The Portfolio that will get you a job | How to make an Interior Design Portfolio
Summary
TLDRThis video provides valuable tips on creating an impressive interior design portfolio, whether you're a student or a seasoned professional. The host, Mia, shares insights from her five years of experience in the industry, discussing what to include, how to present your work effectively, and what employers are really looking for. She emphasizes the importance of showcasing your skills, personality, and passion, and offers practical advice on tailoring your portfolio to the specific company you're applying to. Mia also mentions available resources, such as a portfolio template on her Etsy shop.
Takeaways
- 📁 Portfolios can be challenging to create, whether you're a student or a professional, as it's crucial to decide what to include, how to present it, and how to make it stand out.
- 🎨 An interior design portfolio should showcase your current and past projects, and demonstrate your style, personality, skills, and what you're passionate about.
- 📐 Employers quickly scroll through portfolios, so it's important to make a strong first impression within the first 10 to 20 seconds.
- 🖌️ While design aesthetics are important, employers often look for a variety of skills such as hand sketching, space planning, technical drawing, and software proficiency in tools like CAD and Revit.
- 🛠️ Knowledge of resources, including furniture suppliers, materials, sustainability, and design theories, is valuable in a portfolio.
- 📚 Presentation and layout are crucial as they reflect how you organize and communicate your ideas effectively.
- 🖼️ Companies understand that candidates, especially those applying for their first job, may not have all the skills, and they often look for individuals who excel in specific areas.
- ✏️ Include as many relevant skills as possible in your portfolio, such as design, technical, drawing, and graphic skills.
- 📄 Keep your portfolio concise, typically around 10 to 20 pages, and focus on showcasing the projects that you're most proud of or that are most relevant to the job you're applying for.
- 🔍 Research the company you're applying to, and tailor your portfolio to align with their style, projects, and the types of clients they work with.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of an interior design portfolio?
-The main purpose of an interior design portfolio is to demonstrate your current and previous projects, style, personality, skills, and design aesthetics to potential employers, freelancing clients, or educational institutions.
What are the key skills that companies look for in an interior design portfolio?
-Companies look for various design skills such as hand sketching, space planning, elevation and section drawings, software skills like CAD, Revit, Photoshop, and InDesign, knowledge of furniture suppliers and materials, understanding of sustainability and well-being, as well as storytelling and communication skills.
How long do employers typically spend looking at a portfolio?
-Employers typically spend only 10 to 20 seconds initially looking at a portfolio, so it is crucial to make a strong first impression with outstanding design and layout.
Why is storytelling important in a portfolio presentation?
-Storytelling is important because it helps communicate the concept and narrative behind a project, allowing the viewer to understand the designer's process and the reasoning behind design decisions.
What should you include in your portfolio if you're a student with limited experience?
-As a student with limited experience, you should include your final major project or any project you are particularly proud of, demonstrating your design, technical, and graphic skills. It's important to focus on quality over quantity.
How can you tailor your portfolio to be relevant to a specific company?
-To tailor your portfolio for a specific company, research the company's projects, style, and clients. Include projects that are most relevant to their work and demonstrate your understanding of their design philosophy and target market.
What is the ideal length for a portfolio, and how many projects should it include?
-The ideal length for a portfolio is around 10 to 20 pages. The number of projects depends on your experience, but it's important to include projects you are most proud of and that showcase a range of your skills.
How important are design aesthetics compared to technical skills in a portfolio?
-While design aesthetics are important, they are not the sole focus. Employers also value technical skills, presentation, and the ability to tell a story through the design process. Different roles within a company may require different skill sets.
What should you do if you feel you're lacking in certain skills for your portfolio?
-If you feel you're lacking in certain skills, focus on polishing the skills you are confident in and highlight the work you are most proud of. It's important to demonstrate your strengths rather than trying to cover up weaknesses.
How can a portfolio template be helpful, and where can you find one?
-A portfolio template can help with layout and organization, making it easier to present your work professionally. You can find templates on platforms like Etsy, where designers offer ready-to-use layouts that you can customize with your own drawings and projects.
Outlines
🎯 Overcoming Portfolio Challenges
Creating a portfolio, whether for the first time as a student or for the fifth time as a professional, can be a daunting task. The process involves deciding what to include, how to present it, and how to make it stand out. In this video, Mia shares tips from her personal experience to help elevate your portfolio, increasing your chances of securing the interior design job you desire.
