How to Create an Architecture Design Portfolio That Stands Out: Tips from LSRSoA Experts

Whether you are a fresh architectural graduate or applying for a position as an architectural intern, a portfolio is the most important artefact for your initiation into the profession. Often, it is said that it is a simple document that shows your work. It is true, but we can say that an architectural portfolio is a professional statement of who you

are, how you work and a reflection of your design process. Most importantly, it speaks on your behalf and in your absence. No wonder making a portfolio can be confusing and probably frustrating, as you have an urge to show all your skill set, but don’t know where to start. 

The key is to keep documenting your work at the end of each semester, and start compiling your work early, and don’t dig a well when you are thirsty. While compiling your work, try to figure out the intent for why you are making a portfolio. Are you applying as a fresh graduate or a young practitioner who has a couple of years of professional experience, or for an architectural internship or a master’s course? Let’s say you are still undecided, and so it would be prudent to look at a single master portfolio as a collection of all your work. As you progress through your academic and professional journey, you can add or remove a few projects from this master document. Moreover, this master set will help you refine and tailor your project choices according to where you are applying and for what position. Someone may say, “It’s a waste of time, bro! I am applying to fifty offices for a job or ten universities for higher education, I don’t have time to tailor-make a PDF each time”. Well…I’ll say “Make it work” in case you wish to stand out from the crowd and want to get selected in your first attempt. 

To start with, essentially this professional document has two sections, the first being a “About me” section, normally your brief curriculum vitae and the second section being “The actual portfolio” that is a visual collection of your journey as an aspiring architect. Here we are talking about a traditional portfolio, which is either a printed document or a digital portable document format or simply a PDF. These days, few individuals choose to share links to web pages where their portfolio is published or create their own web page. Cool, it might sound, but still in 2025 most offices in India prefer formal PDF, so it is worth researching about the office that you are applying for, or ask them if they prefer looking at a web page or browsing through a flipbook on a publishing platform. Also, what if the web-based application that you have used to show your work ceases to exist? Where does it leave you? You can’t control what you don’t own. You may host your web page or stick to the traditional methods; at times, having your work printed has its sense of pride. Another take on making a portfolio can be using an accordion file folder where you can work out each project as a poster and add it to the folder system. This may work for an in-person interview, and your projects can be shuffled as per the major project profile at the design firm that has selected you.  

Let us assume that you are a fresh graduate or applying for an internship, then ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of work does the firm do?
• What type of position am I going for?
• What will be my responsibilities?

The work offered in an offices these days is quite diverse, as an intern or a fresh graduate you may want to work as a content writer or look after the firm’s social media handle or learn the administrative side of the office working, market and material survey, interior design details etc. you can try and find your niche apart from producing working drawings, 3D renderings and provide site assistance. 

And now you may ask three more questions. 

• What projects should I focus on?
• What kind of skills do I wish to showcase?
• What level of competence does the work show?

Answering the first question can be mind-boggling, so what to include in a portfolio? As a collection of academic works, students often dump everything they have worked on into an A4 or A3 landscape format and send heavy files to firms. Remember that you have spent almost five years in the professional course, and there have been countless academic projects, and you can’t show them all. And to be honest, not all projects were your favourite. As we spoke initially, the portfolio is the first step in the professional world hence try to identify your academic strengths, and concepts that need to be developed beyond having a spatial zoning of noisy and quiet spaces or private, semi-private and public space allocation. In its entirety, designing may not be your strongest subject. In such a case, you may choose to align the projects chronologically with the latest one first. Alternatively, it is a good idea to start with your strongest works, let’s say three to start with. Now, looking at the content of these strongest projects, you can decide the composition of your work, the paper size and orientation. Most often, a landscape format is safe, but a portfolio can look good even in portrait format. In both cases, the work needs to be your strongest and, most importantly, relevant to the role you are applying for. 

For example, a portfolio may have the strongest work, like an infrastructure or a complex project apart from your thesis, followed by a project that is aligned with the project typology at the office, either a housing or a speciality urban or landscape project, etc. The next project can be something that shows your design process and skills, and the last may be a competition. Now, the last project, in this case, a competition, may not be the strongest or your authentic work, but it does highlight that you are a team player and can work in a multidisciplinary group. Similarly, the first project may or may not be your thesis project. Also, it is okay to include less significant projects that may show some of your other supplementary skills, but most importantly, don’t be afraid to REDO some of your work. You may want to include your most beloved project from your first year and add scanned images of your hand-done work, it is perfectly acceptable. But by the time you are applying for a new job or an internship, your skills have evolved, haven’t they? And it is worth relooking at those old scanned drawings and putting in a little extra effort.

