In this week’s Portfolio Conversations, we are talking about why the size of your portfolio matters. Once you get enveloped in the world of design you start to realise just how much the size of your portfolio matters.
It was during my A-Level art course that I received that wake-up call. Deciding that my sketchbook would be not A3 like everyone else, but A2 was a decision I would grow to regret later on during the year. You see there isn’t anything wrong with an A2 sketchbook, but the constant need to fill the white space of each page was not only tiresome but really stressful. That was the problem. But it was a problem that would shapeshift during my time studying architecture.
It impacts the narrative of your portfolio greatly. You see like all things in your portfolio, you should be putting great thought into what you choose to present but more importantly how you choose to do it. Which leads me onto my first point.
1/ There is no right or wrong size of your portfolio, however, there is a wrong size to present a drawing. I’m not going to make it seem complicated because really it must not be that way.
The more detail you show, the larger you wanted the drawing to be, but here we are talking about scale. The more things you want to show on one sheet, the larger the paper size. That one may seem like a no brainer but like I mentioned before sometimes blank space makes you uncomfortable and urges you to fill it when it doesn’t have to be that way. One way to think of it is that the drawing and what suitable size to present it dictates more of how it reads and helps the flow of your portfolio.
2/ Not all your sheets in your portfolio should be the same size.
What do I mean by that?
Yes, you do want a physical and visual consistency in your portfolio, that helps you and your tutors understand what your project is about in a practical sense. You need to make a difference between what you can show and what you should show. The question I hope you constantly use to make these important and selective decisions is does this help the narrative of my project? The paper size and scale of your drawing highlights a sense of importance, is this the best drawing to begin or end my story?
Remember as you make these decisions the scale of your drawing will instantly decide for you the most appropriate paper size. Does A1 help me better than A2 for the 1:100 or 1:200 scale drawing? Do I need to scale up because the detail is important for the flow of this project? Consistency throughout your portfolio can be represented in different ways, what I’m trying to tell you is that be thoughtful of limiting yourself to having every page of your portfolio the same. It doesn’t have to be, consistency lies in the storytelling, not of the paper size in the majority of cases.
3/. And lastly, think about the format you need it for, this is maybe where the exception that there is a suitable or rather ideal size to go about.
Current you might think it is a great idea (and sometimes expensive) idea to print your portfolio in A1, every one of your sheets. But you must think about you in the future when you want to apply for work it can be a lot of weight to commute with when you get interviews. In this scenario, A3 is a great size to showcase the best parts of your work in this instance (which you might soon come to realise might not be the work you are currently submitting for your deadlines). Although each university course may differ in their required submission sizes, it is more or less appropriate to submit your work in A2 with an exception of a few A1 sheets that are of great significance (hence their size).
What you probably have been experiencing is showcasing your work digitally, at the moment it may seem the way that submissions may go (for some digital submissions have been the norm before this crisis) it might not seem like such an important thing to think about the size of your portfolio. In fact, to a lesser degree, the size of your portfolio still does matter when it is digital. In many cases, there are some constraints to this that you might have come across, such as file sizes being larger than life itself and files become distorted because of the format that the receiver of your portfolio is using to view it.
Look there is only so much we can control, which means that the more familiar you get with the software that you use for your portfolio the less friction you’ll find with using software like Adobe InDesign to make sure your projects are the best they can be.
Hope you enjoyed this portfolio conversation and hope it has left you with some pointers to ensure that you are making the best decisions on your portfolio process and that you progress into finding a portfolio size that is right for you regardless of the situation and needs that you may have for it. Hope this also finds you safe and well.