How many projects should be in an architecture portfolio

It is the place to show off your great work, but just how much to show can be daunting at times. When you have very few assignments, customers and businesses can ask what you do or who you are. Too many projects will make the people looking for you distracting and frustrating. The ideal number of projects to have in your portfolio at any one time should be about This number of assignments enables you to easily articulate the style of work you love and wish to continue doing.

This also helps the spectator of the portfolio recall projects that stand out to them by not overburdening them with too much work. Keeping your portfolio concentrated with the amount of projects is surprisingly critical, and we see far too many creatives getting it wrong. It is natural to want to show off your work as a graphic designer as you advance and complete further designs. For example, if you have been with an organisation for a long time, there is a fair possibility you have worked on a lot of projects.

Including every single project in your portfolio can be overwhelming for anyone to scroll through, let alone the effort you have to bring in to keep it up to date. Overcrowding your portfolio with projects will cause anyone who views it to forget about you.

Many artists assume that only because they finished a job it must be included in their portfolio. Curating the work you present in your portfolio is almost as critical as the work itself. Fortunately, you can study graphic design with Blue Sky Graphics, where the instructors will also help you put together a portfolio and help you land a credible job.

Have an articluated Cover page. The cover should be consistent with your overall narrative and visual language. If your portfolio has a title, it must fit the storyline well.

You could add a link to your long portfolio or website for readers to check out your work in detail. The bio should speak more about your personality as the CV already talks about your work experience and accomplishments.

Fine-tune your portfolio. Once you think you have all the elements in place, print your portfolio on separate pages and spread them out next to each other. When you keep working on digital media one page at a time, you may lose sense of structure by the time you think it is ready. Once complete, you could use a printed version of your page portfolio as a booklet to carry to professional meetups, conferences, or interviews.

The beauty of a page portfolio is that it gives you a peek into your personality as a design professional. Treat your portfolio like your most important design project and you'll be a hundred steps closer to getting hired by your dream office. Ultimate tips to make a page portfolio that will get you hired. February 10, at AM. In most architecture firms, portfolio assessment is the first step in a long hiring process. Considering the time that recruiters can spare for checking each application, it makes sense to make yours as concise as possible.

If your graphic design and visual communication skills are good, you can make an appealing portfolio in just 10 pages. If you think this may require cutting out too much important content, feel free to define a minimum page limit for yourself.

What personal information do I add? Should I include my academic papers in professional portfolios? Brazilian architect Gabriel Kogan has shared with us a list of twelve tips on how to build a good architectural portfolio, ranging from graphic design to the type of personal information and content that should be included in your resume.

Read his guidelines after the break, and if you have any other tips share them with us in the comments section. Never ever EVER just send your resume without a portfolio of your work.

That's rule number one, without a doubt. Plain text resumes are rarely looked at and won't stand out when compared to others. Where you graduated from is much less important than your actual ability in the profession. Visual composition can make or break your portfolio. This shows your grasp of an essential skill: graphic design.

Even portfolios with amazing projects tend to be overlooked or become invisible when compared to ones with more attractive presentation. Very cluttered pages can hide content. The images need to breathe. Do not overload your portfolio with a lot of information to make it look more full: the more concise and attractive the layout, the better.

Usually the people looking over these documents can tell what information is relevant and what is just filler. The font, margins, structure and proportion of a page say a lot about your ability as an architect as well. An architect's work is multidisciplinary. For virtually every practicing architect it is important to have general knowledge that transcends the technical design or building project.

Personality is critical to the job. If your poems are good, if your drawings are cool, if you write well, if you like art, if you take great photos; there is no reason to hide any of that in your architecture portfolio. Offices almost always seek architects who think for themselves. In addition, this information can make the portfolio more fun. They should also appear visually. Your photo ID or a selfie of a group of friends on the beach aren't really appropriate, but a photo - even abstract - that shows your personality and how you present yourself or represent your interests may add a nice touch: images that reflect, most importantly, your personality and your interests.

On the contrary. Some offices receive dozens of resumes a day and so it is important to be short and sweet; straight to the point. This should consist of two to five A3 or A4 pages three is preferred , and be a very careful selection of your best and most relevant work. This is about quality and not quantity, so aim to present one to two drawings or images per page.