Alongside the work put inside a portfolio, the look and feel of the actual portfolio itself shows what your design thought is like and what level of design maturity you have. Hence, spending some time and effort in composing each page is necessary. The design of your portfolio doesn’t just show your project, but it also demonstrates your graphical ability. Well, there are countless websites with countless portfolio templates; at the same time, there are countless freshers who are looking at the same content. It is perfectly fine to be inspired by what is available, but try to be as authentic as possible. Use this opportunity to narrate your story, how far you have come and how far you intend to go. 

Preplan each page of your portfolio, have a rough composition in place and what content comes where in sequence. The project that you have selected already has the basic set of drawings and logic suggest that you compose them in the required format and make it look good. But know that you have a small window of opportunity to convince someone, your employer to have a second look at your work and make a decision to hire you or not. Hence, it is worth showing a wide range of media that you used to accomplish the project, like process sketches and analysis, photographs of models and a couple of key renderings and a glimpse into your drawing ability. Select illustrations that complement each other. Instead of showing an entire technical drawing, you might want to show a 3d rendering of a finished area and just show the technical detail that you have learned or worked out all by yourself. Select a skill set that best explains the ethos of the project, and do not show all skills with a single project. With the overall portfolio and with your finest project try adding examples of hand sketching, digital modelling, concept design and development, creative problem solving, knowledge of construction and bylaws, advance drafting skills, etc. Try to make the portfolio as diverse as possible. Whilst technical and design skills can be combined in one project, presenting any speciality project that you worked on, may be an elective that pushed you academically or a research document, can give you brownie points. Most of the time, students do add extracurricular activities. It is good to know what interests you, but avoid things that you can verbally explain or hobbies that have nothing to do with your profession. 

As a student of design, pay attention to the sequencing of all the illustrations. Have some progression and a chronology to the content in the portfolio. Make sure that all margins have equal spacing and there is a good proportion of illustrations and white space around them. Try to be less chaotic. Remember to caption all the illustrations and images, and most importantly, have a spell check. It is embarrassing to have the wrong spelling in your portfolio. You may go to an extent of understanding which type of English you are using, American or British, as we often use words interchangeably, and a few words have a different spelling. Of Course, this matters more when you are applying for your higher education. Avoid surface textures on models and renderings, the reader needs to appreciate your work and not get confused looking at it. Also, the renders must show your artistic viewpoint and not make a point that you can use software. Can these renders tell a story or communicate a hidden narrative? Remember that the portfolio is a glimpse of your work, and it is not a design jury. Avoid writing long essays or paragraphs and limit your explanation to about 50 or 100 words. Graphically communicating your ideas is the key unless you are seeking employment as a copywriter or an architectural journalist. While emphasising collaborative work, state your role in the team and what your contribution was. Acknowledge the efforts of other team members. A professional who intends to hire you knows what they expect from an intern or a fresh graduate, or what output they typically produce. It is okay to add competitions and other extracurricular participation, but mention the extent of your involvement. 

Once your work looks reasonably well composed, move on to your cover page, Index and your CV. The cover page is equally important as the content in the portfolio. It starts the initial conversation and helps set the tone for the work that is coming ahead. Moving ahead, the document you are making is a professional portfolio and not a research project, so think of creative ways in which you can make the index. Again, this part of the portfolio will help the overall narrative and should intrigue the reader about what is coming next. For the “About Me” section, try to be crisp and concise. This section is a brief about you and should highlight some distinguishing characteristics. Most of the time, students tend to reconfigure their formal resume to fit the portfolio. Alternatively, you may think of ways to communicate your interpersonal skills, achievements relevant to the place you are applying and most importantly, any work experience, like a summer internship, or part-time work under an architect, any published research or additional learning that you undertook to augment your academics. Most online CV references ask you to show software skills, which can be debatable. In my opinion, the portfolio is a reflection of all your skills learned throughout your academics, from content composition to making 3ds. If you choose to show your prowess with software, it is best to highlight whether your skills are basic, intermediate or advanced instead of providing a scale. Make sure that the content of the portfolio matches your expertise level you highlight. 

While applying for a desired position in an office, it would be ideal that you share your formal CV and a covering letter along with your portfolio. And in case you choose to give your contact details as part of your portfolio or otherwise try to sound professional, often just to be cool, some students opt for quirky names and titles on an email address or their social media platforms, this may portray a casual approach and that you are not serious enough to start in the profession. This is also applicable in the mannerism you employ while seeking a job. Learn how to write an email and a cover letter. As architects we are in a creative field but most professionals won’t appreciate it if you write “Hi! I like your work and I want to work with you”. Working in a design firm is a little different that having a casual chat with your friends and faculties. Lastly, keep the portfolio size to an optimum and make sure that the document does not exceed 15 MB. This is a comfortable size for emailing your work, and try to keep the pages to fewer than 25 pages. Remember that most offices will scroll through your work to make a judgment. Make sure to invest quality time and proofread your work before sharing it.