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10 Steps to a great design portfolio
Your graphic design portfolio is a representation of yourself and of your skills as a graphic designer and it will become an essential part of landing your graphic design dream job! This guide will help you fine tune your portfolio to make sure its in top shape for your upcoming interviews!

1. The Portfolio Case
Choosing a case for your work should be the first step of creating your graphic design portfolio. The style of the case and the size of the case will play a role in what you put inside. It doesn't need to be an expensive portfolio, but it should be nice, new and look professional. Be sure the size of the pages are a suitable size to display the work you have.

2. Background Paper Colour
The background paper in your case should be a neutral color, white, light grey or black and should be used throughout your entire portfolio. Avoid switching the background colors, it can become to busy and throw off the flow of your portfolio.

3. Consistency is Key
The placement of your work should be consistent. If you center all of your designs on each page make sure they are center throughout. Keep spacing even around each piece. Ensure your pieces are secured with some double sided tape or spray mount so that your work isn't moving around as the pages are flipped back and forth. Showing inconsistency in your portfolio will reflect what your design work could be like.

4. The Right Creative Pieces
Spend time choosing the right work for your portfolio. If you are in design school have your teachers help you out, or ask your designer friends for input. Your work should be current and you should tailor the type of work in your portfolio to the job you are applying for. Include projects related to the area of work you are applying to.

5. Placement of Work
Your work should be trimmed neatly with no rough edges and placed firmly on each page. You should use some sort of sticky tack or removable double sided tape so your work does not shift around on the page. The last thing you wanna do is open up a portfolio for an interview and see all your work jumbled around and falling out of the page slips!

6. Label Your Work
More often than not, interviewers will ask you to leave a portfolio at the office for future viewing so labeling your work with a title and very brief description can help refresh their memory if they begin looking through your portfolio again. Labels can also serve as notes for you while you talk about your work. Keep the labels consistent; in the same place, size and fonts.

7. Strong Start & Finish
When the viewer opens your portfolio you want to “WOW” them, but the key is to keep them “wowed” throughout the entire presentation. Pick one of your strongest pieces for the opening page, which is usually a single page and not a spread. Its better to keep your resume and any other paper work in the back or in a separate folder.

Ending strong is just as important as starting strong, if not more important. You want to leave a good visual memory in the mind of the viewer. You should include another very strong piece at the end. Your portfolio should get stronger as it goes on.

8. Talking About Your Work
It is very important to be able to speak about each piece in your portfolio for at least a few minutes each. Know who it was for, what the project details were, what you did, what the concept was, what style you used and why.

9. Practice Makes Perfect
You may know everything there is to know about your work, but being able to speak about it confidently is a whole other game. Practice in front of friends, family and even strangers so you can overcome any uncomfortable feelings. The more you practice the better your presentation will be! Just remember not to ramble on for too long on about each project.

10. Networking
Networking is an essential aspect of any career, and the more designers and art directors you know the better. Its great to be able to show your portfolio to honest people in the field. Most designers and art directors are used to giving honest critiques, so their opinions can be very valuable!

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