Portfolios...

Whenever you are in advertising, marketing, public relations, graphics, and photography, and want to be involved creatively in some way, you must have a portfolio. There are many different ways to put together a portfolio. They can be traditional and put in a (nice) binder or portfolio holder, they can be made on large boards and laid out, they can be on a disc, they can be a pdf, or on a website. Typically they are made according to what the maker is most comfortable doing.
When putting together your first portfolio, it is important to choose what type of medium you want to use. Any of the ones I listed previously are perfectly acceptable. After that it comes down to choosing your pieces and organizing it accordingly.


Some Tips for Your Portfolio:

• Buy a portfolio holder, if you are using this type of portfolio. You may be tempted to use a regular 3 ring binder for your portfolio, but don't. There are many different portfolios out there, zippered, black, and with handles is the standard. Find what works for you, but remember you want to impress.
• Make it look professional. You may like zoo animals and crazy colors, but unless you are applying for a zoo position, leave it off and choose more calming or business-like colors.
• Choose only your best work. Just because you had something published, doesn't mean it was your best work. Go through everything, and choose according to quality.
• Quantity of work is important. You don't want to put in too much or too little. A rule of thumb is to try to stay below 20 pages of work. If you are putting in campaigns, this means approximately 5 campaigns.
• Don't be afraid to include spec work or work that you made for the sole purpose to show your abilities. Sometimes a brilliant idea will get you the job.
• You should put the best work (campaign, ect) first, the second best last. This draws the employer into your portfolio and leaves them with a good impression.
• Make your portfolio versatile. Leave a way to switch in and out work as you go that way you don't have to make a whole new portfolio each time you want to add or take away something.
• Tailor your portfolio for the job you are applying for. If the company does mainly event planning, try to put mainly event planning things in. Or if the company works mostly with fast food companies, if possible, include some advertisements, ect. that have to do with the fast food industry.
• Have multiple pages (or pieces), boards, ect. ready when interviewing. If an interview comes up suddenly, you want to be able tailor your portfolio as soon as possible. Also, many companies may call you in for a second interview, if you have new stuff to show each time, you'll be able to leave a good representation of yourself (switch out a few or all, depending on if the interviewers are the same).
• Be able to leave something behind when you leave your interview. An example of this is a disc with a video of some more of your work. Another example is to leave an object of some sort. The example I've heard of is one guy left a pair of drumsticks with his info on them. The interviewer found out one more thing about this guy and said he kept the drumsticks in a plant for many years after. This guy defiantly left a 'lasting impression', so be creative!

Portfolios, where to get them:

Paper Portfolios:
Typical, binder-like portfolios can be found just about anywhere. Office Stores, Walmart, or Amazon have great black ones with the handles and zipper. Also, http://www.pinazangaro.com, has some great looking ones, though they may cost a bit more, they are very nice. Pina Zangaro porfolio books can be found on Amazon, but be sure you're getting what you want, there are portfolio books, and portfolio folders. The folders hold individual boards or pages that are not bound, the portfolio books can bind the papers.

Website Portfolios:
There are more places to find free website portfolios than I could list here. But just so you have a few to start with:
-DeviantArt: portfolio.deviantart.com/
-Behance: www.behance.net/
-Carbonmade: www.carbonmade.com/
-FigDig: http://figdig.com/