Portfolio Advice for University

The thought of producing a portfolio can be pretty daunting and time consuming so I decided to share with you my advice on how to get the most out of your portfolio. It is important your portfolio reflects you as an individual and the skills you have to offer, after all, it is one of the key and vital components which sets you aside from everyone else when competing for university courses or jobs. For some people, producing a portfolio is straightforward and simple, perhaps they study an art course or subject and already have work they are proud to display. However, for others, like myself, producing a portfolio can seem an impossible task especially when balancing making the portfolio with any current/ongoing studies or work.

Annotated catwalk images

My first piece of advice is to consider TIME. Never underestimate the contents needed for a portfolio. Due to my academic studies, I personally didn't have any school work which I could include in my portfolio such as drawings or sketches and for this reason I had to think off my own back to create projects which would allow me to show development and creative ability suitable to my chosen university course (fashion promotion). I had a few odd bits from various residential trips and workshops I had completed which I included in my portfolio but apart from this, it took me a good 6 months to complete my portfolio to a standard which I was happy with. Universities are interested in seeing your most current work, if your best piece of work was something you produced 5 years prior to your application/interview for university then it is best not to include it. By all means do include it if you truly feel it will help you stand out from the crowd, but universities are more interested in seeing what you're all about now, regardless if you're current work is not your best, as we grow and our identities change, our work reflects this and so it's best to be very enthusiastic about showing your most current pieces of work.

This leads me on to my next point, be SELECTIVE. You may feel you have hundreds of pieces of work which you are proud of, but university lecturers do not have the time to study every piece of work you have supplied them. Most university courses state a specific number of items to be viewed, from my experience, this can be as little as 7 and peak at about 15. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between what is classed as an individual item, but guesstimate the approximate amount of work which you believe to be suitable to be looked at for a 5/10 minute time frame. Always aim to show your best work and display it in chronological order so the interviewer can see your development in skill and creative technique. It's best to show fewer projects but in more depth and development than it is to show lots of short, minor projects. University lecturers like to see that you are able to plan a project and see it through to the end, in detail, this gives them great insight into how you work as an individual. One good way to be selective is to look at each item in portfolio and think to yourself, if you were to submit just that one piece of work, would you happily submit it by itself. If you feel as though the single piece of work would not make you stand out, then perhaps consider leaving it out of your portfolio or reworking it in a way that improves it and makes it more memorable.

Photoshoot images

Be PROUD of your work. You should always feel pleased with the work you submit in your portfolio, after all, it is what resembles you as a person. Going to interviews can be disheartening when you feel as though your work is not being given the praise it deserves. I remember one of my interviews - which was for my first choice university at the time - really had me second-guessing my creative ability. As mentioned before, I have been mostly involved with academic subjects at school and I had decided to carry out my own photoshoot for my portfolio and edit the pictures and have them printed. I sat and watched my interviewer sieve through my produced photos as if they were complete trash, making remarks such as 'You've softened this too much', 'You've over-exposed it here' and just generally blasting me with negative comments. Looking back now, I appreciate the constructive criticism, however it did really knock my confidence at the time as I believed my work to be decent for a first attempt. Despite the rejection I received from that university, I ended up getting a place at a better University for a better course and the lecturers there told me at interview they had no concerns and were impressed with what I had produced. Safe to say you can't please them all! Be sure to display your portfolio in some sort of case which is strong enough to hold all your work and make sure your work is presented neatly. Ideal portfolio cases can be bought from stationary shops or online, the black fabric ring binder portfolios (like mine as pictured) are popular with university students.

LEARN throughout the interview process. It's never too late to re-work your portfolio. Multiple times I revisited my portfolio to add to it and improve it. One way thing I found throughout the interview process was that detail within a portfolio is key. I, for example, had supplied numerous moodboards consisting of photos and shoots I liked. In one interview I got asked several times what I liked about each one and the interviewer said that she was asking because she had looked at my moadboards having not known why I picked out the images I did. After this interview I stuck post-it notes on my moodboards explaining why I liked them. Not only did this help the rest of my interviewers understand my thinking when developing the portfolio, but it also meant I could draw upon what I had written on the post-it notes when asked about the moodboards, which helped ease the pressure of being put on the spot when asked certain questions. It also helped to show I was organised and forward-thinking, a useful skill to have for university.

