Career Services
 

Preparing Portfolios for Landscape Architects

Different Types of Portfolios

Presentation Portfolio

In-class examples

Mailable portfolio

Bound for you: blurb.com and apple ilife

Text should be focused, concise, and clear with no extraneous information. This elevator pitch is an example of how to hone your narrative.

On-line

Martin - a work in progress

Schuyler -adapted from Martin's template

 

Photographer's

 

Writing Project Descriptions

An in-depth look at highlighting your accomplishments.

 

Putting Together Your Portfolio

Content

Which projects will you include in your portfolio? Are you

  • highlighting your range?
  • focusing on projects that dovetail with the work of the firm?
  • focusing on the kind of work you want to do?

Rhythm

Start and finish strong.

Include a few process pieces but keep explanations concise.

Consider flexibility -- you may want to tailor the portfolio to each interview.

Text

Use the same tense and style conventions throughout the portfolio.

Do not invent words or new meanings for existing words.

Plan for 3 rounds of revisions.

Avoid Martin and Michele's pet peeves.

Images

Resolution: Print: 300dpi tiff   |   Web: 96 or 72 dpi  gif for line art, jpg for photos. If you're not completely done editing a photo, do not save it as a jpg, image quality will suffer.

Whenever possible, don't crop images too tightly in Photoshop, leave that for InDesign.   

Design

Consistency is key. Follow the example of a book.

Spreads

In-class example

The Grid

Start the text and images in the same place on each page. This makes viewing the portfolio easier on the audience. It's distracting to have to figure out where to focus every time you turn the page.

In-class examples

Column widths and image widths and heights should align with your grid.

Thirds - in-class examples

Multiples - in-class examples

Typography

If you have no training in typography, keep it VERY simple.

Think of a block of text as another image. When designing the page, start with a grey box the same shape and size and the text. This will help you treat it as a design element instead of focusing on the content.

Stick to one "display face" and one face for "body copy." It usually works to select one serif and one sans-serif.

Keep sizes proportional. Example - keep everything a multiple of two and make the display face 3 times the size of the type used for copy.

  • text: 10 point type
  • subheads: 12 point type
  • heads: 16 point type
  • display face: 30 point type

Do not use justified type. Stick to rag right for body copy

When aligning display type, use the baseline for alignment.

Line-length: stay under 80 characters. 66 is considered "ideal."

Images

Images should have same proportions, same intensity of color, and same quality

Software

Do not use Photoshop. Use page layout software.

Timeline

Start now

In-Class Critique

Volunteers