Definition of portfolio
If you are among the students or graduates of design-related fields, you have surely heard the name of portfolio and its great impact in applying and getting admission to universities. In this section, we are going to define and review the portfolio and important points to improve its quality .
First of all, we provide some different definitions in this regard. Of course, note that the portfolio is not related to a specific field, however, this issue is more common in fields related to design (such as architecture) .
First definition
” In short, it can be said that portfolio is the album of your works. The projects you presented during the semester, sketches, rando, model making, all the sheeting, 3D works, etc., are compiled in a notebook and presented as a portfolio to the university or workplace . ”
The above phrase is a comprehensive definition that is mentioned in almost all websites and information sources. However, there is another definition that is easier to understand .
The second definition is ” a portfolio is a collection of your works that shows the skills and ideas you have acquired over a period of time (studying and working). This collection shows your creativity, personality and abilities, and it is used to choose you to enter a higher level of education or a new job. According to the two explanations above, the portfolio can also be defined in this way .
” A collection of your portfolio from the beginning until now that shows your progress, skills, weaknesses and strengths, which is sent to the destination university in a specific and organized format and category (like a magazine or album), to the university in addition to On your work record (resume), they will also get to know your executive skills. In fact, the portfolio can be considered as a supplement to the resume . ”
The impact of the portfolio in applying
If we want to talk a little more clearly about the application of this issue, it is better to present it in the form of an example. For example, let’s assume that you are going to send your resume for admission to the Association of Architecture School in England; In this case, you have two options; Either send your resume fully written without any additions, or send your resume along with your portfolio .
In the first method, the person who is responsible for evaluating resumes will read your resume and finally give his final opinion .
In the second method, the person who is responsible for evaluating resumes, in addition to checking your resume, can also check the portfolio you sent; In this case, in addition to increasing your chances of applying, the destination university will also get to know your skills .
Why should we send the portfolio along with the resume?
Universities that accept students from all over the world are always looking for those who have special characteristics or talents. For this reason, the competition among students becomes more intense, because each of them intends to prove their talents and abilities to the destination university by using different methods. One of the things that makes some students excel is the presentation of a resume. A good resume has a huge impact on applying. Now some go beyond this and create a portfolio and send it along with their resume. This will help the people who check the resume to be able to clearly see and evaluate the skills of the person. As a result, people who have exemplary skills in their field of study must send their own portfolio along with their resume .
Building a strong architecture portfolio is very important for an architect to migrate to another country. A comprehensive and strong architectural portfolio allows an architect to effectively demonstrate their experience and skills and play an important role in hiring decisions. Architecture study application with a strong portfolio naturally increases your chances for success .
The importance of building a strong portfolio in architectural migration can be justified from several aspects. First, a complete and diverse portfolio reflects the architect’s abilities and experiences. This allows the architect to provide examples of their past projects and show how they responded to challenges and achieved successful results .
On the other hand, a strong architectural portfolio allows the architect to attract international studios, companies and employers. By using previous projects and examples of their work, an architect can build credibility. Likewise, a strong portfolio allows an architect to bring his architecture to an international standard. In the architecture industry, global standards and modern designs are considered. With high-quality and diverse work samples in the portfolio, the architect can appear as a professional with international standards and grow easily .
Architecture study application with portfolio with these features
Based on the fact that you need to apply for architecture education with a portfolio, one of your most fundamental strengths will be to present a strong and international portfolio of work and improve skills at different levels. In order to do this work as correctly as possible, we will provide you with a quality control checklist for the architecture portfolio, which you can proceed based on .
Portfolio features can be very important and influential for architecture study applications. Below, we will explore some of the key features of a portfolio for an architecture degree application .
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- Project diversity
The portfolio should have a variety of different projects. This includes architectural design projects, blueprints, 3D modeling , architectural renderings, interior design, and any other type of architectural project. This shows that you have the ability to work with different tools and architectural methods and are committed to expanding and progressing in the field of architecture .
- Strong examples of design
Portfolio should include strong examples of architectural design. These examples should demonstrate creative thinking, attention to detail, use of design principles, and the ability to present ideas. The designs should clearly show your skill in architectural design, use of drawing and modeling tools, and the ability to create creative and unique designs .
- Connection between samples
An architect’s resume for Apply should be able to tell a cohesive story about your experience and interest in architecture. Different examples should be related and have a logical sequence. This shows that you have a strong understanding of the design process and architectural thinking and can present ideas and concepts thoroughly .
