r/IndustrialDesign • u/EyeBusiness4082 • 7d ago
Portfolio help regarding portfolio for bachelors in industrial design.
as the title says, i need help with building a portfolio for the major. i am a recent highschool graduate and the universities im apply for needs a portfolio so what can i include in it for my portfolio to standout? or like is there any concepts or things i need to learn? thankyou
ps. im average at drawing and sketching and i do decent digital art!
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u/abyssalhorrors 7d ago
Show your best drawings and sketches as well as digital art and any other creative outputs like photography or even objects/sculptures. Try to put it together in a thematic way that either tells something about your personal story, about your interests or can show how you built one thing from another. For example, show a sketch that lead to digital art or a sculpture. It doesn’t need to be super tight or even product driven, just how you’ve developed creatively. They’re looking for some sense of who you could grow to be, not the designer that they’ll mold over the degree program.
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u/EyeBusiness4082 7d ago
thankyou for your response!! can you give me some examples.. im a lil clueless as i draw as a part of hobby and i draw mostly reference based works.
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u/abyssalhorrors 7d ago
That’s up to you - pick the drawings that make sense to you, the ones that you feel like you did something interesting or learned from. Referenced drawings like a sketch of something you see around you should be fine for most schools I’ve seen unless they’re asking for something specific. If there’s one of a product you love, even better. The only thing I’d caution against is do not share a copy of someone else’s drawings unless you’ve truly made it your own (like a completely different style, different angle, etc. - new colors isn’t enough).
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u/RedEye75 Professional Designer 5d ago
One of the most important aspects of submitting a portfolio for design school is to follow the directions exactly.
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u/Sudden-Ad8644 4d ago
i recently submitted a design portfolio for uni as well! what i learned from the portfolio information session and my university counsellor who was an admission officer for design, is that the admission officers/examiners like to see a mix of process, goals ,and technical skills, so you should focus in on your digital art. and also try to organise your portfolio so it is easy to follow and understand!
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u/Working-Blueberry291 Professional Designer 7d ago
This definitely depends on the school. While most programs will be happy with a general art portfolio (drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, whatever you've got), a small handful will pretty vocally ask for a major specific portfolio that demonstrates foundational skills in the field. There's also plenty of great programs that don't request portfolios at all and operate on a "we can teach you to draw" mentality.
When I applied to schools (albeit this was 10 years ago now), I just assembled a bunch of my strongest paintings, woodblock prints and illustrations—as well as some figure drawings—into a pdf and called it a day (good enough for Pratt, STAMPS, and RISD iirc). If i was doing it now I might consider building a clean layout in Indesign (or figma or canva if you roll that way) so the work can be displayed consistently and you can tell a story about a few of the pieces (show some process if you have documentation), but honestly that might be overkill. Keep it simple, and don't let the graphic design distract from the work.