The portfolio is an important part of the application. Parsons School of Design and Parsons Paris assess portfolios based on technical and conceptual abilities displayed in the work. Here are tips to help you prepare your portfolio submission.
Undergraduate Portfolio Requirements
Your Portfolio
- First-year and transfer BFA applicants must submit a portfolio of eight to twelve images. Transfer applicants may submit additional images. Applicants for the BBA in Strategic Design and Management should submit two or more pieces in their portfolio.
- Portfolios can include a range of media such as drawing, painting, sculpture, fashion design, animation, performance, graphic design, and sketchbook pages. What you submit is entirely up to you.
- We encourage applicants to show experimentation and breadth. The portfolio does not need to specifically address the major to which you are applying.
- The portfolio must be completed online only.
- Please do not submit AutoCAD drawings, anime drawings, or images that directly copy another artist’s work. Applicants for the BBA may include examples of infographics or data visualization pieces.
- The portfolio must be completed online only through your Admission Hub and cannot be edited once submitted.
Tips for Preparing Your Portfolio
1. The Importance of Self-Expression
There is no one-size-fits-all portfolio! The portfolio should reflect who you are. Personal and conceptual work is preferred over generic pieces. Like the personal essay, the portfolio is a way to introduce yourself to our committee.
Ask yourself:
- Does this work represent my viewpoint or tell a story?
- Does the portfolio reflect my process of ideating and creating work?
- Does the work include areas where I have taken artistic risks or stretched myself to meet a challenge?
- Does this portfolio look like I made the work, or does it look like a collection of assignments similar to those of my classmates?
2. Your Process
Students often mistake the term “process” for the technical execution of a piece of work. When we speak of process, we're referring to your intention: why you made the work, why you made the decisions you made, and what inspired you. While this can sometimes include a description of the actual materials and tools, that only has relevance when it serves the idea of the piece. For example, a student who is thinking about climate change might decide that a time-lapse video would tell a story better than a painting.
Each image should include dimensions, titles, and a short narrative about the piece. We encourage you to write a few sentences about each piece to explain why you made the work and what you hoped to accomplish with the piece. You are required to use the available description/text boxes to give brief descriptions of your process, including your ideas and concepts, sources of inspiration, use of materials, etc., for at least two of your favorite pieces in your portfolio.
3. Observational Work
This may differ at some schools, but we do not require purely observational pieces such as still life drawings or figure studies. That means not that technique is something you should not consider but that it is not the only consideration. We recommend incorporating your use of technique in each medium into work that you consider to represent your personal vision in that medium. For example, a drawing that has elements from life but takes thematic risks is more useful to the Admission Committee than a pure life drawing that shows only the level of your technical execution skills.
4. Edit and Curate Your Work
You should take care with documentation to present your work at its best. Consider lighting, cropping, and grouping similar pieces. Our initial read of the work is on a computer screen, and we cannot zoom in or make the image larger. Use each image to highlight the work itself.
Consider:
- Each submission may contain one or more works of similar type or content.
- Not every piece is well served by just one still image. Consider including a short video of 3D work or the pages of a sketchbook being turned. One or two detailed photographs might help us understand the intricacy of a work, in addition to the view of the work in its totality.
- Don't use multiple images for the same piece of work. You can share only eight to 12 images.
- Emphasize simplicity over complexity. If there is too much going on in one image and we can’t see the details, we may not get the full picture of your skills and thought process.
- Each image in our portal has a space for details of each piece. We encourage you to write a few sentences about each piece to explain why you made the work and what you hoped to accomplish with the piece.
- Don't add text to the image of the work unless it is a part of the work itself. All context and explanation should be included in the additional space provided.
- If you collaborated on a piece, credit your collaborator in the description of the work and clearly represent your role in the ideation and realization of the work.
5. The Importance of Documentation
It's important for each image to be well documented in order for the Admission Committee to assess your work. Invest the time and effort to create accurate images of your work.
Consider:
- What is the best way to highlight this work? Is a still image the best representation, or would a video or other media better display the work? For example, a video showing the pages of a sketchbook being turned can be more effective than still images.
- Is the work easy to see? Crop out any extraneous imagery that may be distracting.
- Craftsmanship: Your photography of a piece should be in focus, the work should be presented in the correct aspect ratio and orientation, and the color of the piece should be accurate.
6. Consider Your Program of Interest
Although your portfolio for first-year entry does not necessarily have to address the major to which you are applying, we have some program-specific guidelines that may help you.
BFA Fashion Design:
- Think about showing your process and research work for several of your pieces. Be sure to use the text boxes provided in the portfolio submission platform, so that we can understand how you think about your work, including your inspirations, your conceptual process, and your reasons for approaching your work in the specific way you did.
- Parsons Paris BFA Fashion Design applicants should also consider including three-dimensional work and contemporary artwork in their portfolios. Three-dimensional work includes but is not limited to ceramics and pottery, installation, woodwork, and sculpture, for example.
- Parsons Paris BFA Fashion Design applicants can take risks in their portfolio by experimenting with materials that are not traditional textiles in their fashion designs. Applicants can also express a sensitivity to color, contrasts, proportions, and shapes in their portfolios.
- Although garment work can be featured in a portfolio for BFA Fashion Design, it is not required.
- You may submit fashion sketches, or croquis, though they are not required. If you choose to include these in your portfolio, they should either support a final work or be kept to only a few pieces.
BFA Art, Media, and Technology:
- We encourage BFA Art, Media, and Technology applicants to incorporate narrative and storytelling in their portfolio works. Be sure to use the text boxes provided in the portfolio submission platform to share the conceptual background or story behind your work.
- BFA Art, Media, and Technology applicants should consider submitting digital media, time-based work (which can include video of up to one minute), and mixed-media work.
- Although fine arts works can be included in a portfolio, please remember that your portfolio for the BFA Art, Media, and Technology program should not only include fine arts like drawing, painting, and sculpture. If you choose to submit fine arts works, we encourage you to show work that is conceptual in nature.
We're Here to Help
Editing a portfolio can be overwhelming. You can ask for advice by email or meet us in person on campus or across the United States and in selected countries at events like National Portfolio Days. If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to attend one of our online events.
Reminders
- This is your exhibition of work. Assemble a selection of pieces that speak to you.
- Consider experimentation and personal making.
- Documentation: Take care with the way you present your work. Less is more.
Transfer Students
Students applying to Parsons who wish to be considered for advanced standing must submit a portfolio that meets the portfolio guidelines provided above but should also think about including work in the major they intend to enroll in. The purpose of this portfolio is not only to enable us to assess a student’s conceptual thinking and technical mastery but also to provide evidence that the work completed at another college prepared the student adequately for the year level they are eligible to begin in.