The entire project needs to make sense and be successful. Look for any ideas that didnât work out and go back and edit this or comment on it at a later stage. I like to plan the pages Iâll be putting up for my crits the night before by drawing them out in my sketchbook. It saves some time because you can have a think and re-order on your sketchbook, then actually go and pick out those pages and keep them ready for the next day. Your portfolio order wonât be messed up either because you have a digital copy that reflects the physical one.
Knowing Your Portfolio
Lastly, we want to emphasise on the importance of actually knowing your portfolio, itâs something to take pride in but it also needs to be memorable in some way. At the end of the day, you know your project best, and by the time the year is over youâd have presented or explained your ideas so many times that itâs stuck in your head â which is a great thing! Write an awesome summary that is short yet descriptive and intrigues the other person to know more about it.
The decisions you made regarding the look or contents are definitely your own, but a bit of guidance never hurts and could actually lead you to better results. Studying architecture is all about getting better as you progress till youâre happy with your work and designs. If you want to see more tutorials catered towards specific portfolio pages, leave your suggestions below in the comments. Have a look at our other related topics as well. Good luck!