- Examples of digital architecture
show examples of architectural design using architectural software and tools such as AutoCAD , Revit , SketchUp , Rhino , and Photoshop . These examples show that you are familiar with everyday architectural tools and have the ability to use them optimally .
- Description and interpretation
Meanwhile, an important issue to remember is the interpretation of results based on designs. Each example in the portfolio should come with a proper description and interpretation. You should be able to explain your ideas and design process and explain how you arrived at these results and why these designs are superior .
A few features of good portfolio construction
- A sample of work from the study period
If you have done projects and designs during your university or architecture school, add them to your portfolio as examples of your abilities. This shows that your interest in architecture started from school and you have basic abilities .
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- Professional work examples
On the other hand, if you have ever worked in the field of professional architecture and experienced real projects, include them in your portfolio. These examples show that you have the ability to work in a professional environment and have practical experience .
- Examples of collaborative and group projects
If you have participated in group projects or architectural collaborations, include them in your portfolio. This shows that you have the ability to cooperate and work in a team and the ability to communicate and coordinate with others .
- Presenting how to communicate ideas
In your portfolio, show well how you realized your ideas and implemented them in architectural design. Show how to present the concept, ideals, views, maps and built models in an accurate and orderly manner .
We will give another example of the importance of the portfolio and the reason for sending it to the desired university, and at the end, we leave the choice to you to choose any method you like to apply .
Suppose you are responsible for evaluating the qualifications of people to accept or not accept applicants in the field of art. On one side, you can see a file of a student who has a GPA of 19 from one of the best universities in Tehran and his academic grades are also very high. However, the person in question has not submitted a resume or portfolio in his file .
On the other hand, you can see a case related to a person with a GPA of 14 from one of the average universities of the country. His grades have also been average throughout his academic years. But this person’s resume is very strong and the record of holding several solo exhibitions is also visible in it; Also, this person’s portfolio includes detailed and very creative art designs. Which person do you choose? Someone with a high GPA with no resume or someone with an average GPA and a brilliant resume and portfolio? Therefore, we conclude that the portfolio has a great impact on your choice .
Despite the many uses of the portfolio, there are many people who are unaware of its importance; Others, who are aware of the great impact of this matter, cannot create and present a suitable portfolio. In order to prepare a suitable portfolio that is also approved by the universities, one must observe the things that we have mentioned below some of the most important ones .
What features should our portfolio have for admission to universities and what should we avoid?
Attention to the criteria of the desired university
The first step in preparing a successful portfolio is to write its characteristics according to the criteria of the desired university. Maybe a standard that a university in England emphasizes a lot, is not so important for an architecture school in Switzerland. The mistake that most applicants make is that they prepare a long portfolio without considering the criteria of the desired university. For example, let’s say that the architecture school in America cares more about the overall design of the building than the details and details. Now, if you include and send unique designs with a simple overview but very detailed details in your portfolio, your chances of acceptance will be very low. Therefore, before making a portfolio, find out about the criteria of your desired university; You can do this by consulting with students there or reading reviews about that university .
Do not sacrifice quality for quantity
Now that you are familiar with the criteria of your desired university, you should keep another point in mind. This point is nothing but the quality of the portfolio. Every year, many students send a portfolio containing many samples of their work to the desired university; However, few of them manage to get admission in their desired university. The reason for this is the large number of portfolios in the portfolio. Of course, the people responsible for checking them review hundreds of portfolios every day. Therefore, it can be assumed that individual portfolio pages are not checked. Our suggestion is instead of sending 30 to 40 average work samples in the portfolio, choose 10 good work samples and send them; This will surely increase your chances .
Be careful in choosing the portfolio cover
One of the things that differentiates different portfolios from each other is the cover design. This point, while being simple, has a great impact in attracting the opinion of the evaluation officials. Of course, its impact can be clearly seen in everyday life. For example, if you go to a book fair, among hundreds of books in a booth, a book with a more attractive title and cover will attract your attention; Although other books may have more useful and attractive content, the cover of the book makes its own impact and attracts the attention of more people. Therefore, do not neglect the choice or design of the cover in any way, which can guarantee your superiority over many other applicants .
To increase the chances of acceptance, attach documents that confirm your portfolio .
