5 tips to create your own

architecture portfolio
Every architect dreams of getting a position in a famous firm or internship
at an established studio. However, you need to know how to present your
work and achievements.

It is difficult to create a good architecture portfolio, especially when you

don't know what to list in it or add personal information. Should your
online portfolio be available to everyone, or will you only share it with a
potential employer? You'll find tips and answers to these and other
questions will be answered in the article below.

A crucial part of your architecture portfolio is the focus on effective

architecture solutions and your capabilities. If you find yourself out there
on your own, troubled with portfolios and lack of inspiration, then we can
help you. Below you'll find five very good tips from professionals and
creative designers on how to present your architecture portfolio to the
world.

Design your online portfolio

As an architect, you need to present a visual portfolio - and so, your online
portfolio should be an integral part of your resume. An employer will look
at your regular resume and put it aside. Therefore, you need to illustrate it
with as many accomplishments as possible. Your college degree is much
less important than your actual skills in the profession and the examples
of your actual achievements and accomplishments.

For architecture students and prospective architects, printed portfolios

consisting of a series of basic sheets or bound into a book are still the
traditional and required architecture portfolio format. Even when you
prepare a portfolio website, many stick to the design of a traditional book.
Established studios frequently design and print their own portfolios, which
may be used as a client brochure...or just as a souvenir or a promotional
item.

Therefore, you should design your portfolio online in a booklet form as

well. You can integrate your resume and project booklet using Flipbooks
from Publuu. This tool will let you convert your digital resume and your
designs saved as PDF, and present your achievements in one-of-a-kind
flipbook format that is sure to make you stand out from the other
architecture portfolio ideas. Publuu offers great image quality and a
fantastic page turning effect, which will make your architecture portfolios
look like a classical booklet, but you will be able to embed it on your
website or e-mail.
Uploading your architecture portfolio to Publuu's servers will also allow you
to get rid of the most common problem of architects and graphic
designers - too large files. File size is a problem when sending your
projects via email, but Publuu does not have this limitation. This way you
will be able to present even very large files to your audience, who won't be
bothered by file size error since they will view your architecture portfolio
online.

Using Publuu to upload your digital flipbook gives you also freedom in
designing your PDF. Ordinary portfolios might not be viewable on the go or
at work, but Publuu files are presented to the potential customers and
fellow architects 24/7. And if should they wish doing it, they can always
download the document and print the images they find intriguing.

How should your architecture

portfolios look?
You may have already heard that an architect's job is a balance between
creativity and technology. While creativity is important in architecture and
design and you should show that in your portfolio, it can't come at the
expense of the work your architecture portfolio is meant to showcase. You
need to showcase your skills - if you want to show that you are able to
develop technical details, just one or two key examples will be enough.
Similarly, while photorealistic renders are impressive, professionals will
pay more attention to schematics, plans and your technological projects
rather than flashier graphic design examples.

When you plan an architecture portfolio booklet in InDesign or another

page creation program, avoid clutter. Use the options available when you
process the documentation into images, and rely on white space. White
space is the wise use of space between paragraphs and images - your
graphics need to be able to breathe and the reader can only focus at one
thing at a time. A successful portfolio uses minimal amounts of flashy
background. Add some space between details and you'll be surprised how
clearer the images look!

If you use little blank space, make sure the entire layout has a clear
structure so that the portfolio content is easy to digest by your potential
employer. If you rely on consistent layout principles, it will give your
portfolios a sense of cohesion. There are many professional layout
templates online that will help you create an architecture portfolio that
can be presented to any respectable studio or firm. You can find more
examples on our website.

Remember that even the best architects can make spelling mistakes that
make an extremely bad impression. Ask friends to check your work --
especially if you are creating an architecture portfolio in a language that is
not your own. This also goes for your website and any place you're
presenting your achievements.

Design your cover well

It's a good idea to start your architecture portfolio with a good cover page.
They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but a good cover page
should encourage people to read the portfolio of a creative applicant.

Good cover of an architecture portfolio can demonstrate the first

impression of you as an architect, so it is worth thinking about how you
want it to look. A well-designed, successful cover will give a potential
client from an architectural firm an idea of the type of work contained
within, and your design and presentation skills.

The process of preparing a good cover page of an architectuure portfolio is

easy enough. At a minimum, the title (often enough, it's just enough to
write Portfolio) and your full name should be placed on the front cover.
Add an image that symbolizes you and your work as a background (see
below to learn about what a star project is). You can also state your
current position in the company, your academic titles, if you are a student,
you can state your university.

The second or third page of the cover is a great place to put your resume
and similar personal details, like a link to your website. The printed booklet
will look great and if you present it as a flipbook, it will create a perfect
impression on your potential employer.

Adjust your architecture

portfolio to the reader
Inexperienced architects frequently include everything they have ever
created in their architecture portfolio, all their drawings, sample pages of
documentation, and all the unnecessary details showing their techniques
and skills. This is not a wise strategy. When confronted with too many
images, the prospective customer will be overwhelmed and ignores your
best architectural work.

Having multiple architecture portfolios is the best option: When submitting

your documents and application to a firm, you should highlight your
portfolio during the interview and send a brief email with the basic version
of your architecture portfolio. Then you'll create an extended version that
you can tailor to your exact industry. If you want, you can host the
complete version of your digital portfolio on your website.

