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Graphic Design vocabulary · Briefs, Clients & Feedback

Portfolio

Meaning in graphic design, with examples

/pɔːrtˈfoʊlioʊ/nounCore term

In graphic design, portfolio means: A selected collection of a designer's best work, often with short project descriptions, used to apply for jobs, win clients or enter design schools.

In Turkish: portfolyo, çalışma dosyası

How it is used

Essential for job applications and freelancing. You build, update, curate or present a portfolio; it can be a website, a PDF or a printed book. Recruiters often ask for a portfolio link with a CV.

Example sentences

  1. Please send your CV and a link to your portfolio, with no more than ten projects.

  2. I'd add the packaging project to your portfolio and explain the brief in two sentences.

Common collocations

  • build a portfolio
  • online portfolio
  • portfolio review
  • update your portfolio
  • mockupA realistic image or model that shows how a design will look in real life, for example a logo on a shop sign or a label on a bottle, used mainly in presentations.
  • conceptThe main idea behind a design and one early version of it shown to the client, explaining how the design answers the brief.
  • pitchA presentation of ideas made to win a new client or project, often in competition with other agencies or studios.
  • art directorA senior creative person who decides the visual style of a project or campaign, guides designers, photographers and illustrators, and makes sure the work fits the idea.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Briefs, Clients & Feedback

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