Any suggestions on how I can show actual publication layouts in a physical print portfolio for an interview? I do have an online site, but I thought it would be nice to bring additional pieces.
If they’re actual publication layouts, why not just bring in the actual publications?
That’s what I can’t decide — what do I put them in? I’ve looked all over the web for some type of case to carry them in, but can’t really find anything that suits me.
You seem far too concerned about your case. It’s the interview and your work that’s in the case that counts — not the fancy case that holds it.
If these publications won’t fit in your portfolio case, just carry them in separately — it’s no big deal. What is a big deal is showing off the work you’ve done, and there’s no better way to do that than with actual, printed, published work that makes you look like an experienced professional.
Yea, I guess I’m overthinking it. I’m trying to avoid carrying too many things in.
I don’t think their is any benefit in seeing the actual piece inside of the magazine or publication it was printed in.
I’d just slice out the page from the publication with an exacto knife and slip it into a page in your physical portfolio.
Protip: get a portfolio that is larger than the size of the pieces you are showing, take your portfolio to a Frame store and have them make some nice mattes for each page/piece.
Actually, I disagree. The benefit is they can see for themselves that the work has been published. Published work is usually more convincing.
I don’t normally have specific disagreements with other people’s advice because we all have our own opinions. As someone who interviews applicants and looks at lots of portfolios, though, I really do disagree with the following.
There seems to be a common misconception that art/creative directors are mainly concerned with the design of individual pieces of work. Sure, they look at the designs, but there’s much more to it than that.They also look at and want information about the bigger picture.
Showing how work fits into an entire publication, for example, provides context, background information, substance and would lend credibility to what would otherwise be just a tear sheet cut from a publication.
The design of a layout or an ad or whatever in, say, a magazine can’t really be separated from the rest of the magazine’s design since the magazine’s personality and audience should have been considered when developing that design. A good art director will want to see that the designer recognized this and took those things into consideration. There is no such thing as good design done in a vacuum or one page at a time.
I would not want to see designers bring in matted work, and I can’t imagine others would be impressed by this either. Portfolio pieces are work examples, not framed art. If a designer is particularly proud of something she’s done and wants to hang it on her studio wall, great, that’s where a matte comes in handy. But in a portfolio, I want to see the work without a bunch of artificial adornments that having nothing to do with the work itself.
You are entitled to your own option for sure. However, if a director in print can’t detect a morie pattern/etc, they don’t deserve their position.
Portfolios are a presentation tool and an opportunity to show ones best work. If a portfolio is just being used to hold junk, it probably is junk imo. Tangible samples are great, but using a nice leather book to hold them, and every page turn something fumbles, is just classless. I judge aesthetic choices every step of the way.
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I’m not understanding how detecting morié patterns fits into the discussion.
Which is one reason why those pieces shouldn’t have mattes around them — they would just get in the way, both physically and aesthetically, from simply seeing the work.
Of course it’s not OK to have junk or “fumbles.” But a book full of matted tear sheets would seem a likely cause of them. 
I wasn’t trying to argue with you here, simply explaining my view point 
Your opinions are justified as they are your own. We are probably just looking for different things in a designer.
Yeah, I’m sorry if I came on a little strong. It’s just that what you’ve suggested would not make a positive impression on me.
What impresses me most is when a candidate comes in with a well-organized portfolio of work — a few tear sheets in sleeves, perhaps, and a few physical samples that I can hold in my hand and pass around the table. By this point, though, I’ve already likely seen what they have online, so I’m probably a bit more interested in asking questions, exploring their thought processes, personal interests, personality and history than I am in seeing more of their work.
Now if it’s a leave-behind portfolio instead of an interview, it’s a somewhat different matter since I’d prefer that everything stay put in the case when I’m looking at it.
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