If advertising for a position, it is very likely that the practice you are applying to will also receive a high number of other applications, and so at this stage keeping it short will help maintain their full attention, and provide the best chance of getting an interview.

The below sample portfolios provide a great example of the format, size and amount of work to send. Sample example 01 — Full online version available here.

Sample example 02 — Full online version available here. The above portfolio shows how to correctly arrange an A4 page with just one or two images, making it immediately easy to understand, read and print out. For students entering into the profession for the first time, you should always aim to present key construction details, as well as drawings and representations, employers will want to see that you have a general understanding of all the procurement stages.

For professionals, site experience and completed projects become more important if available , and always include a sample of your student work …employers are still interested in this.

For employment positions that are specific, you should predominately weight and tailor your work to that particular aspect, whilst still showing although a lesser amount a selection of the other areas you have experience in. The example below demonstrates how to successfully present a varied range of experience in a clear and concise manner, from general plan arrangements through to detailed joinery drawings. The full online portfolio can be found here.

This presents a clear and steady timeline of experience and development. Full online portfolio here. Most of what is discussed in this article covers the methods and content that can and should also be included in a portfolio used by a student looking for an architecture school placement.

However as provided in the excellent description and breakdown in below video, new and prospective students need to demonstrate that they have the skills, basic understanding and passion for the subject, rather than the physical work to prove it. As with the above portfolio example, some students prior to starting architecture school will attend a foundation year or diploma course in art and design.

This may be because they are unsure of what direction to take or just want to gain some extra skills and experience before starting. This does however make their portfolios slightly more advanced and directed towards the subject, in both the content and the portfolios presentation.

Although highly recommended, on average most students do not do this, and instead continue straight through to architecture school without taking any sort of supplementary course. The below video provides a breakdown and example of how to prepare a portfolio for this very situation:.

For those that have not created an architecture portfolio before or who may be looking for some tips on how to improve their current one. The below 8 stages outline how to best prepare and create a new architectural portfolio:. As mentioned above, the range of media you choose to present your work is just as important as the drawings themselves, diversification is important in order to demonstrate your varying skills and talents.

When selecting your drawings and images, you should aim for quality not quantity, one well produced and presented drawing or image is much more powerful than 5 average examples. If you choose to present hand drawings, then make sure that the scanner you use is of high quality. You can take your drawings to print shop if needs be, and have them scanned professionally.

We mentioned here , that your portfolio should be focused on an A3 sheet size, as anything larger becomes too uncomfortable to carry and physically present, and anything smaller becomes too limiting. A lot of practices and institutions will require you to firstly send either a sample or the full document via email before you get selected for an interview.

An A3 document enables your work to be easily printed out to scale, or downsized to an A4 without too much trouble and detail being lost. Creating a template unifies your portfolio and creates consistency for the viewer, it also makes the whole arrangement process much easier and efficient, as you are effectively creating a concept for your portfolio.

The general arrangement is a personal choice, but be mindful to not over saturate your pages with information, less is more here, and quality over quantity! In our opinion a simple white background is best, unless a particular project specifically calls for an alternative.

But be mindful to not overbear your work. Programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator can be used to edit and revise your drawings and images, and Adobe InDesign is without doubt the best desktop program for organizing and producing documents such as these. Links to these can be found at the end of this article. The order in which you choose to arrange your portfolio in, should run chronologically and demonstrate each of your key skills.

Order and neatness are vitally important, and help to tell the story of your professional development and career to date. This process does and should take time and therefore should not be rushed and left to the last minute.

Ideally you want to produce several drafts, and then leave and come back to them, show your peers, ask for opinions and get feedback. To help guide you and speed up this process, we have created a set of over cover, contents, title, and project template pages.

Built in InDesign, effortlessly copy and paste text and import drawings, diagrams and images straight into place, or adapt and edit their locations and proportions into further presentable formats. For information on this below…. Speed up this initial step through a solid formatting and arrangement strategy with these easy to use drag and drop InDesign templates. The front cover of your portfolio will be the first insight into your work for the person about to view it, and it is wise to keep this simple.

The examples featured further down in this article demonstrate what you should aim for and provide a simple aesthetic, that is both interesting and minimal.