WHY YOU SHOULD DO DOCUMENTATION OF YOUR PORTFOLIO

Documentation is needed to keep your every piece of work you produce in the studio, in the office and in related visual, technical, or practical areas.

Taking care of your work is the most important professional activity you will ever do. Although you may not see the connection now, later on you may need to show some of your exploratory sketches for a design project because a particular Diploma Course or graduate programme may want to see how you think through drawing. Or you may need construction photographs because a particular office may want to see that you already have some site experience, and that you know how to recognize good from bad construction. So, get into the habit of scanning or photographing hand-drawn work or models at regular points during the project.

 A good time to do this is immediately after a review or jury it gives you time to reflect on the totality of the work, and if you do it well, it will make you proud of what you have done. Make sure you date the work memory alone can play tricks later on.

Take photos when you go on site and date them. Keep an album or digital record of photos. Get extra copies of construction drawings that you produced or co-produced. Save all your digital files and make sure you get CD copies of digital work so that your work is always backed up outside as well as inside your computer.

Dating, scanning and filing work is good to do when you need a break from creative work. This will create a large volume of work, so think about its ease of storage and transportation.

As you are designing, whether you are making sketches, drawings or models, use consistent sizes or plan to assemble work into consistent formats at regular intervals it will be much easier to transport and store.

Having a thousand pieces of work of different sizes will make your life really difficult in the long run. However you choose to do it, remember: when in doubt, be consistent and DOCUMENT!