>If you're just starting out:
10 of your best pieces (a student should easily have this many)
a page with contact info, your resume and portfolio in pdf format.


>If you have some client work:
a section for that work (only display the projects you're proud of and willing to discuss if they're ever brought up)
a section for past work (you can include some school projects if they're really good, but be very selective about them)

If you lack paid work, you can always bullshit some... this should be easy to do because you're a designer. Take some of those school projects, and present them as client work.


>What do you have in your portfolio?
I have a section for client work and an archive section, divided up by year. My contact info/bio is on its own page.

>>241264
>only display the projects you're proud of
The stuff i have from school isn't very good, most of what i have was rushed.


When i asked "What do you have in your portfolio?" i meant what kind off projects, like flyers, posters, websites, etc.
I'm just out of ideas on what to create.

>>241265
Re-do those school projects then.

You have to start somewhere... you can't expect to have an amazing portfolio right from the start.

>>241278
It's a good idea, but i think i'm going to start from scratch.
I am out of ideas and was curious of what other people have in their portfolios, that's all.

>>241278
Although he didn't answer your question OP, this guy is right. You can't really ask us what work to do, you just have to do the work you want to do. When you think of yourself as a designer, what is it that you want to do?

>>241279
If you wan't to do movie posters for a life, design movie posters, if you want to do record covers, design record covers, if you want to do logos, design logos... see where I'm getting at?

You can (should) tailor your portfolio to the type of work you'd like to do and the people you're showing your portfolio to.

If you're not sure what you want, well ... short answer: you can always get into another line of work. Long answer: most people don't either, so they just winged it and found out later by trial and error.

>>241290
>tailor your portfolio to the type of work you'd like to do

That would be nice but most jobs ask for an all-rounder.
So i think it's a good idea to include all types of work.

portofolio is gud

>>241264
>10 pieces
>resume and portfolio
>>241290
>do one thing and one thing only
Jesus, it's like some of you people graduated from Behance and Dribbble.

Look OP, quality over quantity. I never remember full portfolios when hiring designers. Feature the one project you could talk hours about, and let people remember you for that. Hell, there are people who stick to one style and that ends up being the reason people hire them.

However, you may one style, but sticking to one area is the worst thing you can do. This is the Behance syndrome. Everyone is doing the same type of projects, with the same style, and over and over again—and guess what? they suck. The more you try different media, the more comfortable you get with your work, and eventually better you get at it. This is how you become an interesting designer. You could have one approach to design, say, typographic, but you'll have the experience in implementing typography in fucking anything.

Keep your portfolio nice and simple. Your name, then perhaps a short sentence about what you do like "Creative working in the fields of art and design." or simply "Graphic designer and web-developer" or whatever it is that you do. Then put your e-mail and that's it. No one wants to read your "about" artist statement. No one is going to go through your resume. And absolutely no one is going to go through a PDF file after just seeing your work. So as I said, if you only have one project, then put that up front and nothing else. It's better to leave people wanting for more than to show everything, because the point is not to show what you do and how you've done it, it's who you are and why you do what you do that matters.

Same with resumes. No one cares about your interests, or how great your skills are from 1 to 5. I don't know how that ridiculous style got popular. My resume is a list of personal info, work, and education, set in Univers on an offwhite background, and it works. Good luck!

>and eventually better you get at it
Sorry for the stream of consciousness gibberish. What I meant is that the more comfortable you are, the better your work is. What you do doesn't make you special because everyone is using the same tools and anyone can learn how to use them.

What makes you special is how you think and why. Interesting work comes from an interesting mind.