At one point or another, every architecture student or graduate has a portfolio of their work that they have agonized over creating. Portfolios are important, they demonstrate your range of skills and will most likely play a significant role in whether or not you land your dream job … so why do so many of them so ineffective? Today we are talking about the “Perfect Portfolio” and what that actually means.

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Depending on the time of the year, about 15% of the emails I receive have something to do with portfolios in some form or fashion. There are a handful of questions that get asked over and over again ...


What do they look like?
What sort of information do I put in them?
What do people want to see?
How much information should I put in them?
How much text versus graphics?


People have questions, and we are going to answer them.

So where do you start? Let's start with what a portfolio is and why do we still use them - Portfolios are all about illustrating your proficiency in the various skills of the trade and demonstrating that you know how to think and process information. Sounds pretty simple and considering all the moving parts, it is really simple. Most people still don't seem to understand some very basic considerations that surround the process of building a portfolio.



How is it reviewed? What are people like me looking for? jump to 5:00 
The key to having a successful portfolio is to think about how it will be viewed, what messages you are sending based on the content you are providing, and to consider how much time someone will actually be looking at your portfolio. I can promise you it won’t even be a fraction of what you think it will be. The work you spent weeks or even months agonizing over and trying to skillfully articulate in the forms of diagrams, plans, perspectives, collages, etc. etc… won’t be looked at for more than a few moments when it crosses my desk. I’m looking for the tone, trying to see how your brain works, how you process information, how you articulate information – not the specifics of the content itself.

On my first pass through your portfolio - which could be your only pass - I am not reviewing the quality of your design solutions of the items you are displaying within your portfolio. I am treating your portfolio as a standalone project and what I am reviewing is the actual portfolio.

Curate the content jump to  
You need to carefully think about which projects, and how many, you want to include in your portfolio – pick only those that are supported with the visuals that tell the story you want to tell. The first time I look at someone’s portfolio, I might spend a maximum of 5 seconds on any given page - that's it - and that's not a lot of time to convey your message. What I do look for from your portfolio is how they are laid out on the page, the balance of positive and negative space, as well as the balance of white space versus the image you are putting on display.



example from the portfolio of Prarthan Shah

Let Your Images Tell the Story jump to 28:47 
You should consider how much text you decide to include in your portfolio … because I probably won’t read it the first time I flip through your pages. This is something that I think about every time I look at a portfolio … or even write one of my blog posts. Most people like to look at the pictures, and if the images are evocative enough to catch someone’s attention, you might get them to go back and read the small bit of text associated with that image. The takeaway here is that you need to rely on your pictures and graphics to draw in the people who are reviewing your portfolio. Reading text comes later - maybe during pass number two or three. You should consider your text as a secondary or tertiary contributor at best.



example from the portfolio of Danielle Anderson