How to Create a Student Design Portfolio for HSC English Extension 2 Major Work?

You’ve got a huge major work to complete and, of course, you also have to include your lovely little friend… the design portfolio! While creating a design portfolio can seem like a big slog, it is necessary to bring purpose and creativity to the product you are creating. We will share our tips for creating a student design portfolio, considering its purpose, what to actually include and finally how to present it all.

Table of Content:

• What is the Purpose of a Design Portfolio?
• What to Include?
• How to Present everything in my Portfolio?
• FAQs

What is the Purpose of a Design Portfolio?

A design portfolio is there to illustrate the design process - from the crazy whirlwind of your initial ideas, to the logical evaluation of your final product. It should therefore show the reader the ‘flow’ of ideation from start to finish.

It’s important that you represent the process in a clear, logical, and cohesive way. It’s very likely that your ideas will evolve as you spend more time experimenting and researching, so make sure you record this all as you go! And do not worry about presenting it all perfectly in the early days. You’ll figure out how you want to represent your ideas and thoughts in a creative way that is reflective of your project as you go.

Just a quick side note: remember to include ‘impact on final design’ statements at the end of each component of the portfolio – it shows why your research or task was relevant to the project and underpins the broader purpose. Ultimately, you always want to be thinking about the ‘why’:

• Why am I creating this product?
• Why am I researching this?
• Why should I use this technique/ material?

What to Include?

While the specific content and presentation of the portfolio is in your hands, you should aim to broadly include the following topics:

Project Proposal

The exploration and development of your ‘need’ is one of the most important steps in the design process. This will set the scene and tone of your folio and project. This ‘need’ will provide direction for what research and experimentation you may undertake. At this point you should not know what your final product will be, rather that there is a need for a solution - and that solution is for you to deliver!

Think about the:

• Design situation
• Preliminary research
• Project parameters:
  • Your constraints
  • Limitations
  • Opportunities such as time, skills, finance and resources

After considering these things, you should be able to put together a design brief. Like I said before, you do not need to state exactly what you will be producing at this stage, but you should have a clear need and target market.

Project Management

Use this section as a checklist for your research/ experimentation. Think about possible design ideas, materials, tools and techniques etc. What will make your project successful?

• Complete a Time and Action Plan: outline and evaluate each step in the process (from the initial idea through to the evaluation)
• Finance Plan: Successful projects do not need to be expensive projects but careful planning will ensure you use the funds available to you effectively. Establish a budget and track discrepancies between proposed and actual costs.

Project Development and Realisation

Now that you have completed your project proposal and set up project management plans you can think about how to solve the design need.

Most designers begin by mind mapping key words or by completing basic sketches. This will vary depending on the technologies you are using. My personal preference is a mood board - get onto Pinterest and start pinning!! Then, consider how you can translate that mood or vibe to your own sketches or diagrams.

All ideas should be annotated with explanations of how each supports your need and/or design brief. Annotations may also include:

• Possible materials to be used
• Possible finishes on a product
• Possible measurements
• Product or opportunities for further research

You are encouraged to produce a range of sketches from initial brainstormed ideas, initial sketches, refined sketches and then final design. As you go, consider relevant factors that affect design in both the ideation and production stages.

Function and aesthetics are the obvious factors, but also consider others such as the appropriateness of design solution, quality, life analysis, ergonomics, short-and long-term environmental consequences. Include specific examples relevant to your design project!

Project Evaluation

Remember to evaluate as you go! It is important that you are continually evaluating the design process. This can be done through regular reflections on say time, action, finance and production processes. Of course, you will also need to evaluate the final product - the key question here will be whether the product successfully meets the design brief and overall purpose.

In doing so, you will consider the factors affecting design that we mentioned before (function, aesthetics, quality, appropriateness of design solution etc). Think about how the product works in its intended environment; this will actually require you to test it out.

How to Present everything in my Portfolio?

So, now you’re probably wondering - how do I actually present all that information?

Establishing an appropriate presentation for your folio is super important - your presentation (theme, headings, text, layout, colours etc) should be related to your design/product, and should be consistent throughout the entire portfolio.

What Software should I use?

The key to this is picking a software and form that suits you. Creating a visually appealing, well organised layout doesn’t take long. Consider readability, space use including negative and white space, font size, images and colour. Some potential software options include:

• Adobe InDesign (recommended - industry standard software)
• Canva (recommended - intuitive and quick layout)
• Google Slides (usable but more challenging when using A3 sizing)
• Microsoft Word or Powerpoint (less options - MUST be backed up appropriately or used via OneDrive... you definitely do NOT want to be losing your work for this assignment).

Be selective with your choice - some need you to break the folio into pieces so the files don’t end up too big (Google Slides… I’m looking at you) whilst others are limited into their ability for flexible page layout (potentially Word).

Communicate clearly!

Make sure your information is easy to read and interpret. For example, presenting information in columns rather than straight across the screen might make it less straining for readers when they are working through those 80 pages!

Underlining or bolding keywords/points can also make it easier for the reader to navigate and draw attention to key ideas. Also remember to make use of titles. Your folio must use a number of communication techniques, like tables, graphs, sketches, diagrams.

And a few other little things to note for presentation:

• Determine whether you want to present the folio in landscape or portrait, A3 or A4.
• Obviously ensure all images/sketches are off high quality.
• Consider using 1.5 line spacing - this will help ensure your pages don’t look too cluttered and will improve readability.

If you are seriously struggling with your Major Work, or any part of your HSC journey, get a tutor from KIS Academics to help you out!

Conclusion

If you need help with project management, or are after a tutor that has experience in design subjects, then we can totally find a tutor for you. You can start with the 30 minute free study skills consultation and we will get the ball rolling for you from there!

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