Portfolio advice

A strong portfolio is key to getting the place you want on a degree or pre-degree course. But what should you include? We've put together some tips that should help you make the most of your work:

• Research the course you're applying for and make sure that you understand the emphasis of the course.
• Demonstrate your capability in your chosen area of specialism.
• Show visual evidence of a range of skills and understanding of a variety of media. This could include finished projects and development work, digital work, photography, paintings, drawings, three dimensional work, storyboards, films or animations.
• Show creative thinking, investigation and your ability to develop a project.
• Include sketchbooks, notebooks and contact sheets as well as finished work.
• Make sure that your portfolio is logically organised - chronologically or in working groups where initial work is placed next to final pieces.
• Large or three dimensional pieces can be shown using photographs.
• Don't be over-selective – we will assess your potential and take into account what you have achieved so far.
• Make sure what you do include shows a range of styles and media to demonstrate your creativity.
• Know your work, so that you can discuss the ideas that you've developed and which pieces of work you consider to be stronger and weaker.

If you are an EU or international student we recommend that you upload your portfolio to websites such as Flickr and YouTube and provide us with a link to your work rather than supplying original work which cannot be returned. Applicants that are required to send in their portfolio of work will be notified via their applicant portal.

For course-specific portfolio requirements, please see the relevant course page for more details.

For further portfolio advice you may wish to visit us at one of our  open days or at a student recruitment event.