Project Inventory and Audit
Know what you have before you decide what to show.
Start here, before InDesign
The single most common portfolio mistake isn't a layout problem or a graphics problem. It's a curation problem — showing work that shouldn't be shown, arranged in an order that doesn't serve the strongest material, with no honest assessment of what's actually good enough. Before you open InDesign, take stock.
Firms are hiring who you are now, not who you were in your first year. Work through every project you have and evaluate it against your current standard — not against what it was when you submitted it, not against how hard it was to produce. Hold a standard to what you're capable of today. The gap between those two things is what the audit is for.
The four designations
This work meets your current standard and is ready for layout as-is. It represents how you think and what you can produce right now.
The design concept is strong, but the graphic quality or content breadth doesn't represent your current abilities. The solution stays — the presentation gets rebuilt.
The design itself is weak, incomplete, or no longer something you'd put your name on. Better graphics won't save it. The work needs rethinking.
This project doesn't belong in a professional portfolio regardless of effort invested. Edit ruthlessly. Inclusion is a choice with consequences.
Ranking your work
After designating each project, rank them from strongest to weakest. Write a brief rationale for each — one or two honest sentences. This document drives every decision that follows. The weakest materials in a portfolio drag down the perception of everything around them. A lean portfolio of strong work is significantly more effective than a full portfolio of average work.
You are competing with roughly 1,800 other design graduates every year. Domestic and international, across more than seventy accredited programs. Your portfolio is the primary variable you control. It deserves the honest, critical attention you'd give any design problem — including the willingness to make hard cuts.