Overview
The first time I went to school for design, I was not a successful student. I dropped out before senior year – meaning I never reached the pinnacle portfolio course. After that, I never had a season in which I could justify the time, energy, and cost to create one, when I had enough work coming in via word of mouth.
I went back to school in 2020, and was thrilled at the chance to create my portfolio during my final semester in 2023. Predicated on the personal brand I developed in 2022, I am over the moon about how this collection of my work turned out!
The portfolio is a screw post binder, similar to a scrapbook you might get at a craft store. There was no out-of-the-box solution for the vision I had, so I researched every possible option to engineer exactly what I wanted. Many small mockups were made and there were a million moments where I held my breath and prayed I wouldn't have to reorder my covers, buy another leather sheet, or put it all together to find that I had not, in fact, thought it through correctly.
The laser-cut covers were made at Make ATX, who did an amazing job and were patient with all my questions! The binding is leather, and the screw post set came from Amazon. And believe it or not, I couldn't find elastic in the color I wanted, but found a sports bra at Target that was perfect. So I took it home, sliced off the bottom, and had the perfect sized elastic loop!
The book is structured as a collection of sleeves that are open on the fore-edge. I designed and printed these as one foldable piece, hand cut and assembled them, and rounded the corners. Each sleeve is dedicated to a project and displays the title and client (if applicable). Three cutout windows give the viewer a glimpse of the content inside, and there is a motif from the project on the sleeve as well.
Because each project is contained within a dedicated sleeve, one must remove the print and fully engage with the project without the distraction of another project on a facing page, and without the temptation to flip through pages lackadaisically. Additionally, three cutouts give me control not only over which elements are highlighted, but the ability to highlight choice details as well.
Operation Meraki
Each print (above left) is a large folded card that has the three highlighted elements where the sleeve cutouts show through, as well as an introduction to the project. The full spread (above right) has the main presentation, and projects that have more content can make use of the back side as well (right).
This project is where the idea for sleeves with cutout windows originated. As I was trying to decide how to structure the page of elements, I really enjoyed seeing this primary-colored selection of illustrations together.
There was no place within the project itself where these elements coincided side-by-side, but I felt they were the best representation of the illustration work I did for this event. Thus, the sleeve concept was born.
A handful of projects had tangible items that I was able to include. For these, the item was secured by flaps I cut into the card, and accompanied by additional information on the lefthand side.
The colorful cover of this print was hands down my favorite. I had so much fun working with these patent drawings, and rarely do I go full bore on current design trends, but as this was targeted to Gen Z, pairing them with a colorful gradient was the way to go.
The booklet with the 2-3 color gradient turned out well, but it was especially fun to see the full spectrum come to life on the larger print for this portfolio piece.
