WHAT IS PORTFOLIO ?


A portfolio of work is defined in different ways depending on the situation. There are different portfolios for different occasions. Obviously you will have one kind of portfolio at the end of your second year as an undergraduate student and another kind when you have finished post-professional studies.

More importantly, when you come to make your portfolio at the moments in your life when you want your academic or professional career to develop or change, you will most probably make a different portfolio to suit where you would like to be heading.

However, all these different kinds of portfolios will have one thing in common. They will contain your work in a format that will make it easy for the portfolio to be transported physically and digitally to many different situations. The most normal format for a portfolio most closely resembles a book. It can be a small book which is easy to mail, or it can be a large book, almost like a collection of paintings which you take with you to interviews.

Increasingly, portfolios are digital and can be sent in CD format or exist as a website. With a digital portfolio you will have more freedom to play with the format but will also be relying on someone else to understand how to access it.

Remember, it is still easier for most people to turn pages than to navigate links and understand graphic and animation software.

All these formats will have one thing in common. The fact that the portfolio is a travelling document, that its function and meaning may change depending on the context, and that your career may hang on it, means that it has to be tough, beautiful, clearly organized, very easy to understand and even easier to use. Whatever the context for which you need the portfolio, or the phase of your career, there are basic rules about the portfolio that you should remember;

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