Student Print Portfolios
The end of your final semester as a design student will be preparing a portfolio and putting together a professional presentation form for you best pieces of work. These are some examples of students' portfolios.
Examples of portfolio pieces from Dutch student named Hansje van Halem:
- conceptual exploration of typography from her flip book called Damp
- an invitation exploring available space commissioned by and artist-run space called Room
- a book with hand sketched letter forms that get denser the book progresses to show off exploration of typography and drawing skills
- an annual report for a Dutch broadcasting company called VPRO
- booklets commisioned by The Thinking Forward Festival (celebrates the Dutch presidency)
- a catalog called Municiple Art Aquistions Graphic Design commissioned by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam
- A collaboration piece with a well-known designer (Gerard Unger) is a strong portfolio piece. It is a report for the City Council of Amsterdam and has information about Amsterdam Cultural Art Initiatives
Examples of work from MCA graduate, Crista Hirzel
- holds her photography in a large aluminum portfolio and packs with cardboard to reflect the ecological statement she is trying to create with her work
- she also carries a laptop as part of the portfolio to display her digital work
- she included 3 scans of screens savers that she designed to promote environmental preservation
- 2 posters against sex trafficking and female circumcision
Examples of Hyun Auh's work, a graduate from Fashion Institute of Technology
- pure and economical without excess decoration
- accordion style portfolio in an irregular size (13.4 cm x 27.9 cm). He put it inside a simple cardboard case.
- His Korean heritage inspired him to use an Asian-style binding technique and the contents are arranged to be viewed in a back to front format, alluding to the style of his native country
- He includes a book with his portfolio featuring logos books, and posters that include his process drawings for the projects
- Some pages have full bleeds with vibrant colors that maintain a surprising and dynamic tension
- Some pages have full bleeds with vibrant colors that maintain a surprising and dynamic tension
Examples from Michelle Kim's portfolio
- She uses the theme of "it's not easy being green" to show the difficulties of being a young designer
- red stripe that wraps around of her portfolio box represents the struggle and determination of being a young designer
- she uses white to show her attention to detail since it is a challenging color to work with and it is easily soiled
- Her work is organized chronologically to showcase her growth as a designer
- The format of her book makes it easy to rearrange the items in it so she does not have to create a new addition to make changes
- The expenses for her book and box were minimal because she took advantage of the printing equipment at her school which she was able to use for free
- She had to factor for material shipment as well as printing into her production time
- In her box she has a resume and a book that is traditionally bound. She also includes a few original pieces concealed by a white cloth board
- she used the same red cloth as the stripe for the outside of the box as she did to bind her book
- red stripe that wraps around of her portfolio box represents the struggle and determination of being a young designer
- she uses white to show her attention to detail since it is a challenging color to work with and it is easily soiled
- she used the same red cloth as the stripe for the outside of the box as she did to bind her book
Examples from Michaeal Brenner, a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design
- Used a square format for his portfolio for a design challenge
- it has a grid system with an industrial feel
- Shows pictures of his hands holding his completed projects
- He used a wooden silk screened cover
Mimi Jung - Frankfurt, Germany and Cooper Union Graduate
- portfolio was a single page 2-sided poster sent in a translucent tube
- no costs for binding
- worked as a full poster, and also flipped through like the pages of an unbound book
Sophie Nicolay - Rhode Island School of Design
- cloth covered custom made box
- half-sized black inner folders fit next to each other inside the portfolio with magazine-sized books
- the pieces inside the box are all mounted on uniform blackboards
Helen Zhai
- handmade large box with etched metal opening
- box had to be large to fit her large format pieces in their original sizes rather than a reduced sized that is fitted to the size of the pages in a portfolio
- she keeps the box in a protective cloth case but she also chose to make it out of a dark and durable material to avoid scuffing
Roxane Zargham
- She made a 10 part portfolio to replace her portfolio which had been stolen during the end-of-the-year show at UCLA
- folded unbound book and series of posters. When they are unfolded it spells out her name
- Comes wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve
- Her business card and resume are hidden in the middle of the portfolio
- Every single page is combined into one single spread at the end of the book
Kathryn Cho
- simple and uniform portfolio design that uses dots as graphic elements to reference DPI and pixels
- she puts the book in a bag with a dot pattern to relate to how graphic design permeates all mediums
- "...I try to approach design [as] an interdisciplinary approach through multiple disciplines"
Lorenzo Gieger
- Lives in Bern Switzerland, and Paris France (he works at Studio Apeloig)
- simple, small, handout portfolio with pen and ink drawings for CDs, labels, and stickers