In fact, people’s portfolios contain a lot of work samples, however, many of them do not send proof that the work samples are for them along with the portfolio. This issue is more important for countries like Iran that do not have a copyright law. Therefore, sending documents that confirm that your work portfolio is related to you has a great impact. For example, imagine a person who has one of his design portfolios published in a reputable magazine. This work sample can have a great impact on portfolio evaluation officials at the destination university, provided that the applicant complies with some conditions. First: Explanations (if needed) about the work sample. Second: Mention the name of the journal and its field of activity (in general, anything that makes access to the journal easier for the destination university.) It should be noted that you can also do this for your resume, which will ultimately lead to an increase in your chances of acceptance. .
Remember, the time to evaluate the work quality portfolio is not the only important parameter .
The wrong thinking that exists in the minds of most applicants is that they think that if the quality of the work they sent is high, the rest of the issues are not so important; But this thinking is completely wrong . Remember that the university in question does not intend to use that work, but intends to use (study permission) its creator . As a result, when you place your product in the portfolio, pay attention to points such as background, color harmony, fonts (if used). If you also have a website where you can post your work portfolio, it is not a bad idea to include some of your website’s address (observing all the mentioned items, including color and font harmony, etc.), because in this case, the university can get to know more about You get it. Be sure that these small tips are the secret of your success in getting admission .
Create a website for your portfolio
In simple words, the purpose of creating a portfolio site is to place portfolios for people to refer to; We have mentioned this topic above, but in this section we are going to teach you some tips to facilitate the process of creating a website .
First step: Create a suitable website using reliable global services .
Many companies and services allow you to easily design your desired site with the features you want. Although they may force you to charge your account to use some features (simply put, some items in these services require purchase), however, rest assured that it is totally worth it .
However, you can also create a simple website for free and pay only a fixed monthly and annual fee. Also, if you pay, use a template that is stylish and glamorous .
As two examples of services that you can use to build a portfolio Wix And Weebly It can be mentioned .
Second step: Design your home page in a way that shows your portfolio .
Applicant portfolio assessors see a large number of work samples daily; Of course, the more easily they can access them, the higher your chances of applying will be. Therefore, be very careful in designing or selecting the home page. Be sure to try several templates until you finally find the right template for you .
Step 3: Create an About Us page .
This page should contain information about your works and projects. Articles or books related to your field that you managed to publish can also be mentioned here. Another point in this regard is the type of your writing. You can write the information on this page in first person or third person. for example :
” I have a working experience in the company for 2 years . ” (first person) or “He was working in the company for 2 years. ” (third person)
Step 4: Be sure to collect some examples of comments from people who have worked with you before launching the site .
Comments have a great impact on the people visiting your site, especially the officials; You must collect them before launching the site so that you can place them in a suitable and visible place. For this, you can ask your colleagues, employers, university professors and generally all the people who have experience working with you to express their opinion about working with you and then write the opinions without the slightest change along with the name. And display them publicly in the feedback section. Feedback has always been one of the most influential things on visitors .
Print your samples on suitable papers .
Maybe this point is unimportant to you, but in order to prepare an excellent portfolio, you must be sure of the quality of the papers. The reason for emphasizing this issue is that printing portfolios on low-quality paper causes color changes in some cases. This issue becomes more important when your field of study is related to graphic designs in which color combination is very important; In this case, if you use low-quality paper, it will have a very negative effect on your portfolio. To find the right paper for your portfolio, it is enough to print one of your samples in which several different colors are used on different papers and compare the output of each one with each other and finally choose the right paper for you .
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final word
A portfolio can be considered a work album of your skills that you have managed to do during your years of study. If you use this correctly, you can have a significant advantage over other applicants. To prepare a successful portfolio, there are many things that you should pay attention to; But the most important of them can be said to pay attention to the criteria of the university you intend to apply for. As a final advice, it doesn’t matter how complete your portfolio is; Prepare the portfolio and send it along with your resume. Be sure that if your skills are accepted by the destination university, you will definitely succeed in obtaining admission to the university .
As we have mentioned, learning and continuing to stay updated in different areas of architecture is your important secret to succeed in your job application. In the same process and in the field of improving professional and professional knowledge, the prographic package has been made available in Ben Roo College and you will have the opportunity to use it .
With a strong architecture portfolio, you can stand out from the crowd and improve your academic migration to an architecture program of your choice. This portfolio allows you to show your abilities, talents and interest in the field of architecture to your desired university. Remember that your portfolio is personal and unique and should become an exhibition of your creativity, design and ability .
Thank you for accompanying us until the end of this article .
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