Building a

Portfolio:What it is. Why have one.

How it is done.

MIT Ideation Lab / September 23, 2010

Precap

What is it?

Why should I have one?

How do I create it?

But first, a mini quiz!

What are the five rules of making a

portfolio?

just kidding

The notecards are for you to make

notes and jot down questions.

Put your name on the top of a

blank index card

What?

visual representation of your work,

complementing your resume

a physical book?

not necessarily.

could be a pdf, a website, anything

consider your audience

Why?

required for your new job or school

efficient

only way to show design detail

example of your own design work

Tiffany Tseng, MIT 2009

Inside a portfolio

How?

don’t worry about making the actual

portfolio now, but...

...start documenting now!

sketches

CAD

prototypes

goalsstoryboardsdiagrams

analysisproduct specstesting

design notebook!

Things to collect:

Mike Milleris an Industrial Designer from MassArt

now working at Contour Design.

mchl.miller@gmail.commichael miller industrial design

M

Connie Yangis a Mechanical Engineer from MIT

now working at Nemo Equipment.

Having a portfolio and showing it to engineers will blow them away.

If you are interviewing at a design !rm, having a design portfolio is an absolute necessity.

Either way, you need it.

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1. Egregious typos

“I am very interested in a job at NEMO Equiptment...”

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1. Egregious typos 2. Bad format (e.g. Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, random folder of images, etc.)

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1. Egregious typos2. Bad format (e.g. Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, random folder of images, etc.)3. Huge !le size

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1. Egregious typos 2. Bad format (e.g. Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, random folder of images, etc.)3. Huge !le size4. Aesthetic: bad fonts/colors/spacing (please no comic sans/papyrus)

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1. Egregious typos2. Bad format (e.g. Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, random folder of images, etc.)3. Huge !le size4. Aesthetic: bad fonts/colors/spacing (please no comic sans/papyrus)5. Too many or too few pages (about 4-5 projects)

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1. General good aesthetic • Layout (graphic that ties it all together) • Good typography • Clean product photos • Organized info

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1. General good aesthetic2. Good thinking: Makes me think, “that’s smart/interesting/beautiful!”

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1. General good aesthetic2. Good thinking3. Process (evolution of design) • Sketching • Rendering • Modeling/CAD • Looks like / Works like prototype • Alpha prototype

Show your ability to take a product from beginning to end

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1. General good aesthetic2. Good thinking3. Process (evolution of design)4. Variety of individual/group projects • Be clear on why your project/design is special • Describe what role you played in group projects • Sell your project, don’t downplay ... • ... but don’t oversell and set yourself up to disappoint

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1. General good aesthetic2. Good thinking3. Process (evolution of design)4. Variety of individual/group projects5. Projects on your own time • Speci!cally targets a company • Shows initiative

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1. General good aesthetic2. Good thinking3. Process (evolution of design)4. Variety of individual/group projects5. Projects on your own time6. Personal interests • Show personality/creativity beyond academic projects

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Question

and

Answer(hopefully)

What?

Recap

Why?

How?

visual representation of your work

convey the detail of your work

start documenting now!

Spring term

Roadmap

Resources

interest surveysoftware and layout workshopsconsultation sessions

portfolio websitefind mentorsfind existing examples (benchmarking)

Go Build a

Portfolio!What it is. Why have one.

How it is done.

MIT Ideation Lab / September 23, 2010

Justin Lai (justinlai) / Geoff Tsai (heff)

Mike Miller (mchl.miller@gmail.com) / Connie Yang (conyang@gmail.com)