To get your career in architecture off to a good start (and to stay ahead of the competition throughout your career) you need to create a winning architecture portfolio that attracts employers and clients.

A stand-out architecture portfolio doesn’t just showcase your best work. It’s a celebration of your skill, talent, and work ethic. After seeing it, potential employers should be excited to see what you can do for them and become inspired by your ideas and vision for the future.

So how do you pack all of that into a concise, professional architecture portfolio? Here are several tips that could help.

Make it relevant

Just as your work as an architect is unique, so is each new opportunity. Clients and employers want to know that you understand what they’re trying to achieve and that you’ll add to their brand and ethos. The surest way to demonstrate that you’re the best fit for their firm is with a tailored architect portfolio.

When you’re choosing which pieces of work to feature in your tailored architecture portfolio, consider which branch of architecture your prospective employer specializes in (e.g., landscape architecture, restoration, residence design, internal design), and select projects that showcase your skills in that area. Does the role you’re applying for demand confidence with technical drawings or renderings? Keep these specific requirements in mind as you put your portfolio together.

Creating a new architecture portfolio for each new role also means you’ll be providing the most up to date reflection of your work, and it shows your ability to change the way you design projects as new trends are introduced into the industry.

Non-Linear is OK

Avoid giving a chronological or narrative account of your career from start to finish. Your architecture portfolio should instead take prospective clients or employers on a journey through the work that has shaped you into the architect you are today and demonstrates your potential. And that may not necessarily be a linear story. A better approach might be to show more recent projects to display your ability to understand your potential employer’s business and how you can improve their revenue.

Presentation is everything

The best work in the world won’t win you a role as an architect if your portfolio’s design lacks a professional touch. Start by choosing a software you’re comfortable with to design and layout your architecture portfolio. If you’re confident using it, Adobe InDesign is the tool of choice for many creative professionals when building their portfolios and offers you complete creative control. As an added bonus, the handy Blurb InDesign Plug-in means you can print a copy of your architecture portfolio without ever leaving your workflow.

If you’re not familiar with Adobe InDesign but still want to achieve that professional-quality look and feel, Blurb’s free desktop software BookWright is a great alternative. You can choose from a range of professionally designed templates or create your own layouts from scratch with its easy drag and drop design feature.

Pro Tip: A good architecture portfolio design is uncluttered and allows each image room to breathe. Your layout is important and must display images in a creative way that does not waste whitespace but keeps them organized to where your story flows seamlessly.

For more inspiration and more ideas on how to layout your portfolio, check out these examples in the Blurb Bookstore.

Show the big picture

For each piece of work you feature, provide a brief piece of text to set the scene and provide more details that explain your vision. Who was the client? What was the design direction? How long did it take to complete? What were your lessons learned after completing the project? Did you receive any reviews, awards, or accolades?

Pro tip: When it comes to typography, keep it clean and simple. You want the focus to be on your work, not a fancy font. It’s also helpful to know how to choose the best font for print. Untraditional fonts can take away from the focus of your portfolio – your images and architectural designs

Go behind the scenes

Including snapshots of your workflow, from initial concept through various iterations, to final design will give employers and clients a fuller picture of your technical skills and creative thought process. Consider including things like your initial hand sketches, WIP renders completed for internal design reviews, and construction documentation to demonstrate the breadth of your skill set. Add these documents sparingly though so that they do not take away from your images.

Create multiple portfolios

When you first express interest in an opportunity, you’ll want to accompany your cover letter and resume with a ‘mini portfolio,’ offering an enticing sneak preview of your work. You can then build and expand on this ‘teaser trailer’ with a fuller, more in-depth architecture portfolio at the interview or pitch stage. Also, having multiple portfolios allows you to use the most relevant one when applying to a specific firm.

Create a CV page

A CV page shows potential employers what you bring to the table. It is also an important piece of your architecture portfolio. Your CV should not be several pages long. It should be maximum two pages with brief yet important information that describes your experience, education, interests, and past job responsibilities. You can add a personal touch to your CV page by describing hobbies that might make you stand out against competitors.

Know your audience

Before you design your architecture portfolio, you should understand the audience who will eventually read it. Applying for a position at a large architectural firm will be a different type of audience than working with government projects. Research into your potential employer, view their current and past projects, and prioritize your portfolio items with the most relevant ones first that match their business.

Choose a format

For portfolios online, you must choose a format. The two primary ways portfolios are displayed are using web pages and downloadable PDF files. Web pages offer a way to make an attractive portfolio completely available using a URL that can be sent to a potential employer. A PDF file, however, provides a way for employers to download your projects and easily search them should they decide to revisit your opportunity in the future. You can even create a digital portfolio website and add a downloadable PDF.

Select the best projects

A CV is your first impression, and you should put your best foot forward. Your architecture portfolio should not be every project you’ve ever worked on. Instead, it should be only the best projects that shows off your best work.

Less is more

Your portfolio should be rich with images that show off your best work, but it should be organized and filled with only your best work. Less text leaves you with plenty of room to display several images, but you should also pic the very best images. Not every image of a specific project should be included in your portfolio.

Team projects

Many architects work as a team, and some team members aren’t other architects. Showing that you can work as a team player helps improve your chance of working in a large firm that has several people managing the many moving parts of a project. It also shows that you can work on larger projects with other architects to see it to the end. Make sure that you specify your role in the project and specify that you were part of a team.

Showcase your drawing skills

A CV is a first impression of your skills, but submitting drawings can distract from the final product. You should keep drawings at a minimum in your portfolio and avoid explaining too much in the CV. Instead, bring drawings with you during the interview to get into technical detail.

View other examples

To get an idea of what a great portfolio looks like, view several CVs and architecture portfolio designs from experts. Notice that they limit file sizes to a maximum of 15MB and you’ll find no typos or mistakes. It should be creative, organized, and avoid wasting white space without creating too much clutter. The layout should be consistent across pages so that every image fits well with its short description.

Update frequently

As you continue to work in the industry, you should eliminate older projects and replace them with better ones. Your portfolio should always have the most attractive images and the latest most relevant projects. Keeping your portfolio current helps attract employers searching for architects that are familiar with the latest design trends and development.

Proofread

Typos, grammar errors, and misspellings show that you don’t have attention to detail. In architecture, you must have attention to detail to ensure projects run smoothly and you help the design process rather than hinder it. Always proofread all of your documentation before it’s presented to your next potential employer or client.

Ready to make your own professional architecture portfolio? Get started today with one of our high-on-design templates or create your own custom layout. Check out our professional services for everything you need.