Along with your CV/resume, you will probably also send a sample basic
architecture portfolio to the architecture firm. It should be minimal: a
thorough selection of your best and most relevant work, ranging from two
to five A3 or A4 pages in length (three recommended). Limit yourself to
one or two images, sketches or drawings per page because it is about
quality, not quantity. If a firm is interested, they will get in touch with you.
You can use Publuu's link functionality to submit a link to your website, so
that they could learn more about your work. Students can close their
portfolio with commendations from their professors.

Your basic architecture portfolio may have piqued their interest, but the
firm will be more interested in your more complete architecture portfolio,
which demonstrates your suitability for the position they are seeking. A
more complex architecture should contain examples of all the major
projects and areas in which you have worked and/or participated. Always
be truthful about your role on the job, what you did there, and what you
learned from the entire process.

Creating an effective portfolio is simple: start your design strategy from

scratch - and establish your design skills when showcasing your
techniques and architecture skills to others using your architecture
portfolio. Imagine you don't know anything about a fellow architect. What
could interest you in their work? Answer this, apply it to your own work
and put it on the initial pages of your architecture portfolio.

What to place in your

architecture portfolio?
As you progress through your education and the architecture profession,
the content of your architecture portfolio will also change. When you're a
student, your portfolio will mostly consist of credit work and
documentation of internships outside of school. You can present your best
student work and any awards and honors you earned. While this is fine,
remember to emphasize your lack of experience and willingness to learn.

As you gain more practical skills, you will include more accomplishments
and projects in your architecture portfolio, creating a mix of academic and
professional experience. Once in a while you might include a sketch that
showcases your creativity if you're really passionate about -- but you can
also save it for your complete architecture portfolio. As your experience
increases, you should showcase only the completed and built projects.
Professional architects' portfolios must focus primarily on completed
projects, rather than present theoretical drawings or creative exercises.

However, beyond the type of projects presented, all architects should

strive to demonstrate a very similar skill set, which includes: Sketching
and drawing by hand and CAD, creating models (including in 3d),
developing details. You can also show off your industry knowledge in your
architecture portfolio - including conferences, awards and certifications.
Many employers also value a creative person - if you work in graphic
design or other visual arts, such as photography or sculpture for example,
you can mention that in your full architecture portfolio.

Mention your soft skills like interpersonal abilities, presentation experience

or driving license in the resume section rather than in the architecture
portfolio proper... unless they suddenly become relevant in your
professional life. There's nothing wrong in including pictures of your team
showing trust and respect if you're an accomplished team leader, for
example.

Find the star of your architecture portfolio

Make one outstanding project the centerpiece of your architecture
portfolio. It's your greatest and most comprehensive architecture project
you ever created. Better projects will take its place as your career
advances and develops, but it will always represent the apex of your total
skill level and inventiveness. It's here to make your audience intrigued.
Your portfolio must instantly catch their attention so that your work does
not appear obsolete or similar to that of others. However, don't start with
it - it needs to be presented as a second one, to maintain the flow of your
personal story.

Include more outstanding ideas in your architecture portfolio in addition to

your finest project. These may have been once "excellent" or "great", but
since they aged and you gained new skills, today they are just "good". A
handful of such examples should be in your archive to round out the
remainder of your architecture portfolio. Put the "second best" idea as the
first one, showcasing its drawings, then smoothly transit to the star
design.

Finish your architecture portfolio with an unexpected twist. You might end
with a presentation of a project that demonstrates your unique abilities
and distinguishes you from the competitors. Show off your interior design
skills if you're in the construction industry. Or perhaps you worked on a
book project - show that you can do layout. You never know when
mentioning your side hustles will pay off. This is also relevant for students
who can use their spare time... and can practice their creativity and style.

Tell a story of your achievements

Your portfolio is a document that is supposed to show who you are and
what you have accomplished in life. If you present a mediocre architecture
portfolio to a company or potential employer, they will read it, admire the
images, flip through pages and put it aside. But if you tell a story with it,
they will remember your portfolio to the end.

When creating an architecture portfolio, think about the story structure of

your favorite books, movies and TV shows. A well-told story draws the
reader in and captures their attention. Why? Because these screenwriting
people know story structure and are masters of presenting ordinary events
as great stories. There is almost always a three-act structure in this type
of storytelling: beginning, middle, end. This can also apply to architectural
portfolios.

The beginning of your architecture portfolio is you. Every story starts with
"there once was a person". You are this person. When starting, focus on a
resume and a presentation of your capabilities as an architect - this should
not be the star of your architecture portfolio yet. Start with a solid
project.... then move on to the best one. Then present good projects,
interesting images on subsequent pages, slowly keeping the attention
drawn in by the star project. And finally, offer them a twist using that
unexpected project.

You can tell a story using architecture portfolios using many different
story-telling techniques, too: for example, you can start with your early
projects in chronological order and go to the top project you can offer - but
this can get boring fast. Your architecture portfolio should include only the
best examples to create a story that will get the attention of potential
architectural firm.

We hope you enjoyed these tips to prepare a spectacular architects'

portfolio. You can publish these projects using Publuu and embed them on
your website. If you found our article useful when creating an architecture
portfolio, feel free to share it on social mediaWe can't wait to see what you
create and build!