📁 What is an Interior Design Portfolio?
An interior design portfolio showcases your current and past projects, serving as a first impression to potential employers, clients, or academic programs. It should not only present your work but also reflect your style, personality, passions, and skills. Mia emphasizes that the portfolio should effectively communicate your design abilities, even though the content might be reviewed very quickly by hiring professionals.
🔍 Key Skills Employers Look For
Employers quickly skim through portfolios, often spending only 10 to 20 seconds per submission. They look for key skills rather than focusing on specific projects. These skills include design aesthetics, technical drawing abilities, software proficiency (e.g., CAD, Revit, Photoshop), knowledge of materials and sustainability, and the ability to present and organize work effectively.
💼 Balancing Strengths and Weaknesses
Mia explains that employers understand no one is perfect, especially for those applying for their first job. It's crucial to focus on and confidently showcase the skills you excel in, whether that be in presentation, technical drawings, or another area. This advice is particularly helpful for applicants who might feel insecure about their abilities in certain aspects, like renderings.
📑 Essential Portfolio Contents
Mia advises including a variety of skills in your portfolio, such as design, technical drawing, and graphic skills. She suggests keeping the portfolio concise, ideally 10 to 20 pages, and to tailor the content to the job you are applying for. For instance, if you're applying to a hospitality design studio, choose projects that reflect that style or include relevant elements like well-being, which the studio might value.
📐 Final Tips for Portfolio Layout
Mia offers a final tip for those struggling with portfolio layout—she provides a template on her Etsy shop that can be easily customized with your own drawings. This resource can be especially useful for those who want a professional layout without starting from scratch. She wraps up the video by encouraging viewers to like the video if they found it helpful and to check out her Etsy shop through the link in her Instagram profile.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Interior Design Portfolio
💡Design Skills
💡Software Skills
💡Portfolio Layout
💡Storytelling and Communication Skills
💡Design Aesthetics
💡Relevant Projects
💡Technical Drawings
💡First Impression
💡Experience
Highlights
Making a portfolio can be overwhelming, whether it's your first or fifth time.
The portfolio is crucial for demonstrating your style, personality, skills, and experience to potential employers or clients.
People spend only 10 to 20 seconds looking at your portfolio, so making a strong impression quickly is essential.
Design aesthetics are not the only factor; companies look for a variety of skills, including technical drawings, software proficiency, and knowledge of materials.
Your portfolio layout and storytelling abilities are also key components that employers evaluate.
Companies know that one person won't have all the skills they're looking for, especially if it's your first job.
It's better to showcase the skills you're confident in rather than worrying about areas where you might be weaker.
Include a variety of skills in your portfolio, such as design, technical drawing, and graphic layout abilities.
Keeping the portfolio concise is important; around 10 to 20 pages is recommended.
Select projects that you are most proud of and that are relevant to the job or company you are applying to.
Research the company you're applying to and tailor your portfolio to match their style and project types.
If applying to a specific niche, such as Hospitality design, include projects that align with that focus.
A template for interior design portfolios can be found on the speaker's Etsy Shop, offering an easy way to get started.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of confidence in presenting your best work in your portfolio.
The video concludes with a call to action to like and follow for more helpful tips.