Another thing I learnt was to PREPARE for each individual university and to understand the terms and conditions of each. By doing my research on each of my chosen universities I discovered that some welcomed visual work such as films, where as others admitted to not having time to view such formats, for this reason I supplied my short fashion film as a video format and a storyboard. Because I did this, it meant that my film would still get some acknowledgement, regardless as to whether or not the interviewer was able to view my film in it's original video format, instead of it getting disregarded completely. Once I made the storyboard, I actually felt better about my film project because it showed another stage of development and allowed me to reflect verbally on my film, which the film itself wouldn't have provided.

Fashion film storyboard

Do your RESEARCH. A great way to kick off your portfolio is by reading the course contents and getting an idea of the sort of projects you will embark on. For example, my course stated that there would be fashion writing at some point in the course, and so this encouraged me to produce and publish my own online fashion magazine, which I was able to print off and put in my portfolio. Not only did this suggest to the interviewer that I was capable of doing the projects included in the course, but I also gained experience ready to take with me to university. Tailor your portfolio to suit your course, but by no means disregard other impressive pieces of work! Just because you're off to study fashion, doesn't mean you can't include a set of  non-fashion-related photos you took which demonstrate your photographic capability. Creative courses have great overlap and so you should judge every piece of work you've created fairly.

Be VARIED with your selection of work to show. It's much more impressive to shown your interviewer that you can lead a photoshoot, create a fashion film and write a magazine, rather than just focusing on one form of media. You don't have to be good at all aspects you cover in your portfolio, but demonstrating that you're willing to experiment and showing that you're aware of different forms of media looks really appealing to the interviewer, as they get the sense that you are willing to learn and have fun with your work. For example in my portfolio I included sketches (despite not being able to draw), photoshoots, exhibition reviews and other projects which displayed my writing abilities such as a 6,000 word dissertation and screenplay for a short film. I also supplied a short fashion film which I presented as a storyboard as well as the video format, with written description about the scenes.

***

Fashion Promotion portfolio advice:

Back when I was beginning my portfolio, as a budding fashion promotion student, I was completely confused as to what to include in my portfolio as I was by far no artist, hence why I had avoided the fashion design career path. What I discovered was that what you should include in a fashion promotion portfolio is as broad as the course. Likely things to include:

Evidence of fashion writing - this can include a collection of your most popular or liked blog posts, articles you've written for your own fashion magazine, reviews of exhibitions or catwalk shows or any fashion related dissertations

Evidence of fashion photography - try organizing your own photoshoot and edit and print off the pictures, this demonstrates a variety of skills and is fun at the same time

Evidence of fashion film - go one step further than a photoshoot, try shooting your own short fashion film, even if it's a behind-the-scenes video to complement your photoshoot

Evidence of drawing ability - despite not being the focus of the course, it's good to show some drawing ability, even if it's a collection of doodles of the latest Chanel show

Evidence of research - tear up magazines and annotate catwalk shows, create moodbaords of stylistic features that appeal to you or camera angles you think are effective, or catwalk trends you like

One of my best pieces of advice for a fashion promotion is to allow your projects to be broad and not focused to one format. For example, provide a storyboard to go with your fashion film, draw and plan your outfits before conducting the photoshoot, get inspiration from moodboards for your own photoshoot and explain why they inspired you

***

I hope this post has helped you kick-start your portfolio  and I'm more than happy to help if you have an queries regarding portfolio creating. Remember, you don't have to study creative subjects to be able to pull together a good portfolio. As long as you dedicate a respectable amount of time and effort into building your portfolio and it reflects your interests and personality, your portfolio should get you far, and remember your portfolio never stops growing and never be scared  to revisit and develop your work throughout the interview process and beyond.