How to Make an Advertising Portfolio

For designers and writers in the advertising industry, your portfolio can truly make or break your career. Here are a few tips on how to create an effective portfolio.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Creative Mind
• Computer with printer or a Kinko's

1. First, you need to have enough excellent work to put into the portfolio. The exact number of pieces is debatable, but try for a minimum of four campaigns of at least three pieces each.
   
   These can be a mix of 'spec ads' you create in your spare time (for whatever client you wish), school project ads, and ads created on the job, whether they ran or not.
2. Now look at the pieces you've selected and cut anything that isn't your absolute best work. Even if you're not sure, cut it - it probably means it isn't your best work.
   
   Writers - get a designer to spruce up the look of your ads. Designers - get a writer to spruce up the copy in your ads.
3. Now decide how you want to present the pieces. It's up to personal preference, as there are many ways to go - mounting the pieces on foamcore and carrying them in a case, creating a nicely-bound 'book', just stapling them together - get creative.
   
   Don't worry about making it too fancy - as long as your ideas inside the portfolio are amazing, the package they come in isn't as vital. That said, a nice clean way of presenting your work definitely can't hurt.
4. Now you need to print off your pieces. Again, the size you print them at is up to you, but going above 11X17 shouldn't be necessary.
   
   If they're going in a bound 'book,' use Photoshop or whatever you have to lay them out on seperate 'pages' so that the entire piece is visible when bound. You can label each piece with the client name if you wish.
   
   Printing on heavier paper than the usual thin printer paper is an easy way to make the work look nice.
5. Put the each piece into the 'book' or mount the pieces and you should be ready to show off your best work.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep campaigns grouped together in your book, but try to mix up the tone used throughout - for example, you could put a serious campaign first, then something raunchy, then something funny, then something sentimental, etc. Writers - make sure you have a mix of long and short copy, to show your range.
• Advice will vary, but many think that putting your best work first and your second-best work last is a good idea.
• Show your portfolio to as many ad-industry people as you can before your interviews. They will be able to offer great advice, even suggesting you cut or add to your book.
• Read "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This," by Luke Sullivan. It is geared more towards writers, but has an excellent section on making a portfolio.
• Make a mini book version of your portfolio to leave behind at the places you interview. Make it 8 1/2 X 11 at largest, and put your resume on a page. This mini book can be more cheaply bound/put together than your main book.
• Don't just reference this article - read all the books you can about advertising and get as much advice from as many sources as you can. Take the advice that sounds most reasonable to you and keep the rest on file in you brain.