The Professional Portfolio

Your portfolio is the best representation of what you as a designer, illustrator or fine artist are capable of doing. It is your essential tool of communication with clients, prospective employers, galleries or schools and they need to be constantly updated. Your portfolio should only contain the best, professionally displayed examples of your work as an artist while at the same time striving to show the scope of what you can do.

Portfolio Goals

If your short-term goal is just getting a job now then organize your portfolio to show your current strengths and concentrate on getting work where you can use those strengths. If you eventually want to do graphic design work, but your current experience is in photography, then show the best samples of your photography and seek that kind of work for now. As you gain more graphic design skills you can start adding these examples to your portfolio.

However, if you want to switch careers or branch out, then don't show work you don't want to do. Don't show ad design work if you want to illustrate. Don't show photography if you want to do web design. You can add samples of other work you do at the end of your portfolio just to cover your bases but explain in your bio what you want to do.

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