Lessons from Architectural Portfolios

August 12, 20090 Comments Tagged: architecture, design, layout, narrative, portfolio, simplicity, story, visual

Over at Archinect they are running an interesting series called Archinect's Official Portfolio Guide - a guide to success in the world of architecture. The emphasis on the architect's portfolio is of particular interest to me, with the first article in the series focussing on the student's portfolio. As it turns out, the pointers and tips for architectural portfolios are wholly relevant for other realms of design as well.

The article starts a little more widely, talking about selecting a school and various steps at the start of the proccess before focusing in on the portfolio itself. I heartily recommend reading the article itself, as it is full of advice, but I am going to take a look at some of the points raised that have larger reaching impact on other publicaions (and in fact websites) than just Architecture portfolios themselves.

The Visual Narrative

The overall theme of the article is that of the portfolio a visual narrative,  or graphic representation of the story behind each project.

"Carefully composed as a personal monograph, the design portfolio is an expression of your creative energy, professional talent and academic ambition... ...The portfolio should be presented as a visual narrative, illustrating the thought process behind each one of your best projects from conception to construction."

Storytelling has been an integral part of human communication, back to the beginning of time. The human brain latches onto a story with special interest, and this is the reason it is such a helpful tool for publications. The story of a work is far more interesting than technical details, or schematics. Imbued with character and personality, the content is able to more naturally connect with the reader.

This is also valuable beyond the world of Architecture portfolios. A personal, narrative approach can be taken to any written content, bringing a humanising element in the mix. When it comes to the visual design and layout, this storytelling approach can be aided by many techniques. One of these is the pacing of the publication, building slowly to peaks and letting out the tension in amount of content, visual excitement and tone. In a purely visual sense you can take the reader on a journey, and aid the visual narrative.

Precedent and Inspiration

In the article, there is also mention of using existing publications as a sort of graphic precedent, or inspiration to your work.

"there are many professional publications that serve different types of professional firms and exemplify various graphic languages. Design firms look to these journals as precedents for portfolio preparation."

The suggestion is made to seek out publications and submissions from other firms or organisations who sit in the same space as you. Seeking inspiration from similar sources is a practice as old as the hills, but there are some instances where it is particularly useful. In situations where you are aligning yourself with a particular discipline, school of thought, or group of other designers, it can be useful to emulate the styles and trends that are common amongst them.

This sort of "design by association" is useful in fields other than architecture. A corporate website would be confusing and send mixed signals if it were multicoloured, loud and all over the shop, much as a minimal monochrome layout could struggle to communicate the vibrancy and fun of something like a circus. Like anything there will be times when subverting these trends is useful and eye-catching, but often times conventions are there for a reason.

The Benefits of Simplicity

The article talks about the ways in which a simple layout can aid the communication of the portfolio, allowing the work to speak for itself.

"A clean and simple layout can be the most effective. Limit the amount of images on each page, avoid layering too many images over top of one another as this leads to confusion."

This is an approach that we favour heavily at jordesign, allowing the content to speak for itself, and framing the design around it to amplify that voice. This becomes especially important when you are trying to communicate a visual narrative. You need to guide the eye of the viewer through elements in the correct sequence to support your story. To many elements, or a disordered layout, and their eye will jump around, jumbling up the narrative.

Restraint in Typeface and Size

There is a short mention of fonts (or typefaces) in the article, mostly relating to the suggestion of clean sans-serif typefaces (a continuation of "design by association").

"The use of one family of fonts will help to unify the overall presentation. Establish three to four different font sizes and stick to them. "

This is a useful rule, as too many typefaces on the page can often end up resembling a school newsletter. Most commercial typefaces these days (even some supplied with your pc) come with a range of variants on the same family, such is bold, italics or condensed. The use of these allows variation on the page, but in a way that looks consistent, and even more importantly feels consistent. Remember we are taking the viewer through a narrative, so we want a feeling of flow, not a jarring sense of disconnection.

Having a set group of sizes also helps this sense of "flow" and consistency. Type size should be used to communicate a hierarchy of importance in the document, further guiding the reader through the narrative.

There is much more to be gleaned from the article, and if you still haven't been over to read it, I urge you to. As well as information for young (and old) architects putting together a portfolio there is a wealth of information for designers in other fields, in print or on the web.

It is a strong reminder of the lessons we can learn across other disciplines and fields.