PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES

APPLYING TO STUDY ART AND DESIGN

You may need to submit a portfolio of work as part of your application to study at AUT for:

Bachelor of Design• Communication Design• Digital Design• Fashion Design• Industrial Design• Spatial Design

Bachelor of Visual Arts

You’re strongly encouraged to submit your portfolio along with your application to study at AUT. If your portfolio isn’t ready at this stage, you can upload your portfolio through your Arion account. See the instructions on pages 5 and 6.

Submit only one portfolio, regardless of how many programmes or majors you apply for. All the art and design programmes or majors you apply for will review this portfolio.

Acceptance into these programmes is based on academic achievement and the work submitted in a portfolio.

Preferential entryYou will have preferential entry to the Bachelor of Design or Bachelor of Visual Arts if:• You are a current Year 13 student at a

NZ secondary school, and• You have achieved NCEA Level 2

with Excellence endorsement overall and with an Excellence endorsement in one or more approved art, design or technology subjects (i.e. Painting, Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies etc), or

• You have achieved a University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) AS grade A or B in one or more approved art, design or technology subjects.

This means you won’t need to submit a portfolio of art or design work, and will be offered a place in these programmes provisional upon gaining University Entrance.

If you’re eligible for preferential entry, apply online and submit your application without a portfolio.

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• Approximately 12 to 24 A4 pages of images/photos of your work that are compatible with the Bachelor of Visual Arts or the Bachelor of Design major(s) that you are applying for

• Give a short explanation of each image including the date, title and the issue or concept that you were working on and your role if it is a collaborative piece

• Include the working drawings or process, where available, for at least one piece of work or project

• A short cover letter that outlines your background and achievements. Include this letter as the first page of your portfolio

Ensure that your portfolio demonstrates both a breadth and depth of creative work - include images of a range of drawings, sketches, models and finished examples of work in your portfolio.

Include your name and programme in the file nameIf you submit your portfolio when you apply to study at AUT, the file name for your portfolio should include:• Your full name• Programme/s and major/s you’re

applying forWe will be unable to review portfolios that don’t have a name or programme/major recorded.

Include a cover letter outlining the following:• Introducing yourself• Design aspirations or goals• Past or present design studies

Don’t include original work• Send us photos or electronic copies of

your work in your portfolio

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO

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One the right are examples of strong portfolios. Although these are directed at specific majors, the general format and content are acceptable across most programmes.

Take some time to look through these portfolios to start thinking about what you might include in yours – remember these are guidelines only so what you include and how you present your images is entirely up to you. Just remember to keep to the basic guidelines for portfolio submission as outlined on this document.

EXAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

COMMUNICATION DESIGN SAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

13.6MB 5.7MB 26.8MB 3.6MB

1 2 3 4

DIGITAL DESIGN SAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

4.1MB 17.1MB 2.0MB

1 2 3

FASHION DESIGN SAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

12.7MB 5.7MB

1 2

SPATIAL DESIGN SAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

3.0MB 6.8MB 18.2MB

1 2 3

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN SAMPLE PORTFOLIO

7.0MB

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VISUAL ARTS SAMPLE PORTFOLIO

1.9MB

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Your portfolio should include approximately 12-24 A4 pages of images/photos of your work and a cover letter merged into one PDF file. For example a file created in Powerpoint or InDesign or Word is then converted into one PDF file.

Including movie filesFor majors such as Digital and Communication Design you may wish to send us a movie file as part of your portfolio.

Don’t upload movie or audio files with your application or to your Arion account. Upload your movie to YouTube or Vimeo, etc. and place a link to this in your cover letter.

Problems uploading your portfolio?If you have a problem uploading your portfolio (eg due to file size limitations) contact the Student Hub.• Phone 0800 AUT UNI• studenthub@aut.ac.nz

The file size must not exceed 30MB.

Any files exceeding 30MB will be sent back to you by Admissions and/or not uploaded to your application. Applications that don’t include a portfolio may not be assessed.

PORTFOLIO FORMAT

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If you are not ready to submit your portfolio with your application to AUT, then you can upload your portfolio through your Arion account at a later date. Please note that your application will not be assessed until we have received your portfolio. Therefore we do recommend that you submit your portfolio through the online application process as detailed above.

Your portfolio must be submitted in a single file by electronic PDF format.• The PDF can contain approximately 12-24

pages of images/photos of your work and a cover letter. The letter should be the first page of your PDF portfolio.

• Clearly include in your cover letter your name, student ID (if known), contact phone number and the name of the qualification(s) and/or major(s) that you are applying for.

To submit your portfolio through your Arion account• Log in to your Arion account using the

username and password sent to you by AUT.

• Go to Academic Details > Student Documents

• Click on Add Document• Click on Browse - Select Portfolio - Upload

You will then be able to upload your portfolio to your application.

Log in to Arion

Don’t upload movie or audio files to your Arion account – these will not be assessed. If you wish to submit a movie or audio file, upload your movie or audio file to YouTube, Vimeo etc and place a link to this in your covering letter.

SUBMITTING YOUR PORTFOLIO AFTER APPLYING TO AUT

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Problems uploading your portfolio?If you have a problem uploading your portfolio (eg due to file size limitations) contact the Student Hub.

The file size must not exceed 30MB.

Any files exceeding 30MB will be sent back to you by Admissions and/or not uploaded to your application. Applications that don’t include a portfolio will not be assessed.

Preferential entryYou will have preferential entry to the Bachelor of Design or Bachelor of Visual Arts if:• You are a current Year 13 student at a NZ

secondary school, and• You have achieved NCEA Level 2 with

Excellence endorsement overall and with an Excellence endorsement in one or more approved art, design or technology subjects (i.e. Painting, Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies etc), or

• You have achieved a University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) AS grade A or B in one or more approved art, design or technology subjects.

This means you won’t need to submit a portfolio of art or design work, and will be offered a place in these programmes provisional upon gaining University Entrance.

If you’re eligible for preferential entry, apply online and submit your application

without a portfolio.For full details on entry requirements for refer to the Bachelor of Design or the Bachelor of Visual Arts

For more information or assistanceContact the Student Hub:

• Phone 0800 AUT UNI• studenthub@aut.ac.nz

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