How do I make a good design portfolio?

I just graduated from a University Design (Graphic, Web and Industrial) program. I did the degree because I thought that it would be better than just having a diploma. Unfortunately, the program was very conceptual and arty, so I don’t have any commercial work in my portfolio. This is making it almost impossible to get a job. I don’t know if I should do another program that offers instruction in the business end of design, or I should attempt to do it on my own. Furthermore, I see a lot of other student portfolios that have branding and packaging in them already. Are these projects made up with fake clients, and fake brands, or perhaps redesigns of existing brands? What should I do?

How do I make a good design portfolio?
Do like you said - some work on your own. The branding concepts I did in graphic design school were made up. I would not use existing brands and redesign anything - this seems like a bad move for many reasons. Come up with a name of a company, think of what they do and then design a logo and complete logo useage for them. Maybe even packaging. Show how the logo can be used across many different areas - web, color, black and white, etc - Yes, this is very important to have in your portfolio.





EDIT: Making up your own company can probabably bias you a bit as you may come up witha design concept first and then a company/name that will work with it - heh. Not much of a challenge then. Have a friend come up with a Company/Name for you to design for. This might be a bit more realistic
Reply:You could definitely make up names %26amp; brand to do your designs. You could also redesign things that you have seen that you think need improvement. Try getting a job that will just get you some experience for now, like in screenprinting or signmaking companies. You will pick up on which file types different companies need to produce with. You could work for the Newspaper, setting up pages. These don't sound very glamorous but some experience in the right direction with you degree will look better. I know because I have a lot of experience %26amp; no degree. A lot of doors are open for me but not all.

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