Sample Portfolio

by Laurel Feddock, Graphic Designer

This is a technical illustration of an exploded view of a pen.
These portfolio pieces all have flaps but they're folded behind for the photos.
These first several ones were school assignments.

Technical illustration of a who-knows-what.

Photograph of a marker rendering (it's our electric toothbrush).

Here the assignment was to make a chart that was more interesting than a
bar chart or pie chart. I made illustrations of rolled up toothpaste tubes
to compare toothpaste effectiveness. On the back of the board I taped a
photocopy of the Consumer Reports page of data I used.

Pencil drawing. My teacher said I shouldn't have put the lettering on there,
it's usually not perfect enough to look real. I thought the rest of the tool looked alright.

For this assignment we were to look thru ads in the mail (this was
the one I chose) and redo the ad. When you look at this ad you
can read and read and almost never find the name of the store
or figure out what kind of store it is! It's such a jumble of words
that most people probably wouldn't wade thru it, but instead, just toss it.
This is just taped to the back of the board. My version is below.

My version of the ad has ALL the same information but hopefully
it's a little more restful to look at and easier to get thru. The store name
and store type are obvious. It looks quieter, not like it's
yelling at you! Isn't that interesting?

Table of contents assignment. It is a double page spread. You can see
how I've mounted that. They were two 8.5x11 printouts (linos) that I spray
mounted to an 11x17 piece of cardstock so they would be attached to each other.

Brochure design assignment. This one opens up -- the inside is below.
We cut up real travel brochures for the photos.

Our teacher gave us this text on a disk but there was no formatting whatsoever.
We had to decide on the heirarchy, and which parts were on the same
heirarchical level as other parts and assigned them a point size, typeface, style, etc.
This is what I was mentioning about making the reader look at certain things
in a certain order. The first thing you can't help reading is the big line at the bottom.
I did a little colored pencil illustration of a map, it's above the word "Our" near
the bottom. The bright spot in the lower right corner is a red flower that reflected the flash.

Here is actual work work . . .

This was a logo I did in school, later someone bought it (she wanted
me to do a logo but since this one was finished, she took it) and I applied
it to her new company pieces. There is letterhead, #10 envelope, biz card
(those three items make up the basic corporate identity pieces), then a brochure
and a Rolodex card. I've only done one or two of those! They are just spray
mounted right on top of each other.

Here's a before and after of a dentist's newsletter. I only designed the top which is called
the nameplate (I guess you'd know that!). My partner always calls it
the masthead. The name seems to fit, but you know better than anyone
what a masthead is! These are two boards hinged together with black photo tape.

This is one way to present logo ideas to a client. Put a few on a board (they go into your
portfolio nicely that way). You can also put each logo on a separate smaller board.
The client loves it when you mount their logo ideas, they feel like they are really getting
their money's worth and it looks professional. This is the third year I've designed the Stake
Girls Camp logo and I always mount them on small boards. I think the Camp Director likes
the presentation even more than the logos! She does go on about it.

It's exciting to see your logo in the yellow pages! Mine's the upper left,
the white background one. It's a fork, knife and spoon on a napkin.
It's a catering company. Designing logos is my favorite!

On the back of the boards I tape my business card. I've never had
them actually offset printed. And now that I have a color printer
I may never!

Instructions for mounting a portfolio piece:
- Cut your board to 12x15"
- Use spray mount to stick your work on the board (centered or slightly above)
- Lay the board on a slightly oversized piece of flapper stock
with the top edges aligning perfectly.
- Use black photo tape to stick the flap to the board.
(Try to get about half of the tape on front of flap and half on back of board)
- Then lie the whole thing down, flap side down and cut excess off with an X-acto knife
(using the board as your cutting guide)
- Voila! You're a professional!

Some of my friends like to have the flap a few inches longer than the board
and then fold it over the top of the board so the tape isn't on the top edge of the board
but down the back side a few inches. Drawback - they don't fold behind as
neatly when you are presenting them to the client. Your choice.