P O RTF O LIO D ES I G N 70

Two forms used

in my portfolio
5hopplng lls,t ot portlolio Your Wc.rk ( School 6 Prote.sslon l w 04'k)
classes to assist con ten t.e to bo orgnb od: rn tllfl SJMCW th.'!t aoaNt liSt d Ml if$t7lt eo In your
c.atrwod. if pontclio.. Lhl d'ICis iiVmJ fn lhiYJ$h/kk
students in plan- !0 fit )Ot.v 8fiiJd/iC CIOtl':eM f)tNfkJGo. 01'100 lhtH
p10;ttca wfth M $loM*.
ning their portfo-
lios. Preparing a
thoroug h outline
and storyboard of
the work to be
included is essen-
tial to avoid prob-
lems during the Design & Onrwlng

actual layout of ProfOliSional and/or Employment

the pages.

A porUolio a udit form, with a reminder of the possible elements for a portfolio.

POrU OIJO Storybo ard

us tile block.r oaJOw u Ol 'fOVI pottfolio. lf/G SCCCrtdi'Jig 10 t/le
1st c1 )'(IU ftlvml:# met poVfn aoocrcfngty.

D DDDDD
DDDDDD
D D D DDD
D DDDDD
DDDDDD
A portfolio storyboard.
PORTFOLIO PREPARATIONS 73

boards, acetate sheets, transfer type- and

their cost. Plan to make at least one dupli-
cate portfolio for yourself; more copies if you
are making multiple submissions. Extra
prints of photographs and a supply of extra
art materials are useful to have on hand.
since the portfolio may suffer some damage
as it makes the rounds. (This may not be
necessary for practice or "rehearsal " port-
folios you prepare while learning to design
them, but it is essential planning for the real
world.)
Thumbnail layout sheets (see illustration)
give you the opportunity to sketch out the
relative size and position of the work you
have selected in more detail than the story-
board. Careful thum bnailing prevents mis-
Sample thumbnail sketches, one for a horizontal
takes that could force you to abandon work
format. the othe r for a vertical format, showing
at midpoint and start over from scratch.
some possible layouts.
Decisions about sizing art or photographs
and the treatment of them depend upon the
amount or detail they contain and their dra-
matic impact on the page. Reverse images-
that is, white on black background-can be
very effective for architectural plans, but at
large sizes negative images can be over-
whelming. and white type reproduced against
a black background can be dillicult to read.
Photostats provide b..ig h contrast between
black and white areas but reproduce areas of
gray tone or shading poorly or not at all. You
must match the reproduction technique to
the artwork and decide what will work best
for each image.
The portfolio audit is complete when you
have assembled all the work to be included
PORTFO L IO DES I G N 86

designing the typography for the accompany-

ing text, and creating the text elements such
as the title page, contents, design statements,
and resume, and fine-tu,ning the sequencing
or arrangement of pages within and between
projects .
Begin by designing a grid, or underlying
structure. The grid helps you to size and posi -
tion the images in a coherent design. It is
really a set of assumptions about the permis-
sible sizes and shapes of images and blocks
of text and it helps you achieve some design
consistency throughout the portfolio. It is cus-

--
--
.... """'
tomary to decide upon a standard "measure"
or width for the material. Text and images
may run across the entire width of the page.
Eight ways of aranging columns of text or the page may be divided into two, three,
on horizontal and vertical rormats. or more columns. The grid should take into
consideration the character of the images:
some demand large-scale reproduction: oth-

DOD ers can be reproduced small. For example,

you may want to group images in sequence,

Qc:J[I[J showing the evolution of a concept. Break

down the pages into imaginary blocks of space
of stylistically-related appearance, and fit im-
ages and text into these blocks. Now you can
determine the final size and position of the
artwork. Using the thumbnail layouts you pre-

DODD pared during formatting, analyze the different

images and text blocks for each project and
each page and position them on the grid. You

[]WJI
Eight ways of arranging heads
may need to make a series of sketches, first
perhaps in the f01m of roughs on smaller-size
sheets, working up to a full-size "dummy" on
tracing paper. TI1is is a process of trial and error
and constant adjustment to solve conceptual
on horizontal and vertical formats.
DEVELOPING THE LAYOUT 87

problems that reveal themselves as you lay

Ql.
out the pages. Remember that the grid of a
well-organized page should be essentially

I. l.iiiDDI
invisible: it should be a guide. not a strait-

- - - jacket.

- -- EBI-
It is during lhi.s development that the dilfi-
cult-to-define qualities of style and vision
.;:;;:;;.. evolve. For an important portfolio, you may

- _
.. . _.... - want to experiment with as many as six diller-
en! rehearsal studies of tllis kind. Working

.._ - OJ
IEaiDIIb=J with full-scale tracing paper allows you to test
. .... "- the proposed size of each image against the
page and see the effects of juxtaposition and
.-..... ,.......,... __.... - sequence.

I I II I I You can resize images easily with a propor-

Sample layouts for a horizontal formal
with headings, text, and visuals.
Sample layouts for a verUcal format
with headings, lexl, and visuals.
tional scale (available almost art-supply
stores). The scale tells you, if images are
being enlarged or reduced to a certain heig ht,
just what the width or that image will be in
the new size. or if a particular width i.s de-
sired, just what the new height of the image
will be. Even easier, draw a diagonal line
from one corner of the image to the opposite
corner (on an overlay or photocopy: don't
draw on original art or a photograph!), or ex-
lend the diagonal line beyond the border of
the image. Any point on this line will produce
a different-sized image that remains propor-
tional to the original image (see overleaf).
As you develop the page layout from sketch
to actuaUty, you make more detailed decisions
about the size and style or text type, heads,
captions, tabular materials, charts, and folios
(page or plate numbers). Seldom are all these
elements necessary: choose what you need to
make your points. Is a project based on a class
DEVELOP I NG THE LAYOUT 89

- ............

_ ..
--- -
. .........

-,....,.,.,
=-

"-
___....,
----
-- ..
five varied portfolios demonstrate consistent
designs with different types or images fitted
into a grid structure. Arthur Hanlon's bas a
format and a formal two-column
A simple but caretuUy constructed two-column
vcrt.ical structure (this page). The vertical
layout.
Arthur llanlou, The C<ttholic University of column on the left side of the page is nai-
America, Washington, DC. 11 x 8 112 rower than the column on Ihe right side of
PORTFOLIO DE S IGN 90

.. ____ ..--
. __
, - .- - - - - - - ,
,......._

____
--
_._ -....__ _
----
,
- - . - ......1 -liO;.

10

---
,__ _ _ . . _ _ _

o t t o t o t I I f t 0 t t I t 0 o t t 0 ' t o I t

----
__ ----
---
------
---
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------ ..__ ..
::-.. -:..:=-
.

t ' I o I I t 0 I I I ' 0 0 t Ol

A flexible Ulfee-colwnn grid.

Michael D. G rcigg. University of Maryland, Colwnbla, MD. 11" x 8 1/2"
PORTFOLIO DESIGN 92

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[DW$1
\W'; 1:1 [M!;iiJ I
In this portlolio. submllled ln appUcation to a graduate program. the subtle grid is skiillully
interrupted wllh to create a memorable se<Juence of Uvely graphic statemems.
Carlos Brun. University of Mlarnl. Coral Gables. FL. 8 \12" x 11"