Portfolio Management

Your portfolio is a pretty personal thing. It's a reflection of you, your work, your skills and your potential. If you'd like a bit of advice on how to put together the best portfolio for yourself, here are a few helpful pointers. It's not rocket science, just a bit of common sense with a dash of experience.

Think Ahead
You need a bit of planning upfront as to the order and flow. Chronologically, by example type, by sector, whatever works for you. The main thing is it's not just thrown together.

Presentation Is Key
Make it look like you've spent time thinking about it, and rehearse what you want to say, how you want to talk through your work.

Looking Good
Messy portfolios don't get people good jobs. So keep it tidy and smart. It sounds obvious, but present everything the same way, whether portrait or landscape. Little things like that can make a big difference.

Touchy Feely
Having your portfolio on-line is a sound idea. But some clients like to touch and feel the real thing. So cover both options.

Pick & Mix
Not all of your work will be relevant to all the people. A packaging client’s not going to want to see lots of print work. So you may need to edit your portfolio depending on who you’re seeing. So think “flexible”.

The Full Story
For some work – like branding or corporate identity projects – it’s good to show how you got to the finished result. And of course to be able to talk about that.

The Inside Story
It’s also a good idea to take a sketch book along as it’s good to show how you think about projects, what influences you, what keeps you creative.

Less is More
People want to see commercial work. So unless you’re pretty junior, leave out those degree pieces that you’re so fond of. Pro bono work is fine though.

Take a View
And whilst you should always have an opinion about the agency’s work, don’t be unprofessional about the stuff you don’t like. You wouldn’t like it, would you?