What to include in a digital portfolio

Creating a portfolio can be a tricky process as each portfolio is unique to the applicant and there's no magic formula for success.

Generally speaking creative courses at all universities are looking to see how you take on ideas, explore them, develop them, and bring them towards a conclusion. This is just as important as your ability to draw.

Universities and colleges publish detailed guidance on their websites that can give you an idea about the kind of work they are looking for. This will help you decide what work to include in your portfolio.

How to show development in your portfolio

The most important thing is showing how your ideas and work have developed. Universities need to see that you can work an idea through from start to finish, and they want to see the journey you have taken to do this.

Development can take many approaches. Consider including:

• drawn or painted studies
• experimentation with colour, surface, scale, or form

Document your thought process at each stage. Include things that haven't gone to plan and show how you have adapted.

Get out of the classroom!

Universities really want to see that you're engaged with being creative outside of the classroom. Activities that can help with this include:

• portfolio preparation courses
• university taster events
• life drawing classes
• gallery and museum activities
• drawing in public places
• Summer School activities

Including school work

You can also include work from creative subjects in school or college that showcases your best work, including:

• Art & Design
• Graphic Communication
• Photography
• Design & Manufacture
• National Progression Awards
• Foundation Apprenticeships

How to get organised and make a plan for your portfolio

Making a start on the digital portfolio process might seem a bit overwhelming. You might feel like you don't have enough work, or can't figure out what to do next to build up a project.

Our best tip is to get it out of your brain and onto paper - make a visual plan.

This will help you see what you've already got, and where the gaps are.

Don't worry about the order or design of your portfolio slide right now - this is the stage for making lists and notes.

Get all your work together (you can do this project by project) and gauge how many slides each project will need to show development.

As a guide, each Nat 5 or Higher should probably have one slide. Advanced Higher should take up multiple slides.

Remember - ACES classes will help you make work too!

Here's an example of a quick plan for a 16-slide portfolio

How to document your work for your portfolio

Photographing your work

For larger pieces of work, or if you do not have a scanner, you will need to photograph it.

You will need a clean space with good lighting - natural is best if you don't have professional studio lights.

Place your work against a blank background. For 3D work you can create a curved background large sheets of paper. Alternatively you can tack your work to a clean, white wall.

Some work will photograph better outside or on location.

Camera

Your mobile phone camera should be good enough.

Remember to hold the camera square to the work - not an an angle - otherwise your work won't be square in the photo.

Thinking about lighting - are you casting a shadow?

For flat work, take your photographs as close to your work as possible. For 3D work, make sure that you have good space around your work. You might also want to photograph your work from different angles.

Make sure the flash is turned off and, if possible, adjust the white balance of your camera to match the light you are using.

Scanning your work

For smaller work and for sketchbooks, it's probably easier to use a scanner or a scanner app such as Adobe Scan.

For bulky sketchbooks you might need to press down as it scans to avoid a grey shadow on the spine of the book.

Editing your work

Make sure that your work looks its best by cropping out any borders or backgrounds and/or making the images a little brighter.

This isn't the time to show off your Photoshop wizardry by changing the colours, creating layers, etc. That is making new work! Keep it simple and minimal - and no filters.

Any photo-editing software will do to help tweak your images - you can download Paint.net for free from their website. Your phone might be able to do the edits that you need, and PowerPoint itself has simple editing options in the Format Image tab.

Your portfolio isn't a Pinterest or Instagram flat lay - we don't want to see paintbrushes or other stationery in your photos. They take up valuable space and distract from your work.

SQA work

The sheets that your SQA work is organised onto are too crowded for university portfolios. They often have your statement attached too which takes up a lot of space and isn't relevant to your uni portfolio.

Our recommendation is that you photograph each piece of work on the sheet individually and upload it into the portfolio as a separate image file. Try not to photograph the entire sheet - it becomes blurry when you zoom in.

Physical vs digital portfolios

It has become less common for universities to ask for a physical portfolio - instead opting for a digital portfolio submission. This is simply a digital version of your full portfolio, where you document your work and collate it as a digital presentation. A digital portfolio allows you to tailor the content to meet the specific requirements of each course you have applied to.

However, be prepared to attend an interview with a physical portfolio. Not all courses do this - and you can find out if you might be asked to have a physical portfolio ready on university websites.

If you are going to be interviewed, present your work on A1 ot A2 sheets of white card in a portfolio case. Do not just print out your digital portfolio - they want to see your original artworks!

How to put your slides together for your portfolio

ACES' favourite software for this is Microsoft PowerPoint as it's easy to move your work around and you can save it in a variety of formats (e.g. PDF and JPEG).

Getting started

Open PowerPoint and create 15-20 blank slides - standard width, not widescreen.

You can start to Import your photographs and arrange them on your slides.

It's a good idea to have a rough plan of what each slide will show as you go along - but PowerPoint makes it so easy to move things around. Be flexible!

Presentation is important, so take care in how you arrange your work. Pay attention to the details - align your work well, make good use of the space and include multiple images per slide.

You can include photography, film and animation work.

For 'final' pieces you might want to give it a whole slide.

[Here are some example layouts - but it really depends on your work!]

Annotation and text

A small amount of text on each slide is a good idea as it will help selectors know what they are looking at.

Keep it simple and get to the point - your work should speak for itself.

Use a clean font and keep it quite small (size 12 maximum). Grey text looks better than black.

Make sure that your text is tucked away in the corner and is the same on each slide.

[Here's an example!]

Glasgow School of Art and Heriot Watt require an additional statement about your creative work.

Next steps

Once you're all done arranging your work, you should compress your images. This will reduce the overall file size. To do this:

• Click on any image
• Go to the Format tab and click on Compress pictures
• Untick the 'Apply only to this picture' box and ensure 'Delete cropped areas of pictures' is ticked
• Try selecting the highest target output possible e.g. 'Print'
• Click OK and save

How to save your portfolio as a PDF

• File > Save As > PDF - Simple!

If your PDF file size is over the limit then go back to your PowerPoint and compress your images again, but select a lower target output e.g. 'screen'. Re-save your PDF - the file size should be smaller.

Saving your images as JPEGs

This is slightly more complicated

• File > Save As > Choose your file location
• Select JPEG in the 'save as type' drop down > Edit the File Name e.g. Joe Bloggs - UCAS ID - ECA Portfolio
• Click OK
• A box will pop up 'Which slides do you want to export' > Click 'All Slides'
• Find the folder and JPEGs - check each one is under the MB limit by clicking on it. At the bottom of the screen it should say how big it is.

How to upload your portfolio

You will receive instructions from each of the courses that you have applied for - be sure to follow them carefully.

Most universities now have an online portal that you will need to log in to. Check what you need in advance and make sure that any log in details are working.

What happens after I submit my portfolio

You should receive confirmation that the university has received your portfolio.

If the university/course only requires a digital portfolio (no interview) then you will receive a decision from them in due course.

If the university/course is using the digital portfolio as part of the selection for interview, then you will either be invited to an interview or be rejected.

Sometimes this process can take several weeks. Remember - no news is not bad news!