Why is it needed?
A portfolio for an interior designer is his business card and advertisement among potential clients. With the help of this document, you can acquire new customers and show why they should choose you. A portfolio is not just a folder containing all the work of a designer. This is a document on the basis of which the client will be able to visually see what he will receive in the course of cooperation and what the result of the work will be.
A well-crafted portfolio is a direct path to new profitable deals.
When creating such a document, you can encounter many nuances that must be followed without fail. The designer will need to think through such issues as the syllable for presenting their product, the style of the portfolio, the selection of profitable projects, and their description.
Why do you need to create an interior designer portfolio?
A small list of reasons why you need to make your portfolio:
- in order to get the coveted position in a design studio or in an agency, without such a document it will be difficult to get a job since there they will be asked why they should take this particular applicant;
- in order to demonstrate that the specialist is ready to cooperate;
- to find clients;
- for admission to a specific educational organization or courses, etc.
How to compose your portfolio?
Every designer who starts building their portfolio asks how many examples of work to put into a document.
Before you arrange your presentation, you need to familiarize yourself with the structure of the document. It usually consists of the following sections:
- First of all, you need to create a cover for your interior design portfolio. As a rule, it is created in the style of minimalism, without unnecessary details. It is enough just to indicate the last name, first name, and specialty. Each person thinks over the color scheme and design of the cover independently, but usually, it is a monochromatic surface.
- The second page will contain a story about yourself. You need to introduce yourself, tell about your experience in this area. Many designers talk about how they came to this activity, and what prompted them to do it. At the end of the story, communication methods are added. Experienced experts do not recommend prescribing your age if the designer is under 24 years old. This is due to the fact that some customers fundamentally do not want to work with young specialists.
- All subsequent pages will be presented with drafts, sketches, and finished works. The recommended number of sheets is 6-9. Add free space between the text part and the photographs so that the client canstudy the portfolio easily.
- You can add a description of the project, its history, tasks, and other nuances that will help make the document as informative and interesting as possible. When compiling a portfolio, you need to ask yourself: what does the future employer want to see in it, and what questions can he ask?
- The presentation of the apartments will look very good, which will indicate the initial state of the project, the tasks set and even a short history of how certain details were chosen.
- The last page of the design portfolio contains contact information with feedback and gratitude from clients.
While viewing the presentation, the client should get answers to all possible questions in it. You can use some guidelines with which you can decide on further actions to create a portfolio for a novice designer.
For a start, this option will work, but in the end, you still have to choose your best works and delete the unsuccessful ones.
Beginners use the following structure to create an interior design portfolio:
- Presentation of educational projects in which high-quality working drawings will be present. This section is of great interest to employers when interviewing in design studios. This should also include interior sketches or volumetric renders. With the help of this technique, you can clearly show your professional skills. The ideal option is a division into residential and non-residential premises.
- Demonstration of competitive projects. Not every designer has work with which he participated in competitions, so this section will be a big plus when compiling a portfolio.
- The next section should contain information about private projects, if you have any. Many aspiring designers show projects that they have done for their acquaintances, relatives, and friends. You can also invent a client for yourself by creating a fictional project, having thought over all the details and nuances.
- The next section is filling the portfolio with academic works and amateur sketches. You can attach pictures if the specialist is fond of this. Using this method, you can reveal yourself as a person to the customer, showing your individuality.
Design portfolio
A correctly designed portfolio greatly increases the designer's chances of finding his client. Samples of completed or under development projects will interest a potential customer much faster than prestigious diplomas. You need to clearly know how to structure the document, what works to include in it, where it is better to place to correctly design a portfolio.
How to best build your portfolio:
- Before putting together a portfolio, decide on your target audience. There are two options here. The first one is potential clients, the second one is people who are professionals in it. It is clear that in the first case, it is necessary to pay attention to advertising and selling aspects, and in the second - to technical perfection and original findings, understandable to professionals.
- To search for new customers for design services, it is necessary to include already implemented projects in the portfolio. It's best if they can present your strengths as a professional.
- Expand your creative lab. The customer will be curious to look at the stages of project implementation, to trace the compliance of the final work with the tasks set at the start. If there are customer reviews, then add them to your portfolio. Pay attention to the works made for participation in the competitive selection.
- Try to take quality, not quantity. A dozen of the best works are enough (from the development of brand names to the design of web resources).
- Do not forget that a person's subconscious is tuned in to memorize the first and last words, images. For maximum impact, place your best projects at the beginning and end of your portfolio.
- As for the design portfolio for professional colleagues, the approach to its preparation will be somewhat different. You can give free rein to your imagination and be creative. At the center should be design excellence that expresses your personality.
- You can use graphics, unusual format, unexpected media. The poetic lines of the author, interesting thoughts, aphorisms, sketches will organically fit into the creative portfolio.
- It is important to follow a simple structure based on either creation dates, customers, or a convenient classification. The works should speak for themselves so that no additional questions arise.
How to create an interior designer portfolio: Instructions for drawing
There is an opinion that the maximum creativity and originality of the portfolio are evidence of the outstanding abilities of the applicant. It is not always so. Even creative people have to adhere to certain rules. A designer portfolio needs to include a number of essential elements.
- Be careful when filling out your resume. Here you need to include all the data that characterize you as a professional, indicate educational institutions (attach scans of diplomas), general data. If you speak a foreign language, took additional courses - do not forget to reflect this in your resume.
- Highlight the area of hobbies and additional skills (beading, cooking exotic dishes, etc.) It is not an easy but doable task: it is interesting to tell about yourself without going beyond the official style.
- You should not refuse to include sketches in the portfolio. Feedback from grateful clients will be an effective addition to the design portfolio.
- Remember that visual overload spoils the viewing experience. Don't offer too much of your works to a potential customer. It is better to present the most successful projects that have already been implemented. A video presentation is suitable for an informal portfolio option, but you also need to make a printed duplicate.
- Take into account the requirements of the company for which you are preparing a portfolio. Having compiled a base copy, you can quickly adjust it for each specific customer. This will demonstrate your interest in collaboration and attention to detail.
- Post your portfolio on specialized sites and forums. You can create several pages on social networks to attract more customers. Running a personal blog is not a bad option for aspiring designers. In it, you can demonstrate the dynamic development of your creativity and the latest achievements.
So, after reading our article, you can easily create your ideal portfolio right now with the help of our website!