Building a

Portfolio:What it is. Why have one.

How it is done.

MIT Ideation Lab / September 18th, 2014

But first, a mini quiz!

What are five important elements

for making a portfolio?

just kidding

The notecards are for you to make

notes and jot down questions.

What?

visual representation of your work,

complementing your resume

a physical book?!

not necessarily

!

could be a pdf, a website, etc.

consider your audience

Why?

required for your new job or school

efficient

example of your own design work

How?

don’t worry about making the actual

portfolio now, but...

...start documenting now!

incremental preparation for the

future (might be too stressed later)

sketches

!

!

!

CAD

!

!

!

prototypes

!

goals

storyboards

diagrams

!

analysis

product specs

testing

design notebook!

Things to collect:

Documentation

Getting Started

Audience

Layout

Content

Medium

collection of the materials from your experiences

who sees the portfolio

refinement of the raw documentation

arrangement of elements in space

website, pdf, print?

(not linear)

Content

share with others

benchmarking existing portfolios

do some quick prototypes

Vimeo, YouTube, Flickr

Seelio, Weebly, Behance, Coroflot

WordPress, Tumblr

Share with someone in person!

Content

Mindmap

looking at all you’ve done

Content

Developing text

writing about your experiences

Practicing Designassistive shower seat

Overview 4

In Product Engineering Processes, teams of 16 students go from idea to alpha prototype within one semester. The theme in Fall 2006 was independent living and with the focus area of hygiene, our team developed the U-Shower, an assistive shower seat that helps seated shower users who have limited upper mobility. I was one of two system integrators, leading user research and general organization of the team.

Lessons Learned:-Communication with people is essential in realizing a

product concept: teammates, users, customers, vendors, etc.

-Prototypes don't work until they exist.

-There is no substitute for engaging with users when we

cannot have first-hand experience for a use scenario.

U-Showerassistive shower chair

Multiple shower headsfor easy reach of theentire body

Independent on/off foreach water source

Sturdy waterproof seat

Easily folds up and slides out of the way

1

2

3

1

2

3

4

Features

4

Usage

Temperature and watercontrol from existing faucet

Individual on/off for eachwater outlet

Contoured seat with holeallows access to perinealregion

Seat can be folded againstwall when not in use

InstallationGrab bars are installedinto wall studs

Bathtub orientation ischosen upon firstinstallation

Water input is connecteddirectly to the existingoverhead shower

Allowing people who take seated showers to do sosafely, more effectively, and more independently.

Customer Need

Millions of elderly peopleand people with disabilitieshave a limited range ofmotion and also havetrouble standing in theshower. Many of thesepeople require assistancewhile showering and haveexpressed a need for waysto improve privacy andfunctionality in theshowering process.

2.009 Orange Team

Perineal WashFolded seat

U-Shower

Lauren Hernleyis a Mechanical Engineer at Euro-Pro

after doing graduate research at MIT.

ProcessGuidelinesTips

Process

Collect photos and content !! (Get in the habit of documenting your work as you go)!!

List out your projects!!

Rank and order projects !! (chronological? most relevant/important?)!!

Sketch or storyboard portfolio layout

Paper vs. Online

Paper vs. Online

Often required for job applications !!

Easier to skim !!

Can be easier to get started !!

Can still be posted online for easy sharing   !

Paper vs. Online

Allows for greater flexibility & creativity !!

Useful for everything - not just jobs!!

Google searchable!!

Richer media (video, animation, etc.)

Often required for job applications !!

Easier to skim !!

Can be easier to get started !!

Can still be posted online for easy sharing   !

Layout

Layout

Fit the content to the layout !OR!

Fit the layout to the content

ProcessGuidelinesTips

Show, Don’t Tell

Use photos, video, sketches, etc.!!

Be clear and concise with text

Be HonestI designed the Hubble telescope.

Be HonestI, along with 60 colleagues, designed the Hubble

telescope.    

Attention to Detale Matters

Align images!!

Use consistent formatting (font, margins, etc.) !!

Spell check   !

Attention to Detail Matters

Align images!!

Use consistent formatting (font, margins, etc.) !!

Spell check   !

Be Selective

Be Selective

Know your audience!!

Put best and/or most recent work first!!

There’s no need to include everything

Show Range

Review & Revise

Have!someone!unfamiliar!with!your!work!review!your!portfolio!

Know Your Tools

PowerPoint, Keynote, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign!

!

Lynda for help (lynda.mit.edu)

ProcessGuidelinesTips

Typeface

Helvetica!Gill Sans!Garamond !

Comic Sans!Papyrus!STENCIL   

Safe fonts:

Unsafe fonts:

Image Treatment

Remove or use white backgrounds

Images only need to be 70 dpi for web viewing

Don’t Start From ScratchUtilize templates and website development aides

Tracking

My Portfolio

Alex Dennistonis a Senior Engineer at Altitude, Inc.

Portfolio Session!18 September 2014 / MIT

2014 / ‹#›

Our Work

We are Altitude.!!

!!!!!!!

We Innovate.

2014 / ‹#›

Engineering is important, communication is critical!!!

• Trying to learn: can you do work AND can I work with you?!• The best solution is worthless if it can’t be communicated effectively!• Storytelling is a part of the job!• Shows ability to evaluate work!• Bonus: makes you a better interviewer

2014 / ‹#›

Don’t sell the product, sell yourself!!!

• Keep the material accessible!• Looking for process (not just steps, but thoughts)!• Context is critical and helpful!• Every project has a story and a timeline, don’t just skip to the end

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Tell your story!!!

• It’ll be the easiest to tell!• It’ll be authentic and transparent!• They’re hiring YOU!• Promote and prioritize the skills you have!• Faking it translates poorly and ends badly!• If you’re not an artist, don’t pretend

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Provide a variety of reader experiences!!!

• For the “skimmer”!• For the “one story”!• For the “detailed reader”

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Be ruthless. Be flexible.!!!

• Tell the relevant details and no more!• Stories aren’t reports; effort and impact can be independent!• Some stories deserve more attention than others!• ROI vs. Revenue, only ask as much of as me as I’m going to get in return

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Some suggestions:!!!

• Scour Coroflot, Issuu, Slideshare!• Ask for feedback (and be willing to listen to it)!• Use the “Mom test” first, then add detail!• Sketch outlines make it much more manageable!

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What?

Recap

Why?

How?

visual representation of your work

better communicate your work

start documenting now!

Go Build a

Portfolio!MIT Ideation Lab / September 18th, 2013

!Geoff Tsai <gtt@mit.edu> /

Lauren Hernley <lrhernley@gmail.com> /

Alex Denniston <a_denniston@altitudeinc.com>

http://web.mit.edu/ideation/portfolio/

check out the site!

survey: http://j.mp/portfolio-survey