Diseño

HIRE ME?!

THE PORTFOLIO HANDBOOK
A GUIDE TO CREATING YOUR DESIGN PORTFOLIO
Carlie Barrett, Alex Broerman, Emmanuel Carrillo, Morgen Depenthal, Kevin
Doyle, Allison Dunphy, Matt Gill, Natalie Miklosic, Samantha Gustafson, Mei
Hsieh, Aaron Kurosu, Rachel Lang, Andrew Leemhuis, Jon Panichella, Casey
Schneider, James Sloss, Steve Speaker, Aaron Watkins, Jacklyn Woniger

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WE MADE THISFOR YOU.
Creating a portfolio can be an immense undertaking. It requires a deep
understanding of yourself and reflection upon who you want to be. It not
only documents part of your past, but it’s built to forge a particular future.
As you sort through past projects, it’s a time of self-reflection. Strengths as well
as weaknesses become apparent. All the while, it makes your eyes widen as
younotice how much self-growth can happen from one project to the next.
This book was put together for the purpose of facilitating higher-quality
portfolios. It will not cover project processes, but will act as a guide to
documenting a project well for your portfolio. We hope the book will ease
some of the anxiety around creating your first portfolio and then later exist
as a helpful referencebook to check a newer portfolio concept against.
It’s too subjective to say that there is any one-right way to create a portfolio, just like there isn’t any one-right-process to design. Being fresh, surprising, and creative is part of our job. Following this book may not lead
you to the most super-awesome portfolio of all time, but it will provide a
solid foundation on which to showcase yoursuper-awesome designs.
Class of 2012 Industrial Design, DAAP, University of Cincinnati

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHAT ARE “THEY” LOOKING FOR?
00 - EMPLOYER SKILL PREFERENCES

HOW AND WHERE TO START
01
02
03
04
05
06

- HEALTHY HAbITS
- SHOWING OFF YOUR DESIGN
- PHOTOGRAPHY
- KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
- VOICE & PERSONALITY
- HIERARCHY

CREATING THE DOCUMENT
07
08
09
10
11
12-

USING INDESIGN
GRIDS
TYPOGRAPHY
RESUME
PLACING CONTENT
ALIGNMENT

TELLING A STORY VISUALLLY
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

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STORYTELLING
RESEARCH
bRAINSTORMING
IDEATION
SKETCHES
VALIDATION
FINALIZATION

ASKING FOR ADVICE
20
21
22
23
24

-

PROFESSIONALS
MING HSIEH
KRISTEN bECK
DAN CLIFTON
JINCE KURUVILLA

EXPORTING A PORTFOLIO
25 - INDESIGN PDF
26 -SIZE REDUCTION
27 - PRINTING TIPS

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MEET CASEY & JON.
THEY ARE MAkINg A pORTFOLIO TOO.
THEY FEEL A LITTLE VULNERABLE.

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THIS IS SOO-SHIN. HE’S THE TOp DOg.
HE’LL kEEp YOU ORgANIZED.

THIS IS DALE. HE’S gOT AN EYE FOR FLAIR.
HE kNOWS HOW TO TELL A STORY.

THIS IS TONY. HE kNOWS EVERYTHINg.
HE’LL HELp YOU WITH TECHNICAL STUFF.

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WHAT ARE “THEY”
LOOkINg FOR?

DUDE, IDON’T EVEN kNOW WHAT pEOpLE
ExpECT TO SEE IN MY pORTFOLIO. WHAT DO I
NEED IN THERE TO gET A JOB?

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*These are the results of an anonymous survey.

6.1

GRAPHIC DESIGN

PROTOTYPING

6.8

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

6.9

DESIGN RESEARCH

3D MODELING/RENDERING SKILLS

PRESENTATION LEVEL SKETCHES

8.1

2D RENDERING

8.3

STORYTELLING

8.5

AESTHETIC SENSITIVITYCONCEPTUAL SKETCHES

QUALITY OF IDEAS

9.4

7.8
7.3
6.7

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

kNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Remember: your portfolio is not about you; it’s about what you can do
for an employer. As you’re creating your portfolio, ask yourself, “who
is my audience?” Are you applying to a corporation? A consultancy? A
toy company? Your portfolio should align to your employment goals.We asked co-op employers to rate the skills they look for in students on
a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being of little importance and 10 being absolutely
imperative. According to the data, employers most value the quality of
ideas presented, followed by competency in conceptual sketching and
ideation. They cared least about graphic design sensitivity and skills in
the shop. Take these findings...