Transcripts
foreign
struggle when it comes to making our
portfolio with things like what to
include how to present it nicely how to
keep it short how to stand out to others
and whether you're a student making your
first portfolio or you're already a
professional and it's your fifth
portfolio the process can be still very
overwhelming
well in today's video I would love to
share some tips that I have learned from
my experience and will definitely take
your portfolio to the next level and
increase your chances of getting the
interior designer job that you dream of
so if this sounds interesting to you
keep on watching
foreign
[Music]
what's up guys it's Mia here and welcome
back to my channel so over the last five
years I have made my portfolio over and
over that gave me the opportunity to
work for these bleeding architecture and
interior design practices and has
definitely taught me how to build a
strong portfolio
so let's start quickly by talking about
what is an interior design portfolio
so portfolio can be used to send to your
future employees a freelancing client or
to apply for your master but essentially
it should demonstrate your current and
previous project and it is for anyone
else who will want to see your work
before agreeing to work with them on
interior design projects
basically you're sending out your
portfolio instead of you showing up and
your portfolio is going to speak for you
and give the first impression so your
portfolio should not only show your
project but your style your personality
how you work what you're passionate
about and most importantly your skills
and I know you might be wondering but
Mia what kind of skills do I need to
present in my portfolio
I've got you we can develop a lot of
skills throughout our education and by
working so let me give you an Insight of
what are the things company is actually
looking for when they look at your
portfolio
so while I was working I've seen my
senior designers or design directors
looking at some of the application that
they received and let me use my
portfolio as an example to show you the
process of how they actually open your
application
so they will probably receive the
portfolio on their inbox they would
download it and open straightaway
and let me show you how fast they would
actually scroll
[Music]
pretty fast eh
so unfortunately people do not spend
more than 10 to 20 seconds looking at
your portfolio and people are looking
for different qualities here so first of
all it's really obvious whether you have
outstanding design whether you're a good
designer Aesthetics whether you've got a
taste that's really important but
actually when people are looking at your
portfolio they don't really care about
your project which is really sad to hear
but they're actually looking for some
other qualities and skills instead
they'll be looking for different kind of
skills in the portfolio
so if they were going through this
portfolio and they caught the eye they
will be probably looking for whether
this person has different kind of design
skills whether that's hand sketching
space planning elevation section
axonometric drawings and then obviously
a different kind of variety of software
skills can she use card can she use
Revit can she use Photoshop InDesign and
then they'll probably also look at the
resources this person has so does she
know different Furniture suppliers
different materials different kind of
theories so does she know about
sustainability well-being and you know
psychology behind it maybe
then actually this is one of the
important thing they will be also
looking at how you present
um your design so the layout how nicely
you put things together is quite
important to them and then lastly it's a
storytelling and communication skills
whether you have kind of put in a right
order to describe your project but this
will basically come once you're
presenting to them and it's about how
you present your story and the concept
behind it
I've also realized that your design
Aesthetics are not that important
actually when the company wants to hire
you there are different roles within the
company especially when they are bigger
companies and they know that one person
is not going to have all of the skills
that they're looking for
so you could be really good at
presenting your work or you could be
really good at technical drawings and
this is especially if you are applying
for your first job the companies would
know that you don't have experience and
you're not perfect so I wouldn't freak
out if you think you are lacking in some
of the skills for example renderings if
you think you're not perfect enough I
would actually polish the skills that
you feel you're good at and show really
confidently about the work that you're
really proud of
[Music]
so to answer some of the questions that
I get asked a lot
um which is what kind of Vital
Information do I need to put in the
portfolio so I would actually put as
much skills as possible from the skills
that I've just mentioned so your design
skills technical skills drawing skills
layout skills graphic skills and so on
another questions that I get asked a lot
is how to keep your portfolio short so
my portfolio is usually around 10 to 20
pages and I think how many projects you
put in is really up to you when I
applied my first job I've only included
my final major project just because that
was the only project I was really proud
of and I didn't have a lot of experience
but within 15 pages that I had I made
sure that I've included like research
visibility page all different types of
drawings elevation space plan acts so
and renders for example and I've
included hand model images visuals and
also like a page about sustainability
and materials just because that was
something that I was really really
passionate about but when I applied for
a big for example I already had a
one-year experience working and I had
also done architectural competition just
to apply for big so I would include all
the projects I have done at work maybe
one project each page and then I've
spent around six pages just for this
competition because that was the project
that I was most proud of at that point
and it was the most relevant one of the
projects that I've done to apply for
architectural practices
so my tips here would be definitely
include your most proud work if you
cannot pick from your project I would
include a project that is most relevant
to the company you're applying for I
would go on their website you know I
would do a lot of research about the
companies and projects that they've done
look at their portfolio and case studies
and learn about the style the drawings
and type of the project and type of the
client that they're working with let's
say you want to apply for a Hospitality
design studio and even if you never
worked on restaurant project maybe you
could show some project that has
cafeterias or bar or the hospitality
Design Studio that you're applying are
very into like well-being let's say then
I would pick the relevant project that
you researched about well-being
and also one last tips here if you're
struggling with your portfolio layout I
have a template on my Etsy Shop which
might become handy
um if you go to my Instagram you can
find my Etsy Shop link from my Instagram
profile if you just click this link it
will take you to the Etsy shop and
basically there is a template for
interior design portfolios and it's
always like ready to swap with your own
drawings and send it out to your future
job straight away and there are
different types of design layouts so
feel free to check out and this will
bring us to the end of the video if you
found this video helpful and useful
please give us a thumbs up it would
really mean a lot to me and thank you
for watching see you on my next video
[Music]
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