Page 1 of 2

Portfolio Checklist: Fundamentals

Personality Before you start curating your portfolio, think of your personality. What is the best
way to showcase this through your portfolio? If you enjoy simplicity and rigour, your
portfolio might be pared-back and minimal; if you enjoy vibrancy and expression, your
portfolio might use bold colours, punchy motifs, and fluid shapes.

Consistency Make sure you are clear on which elements you will utilise to give consistency to your
portfolio. Ensure font colours and font styles are consistent, as well as any graphic
design elements or symbols that you wish to use on each page.

Length and Size Aim for 10-12 pages of work at A3 landscape size for a digital application. If a physical
portfolio is required, you can usually easily convert this A3 landscape format into A4
spreads to print as an A4-sized portrait portfolio. Some practices have a page limit so
check this before sending your application.

Variety Begin by being highly selective about which work to exhibit. Start by choosing one
of each image type that you wish to include. For example: one plan, one section, one
visualisation, one model photo, one detailed drawing. For skills you wish to emphasise,
add a second or third example of this. This will ensure your portfolio is succinct.

White Space White space is your friend. Let your work (especially your best and favourite drawings)
breathe. Leaving plenty of white space around drawings and images helps to draw the
viewer’s eye to them.

Hierarchy Establish hierarchy on each page. This ensures that the viewer’s eye is drawn to the
images that showcase your best work and skills, with other, smaller images supporting.
Don’t feel the need to fill pages. Usually 1-3 images per page is all that is necessary.

Project Information Include key facts and background information for all of your projects. For any
professional, group, or self-initiated projects, succinctly describe (usually in bullet
points) what your key responsibilities were. If it is an academic project, you can list any
useful skills you honed and enhanced through undertaking the project.

Skills & Software Used Demonstrate your software and practical skills to the person viewing your portfolio.
Alongside image captions which describe the contents, a note which indicates which
software (such as Photoshop) or skill (such as plaster-casting) you used to produce an
image will indicate how skills listed on your CV have been put into practise.

@samuelmrarchitect
stan.store/samuelmrarchitect
Page 2 of 2

Portfolio Checklist: Practicalities

Fonts Using your fonts strategically is key. Use 4 font styles in your portfolio: a striking front
page title style (24-30pt) size, smaller project or section title style in bold or italic (14pt-
18pt), body text style which is not bold or italic (10-12pt), and the smallest style for
captions (8-10pt). Try subtler colours for body & caption text.

Page Layout Think of how your reader’s eye will move across the page. Having the project title and
information on the left of the page makes sense, as does having an eye-catching image
on the right. Try to have one key image and no more than three smaller, accompanying
images per page.

Margins and Guides An odd number of both columns and rows (e.g. 7 columns, 5 rows) will ensure that
your portfolio doesn’t look too symmetrical. For guides, a 5mm gap between both
columns and rows is usually a good starting point. At A3 size I use 15mm margins on
the left and right, and 30mm top and bottom.

Orthographic Drawings Ensure that orthographic drawings (plans, sections, elevations) have a scale bar
accompanying them. If showing a plan alongside an elevation or section, make sure the
drawings are at the same scale. If you are showing a section alongside a plan, make sure
that your plan has a section cut line on it to show where the section was taken.

File Types Always export the final images you wish to use for your portfolio as either JPG or
PNG (if you want them to have a transparent background) files at at least 300dpi. If
you import PDFs or Illustrator files, your line thicknesses and colours may not display
correctly when viewed on-screen.

Line thicknesses Export any intricate drawings to fit on A4 or A3 paper, and make sure that lines are no
thinner than 0.09mm when printed or exported. Sometimes those fine, crisp lines you
have in your drawings disappear when printing a portfolio or viewing it on screen. This
is often due to the drawing being scaled down to fit onto an A3 or A4 sheet.

Colour Achieve a professional and aesthetic portfolio through complementary tones. Using
60% (like this) or 80% black text or lines is less jarring than using 100% black. Similarly,
if you have images on a page of varying colours and tones, an easy way to make them
more cohesive is to lower their opacity to 80-90% so that the colours are not so strong.

Exporting Export an interactive PDF at 144dpi with maximum image quality for digital
applications. This will keep the file size small without compromising image quality when
viewed on-screen. For printed portfolios, export a print PDF. at 300dpi, maximum
image If using a professional printing service, check their guidelines on crop marks.

@samuelmrarchitect
stan.store/samuelmrarchitect