PROJECT: Style guide for a design portfolio.

REQUIREMENTS: Create a definitive resource for copywriting, design, layout, production, printing, and binding, meeting the designer’s standards and reinforcing brand values.

CHALLENGES: Make a portfolio that will be both beautiful and sustainable, two project values that sometimes don’t pair together easily. Create a portfolio that will stand out in a stack of documents, physically, yet can be sent by standard mail. The absence of capital letters is a stylistic choice for headlines and footers which was not carried throughout all paragraphs, in order to improve legibility and readability.

APPROACH: Project goals of sustainability and notability met by creating a legal-size portfolio from sustainable cork and leather hand-bound covers with a signature stamp. The guts can be easily replaced, allowing the covers to be re-used multiple times. Legal size was selected to allow for plenty of white space, giving design material space to breathe, yet still being printable on a standard office machine. Fonts and spacing were selected to achieve a modern look and style, while providing readability. The subject title “topics: design decisions” was selected to highlight the thought process that went into every careful step.

RESULTS: Hired for multiple interior design and graphic design projects, with budgets from $3k-$150k, and very happy clients.