Portfolio Research
Description: In this assignment you will begin to associate yourself with the process of generating a portfolio. For the remainder of the semester you will be returning to the portfolio project. By the semester’s end you will produce a hard copy portfolio of your work for the course. This portion of the sequence involves doing research and exploring ideas for formatting.
Goals: Students will be introduced to the portfolio as a tool for presenting skills and ideas. Students will present ideas for the layout and assembly of a portfolio.
Principles:
1. A portfolio is a critical component of every designer’s body of work.
2. The container of the content is as important as the content itself. The assembly of the container is an indicator of your abilities as a designer.
3. A designer may have multiple portfolios. Each one is focused on a particular audience.
4. Archiving your work is critical. It is best to archive the work in process and when the project has reached a stopping point.
5. All physical work should be archived digitally.
6. Digital files should be stored in at least two places. One place should be local (on your computer or external drive), and one place should be in the cloud.
Procedures:
1. Go to the following website: http://www.digitalspacedigitalform.com/.
2. Under the Misc Resources menu, open the page called Portfolio.
3. Create another folder within the “Submitted Assignments” folder in your Google Drive. Name the folder “Portfolio Research”.
4. Review some of the links under “Links to Portfolio Examples”. Begin exploring options for creating your portfolio.
5. Upload at least 10 images to the new folder that shows the direction of your thoughts in assembling the portfolio. For example, if you would like to use a certain kind of binding, upload an image of it. The images can be downloaded from the web. You could upload your own photographs. You could also make a screen shot of something on your monitor. To capture the screen, press the Print Screen button on the upper right side of your keyboard; open Photoshop, Microsoft Paint or other graphic software program; and press Ctrl + V to paste it to the screen. You could then save it as an image file. Here are some questions that might get you started. What kind of binding will you use and how will the portfolio open? What kind of graphics will you use? What size will the portfolio be (it cannot be larger than 8.5” x 11”)? Will it have a landscape or portfolio orientation? Will it be entirely printed and bound by a local service? Will you use an online service for printing and assembly? Will it be single-sided or double-sided? Will you construct a container for the portfolio?