Print Portfolios Squared

As it appears today Web-based portfolios are the preferred means of displaying work. “Because Web-based portfolios are so convenient, print versions are becoming less common among design professionals and design studios” (Page 94). However, print portfolios play a vital role in the processing of displaying design work to clients during interviews and presentations.

Often times print portfolios are required of designers. “Sometimes, a professional designer needs to present a portfolio when applying for a grant or award, such as a prestigious Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Award” (Page 94). In these situations your website portfolio will not cut it. It is important to make sure that your print portfolio is as great as your website portfolio.

Several examples of excellence in print portfolios were highlighted in “Building Design Portfolios.” The following were designs that I found intriguing and inspirational:

Modern Dog- This group is irreverent and successful because of it. The firm’s portfolio arrives at a destination unassembled in a FedEx box. Within the box is a CD containing poster work, stills of old TV shows, CD designs for Loud Reed and the Pretenders, as well as gum packages, lip gloss, playing cards, a T-shirt, sheets of play stamps, and various books of logos and designs spilled out of the FedEx box. This way of displaying the work is outrageous yet compelling. People will want to know more about the company after receiving this print portfolio (Page 112).

Robin Lynch- This print portfolio intrigued me. Lynch uses a tin box for her portfolio presentation. She makes this box out of cut-up coffee cans and lined in comics. Within this container there are sub-containers to organize relevant work. The approach Lynch takes provides her with flexibility in customizing presentations, which has helped in providing her with a wide array of clients (Page 113).

The print portfolios of design students differ from professional print portfolios. “Most graduating design students create print portfolios; they typically spend the last part of the senior year assembling all their best projects into a presentation box of some kind” (Page 114). Many student portfolios are presented in the form of printed books that are organized around ideas that best express the ideas of the student (Page 114). Websites spread the word about a designer quickly but print portfolios displayed in a new, fresh manner may set a design student above the rest.

The student portfolio that I connected with most was that of Kathryn Cho’s. Her portfolio is a bound book that spans five years of work. The book is simple and allows the design work to be displayed without anything extraneous. One element of her graphic designs is dots. These dots are used as they serve as a reference to both print and computer screens. To enhance the dot theme, Cho puts her book in a bag with a dot patterns. The dots on the bag reflect Cho’s belief in graphic design permeating all mediums. All around Cho’s portfolio is a solid representation of who she is as a person and designer (Page 136).

Portfolios, both professional and student, are critical in getting a designer work.