Portfolio – max pages per project?

[Peter Coyle]

I’m finishing my graduate design portfolio and struggling with editing out drawings for my thesis project – the site is approx. 3,000x 650′. For those of you that review portfolios, how many pages do you think is the maximum that should be dedicated to any one project?

 

I realize that my duty is to explain a project face-to-face, but I’d like as many supporting graphics as possible to be there to help communicate the idea while not making them too small (site plan detail blow-ups, etc). I’m currently looking at using about 8-10 pages for this project the way I’m doing it.

[Brett T. Long]

Hey Peter.  I think you should be able to give me a complete understanding of your capabilities from concept through construction documents on a single project in 5 pages or less.  You can always offer “additional sheets upon request.”   I don’t want to build your project, but I want to see that you can.  I would rather see 3 sheets of 5 projects than 10 sheets of 2.  That is my humble opinion.

[Peter Coyle]

I neglected to mention I’m using a 8×10 Blurb template so I can have it printed nicely and so it is portable and I can afford to leave copies behind. But with a small page and huge site with lots going on, should I leave out things like analysis and inventory? Or should I just go up to 11×17? I need portrait orientation b/c the site is 3000′ “tall”. I also have the site broken into zones that serve different purposes, so I was using a page each for those to show the blow-up, explain the unique traits and show sections.

[Jason T. Radice]

What I have been doing is sneding a cut-sheet (8 pages – 8.5×11) that I have printed on 11×17 and folded as a “portfolio” I can leave or send in the mail. I has smaller pictures and text description, only one project per page. Then I have an 11×17 portfolio with no more than two facing pages per project. I like the 11×17 size because you can really see the detail in a site plan, and the photos can be larger. Any smaller wirth a large site plan and detail becomes illegible. I also carry along 11×17’s of complete projects, from the concept through construction documents. I leave it to the interviewer if they are interested in seeing a project in more detail. It is a lot to carry, but I am prepared for any type of firm and am totally flexible.

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