Service Design Portfolio Guidelines To apply for MA Service Design go to https://applications.rca.ac.uk We strongly advise you to read the information provided on the RCA website before registering and filling in your online application form. Once you have submitted the form and paid the fee, you may submit your portfolio. Once you have registered, you can update your portfolio as many times as you wish until you submit it. PLEASE MAKE CAREFUL NOTE OF THE DEADLINES FOR MA SERVICE DESIGN 16 January 2015: Closing date for receipt of applications. 23 January 2015: Closing date for receipt of portfolios (submitted online*). 13 February 2015: Invitations issued to candidates selected for interview. 13 March 2015: Interviews completed. 1 April 2015: Results letters sent.

As part of the application process you are expected to provide a portfolio of work. Service Design applicants should submit their portfolio using the online system initially - if invited for interview, applicants are then invited to bring in a physical portfolio. Please take note of the general and specific guidelines for portfolios below: The entrance examination to the Royal College of Art is in two parts; Part 1 consists of a portfolio submission followed by an interview (if invited) in Part 2. Part 1 ** WE DO NOT ACCEPT PHSYCIAL WORK AT THIS STAGE: PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR PORTFOLIO ONLINE ONLY** Portfolios will only be accepted online using the RCA Online Application Form and Online Portfolio Submission process.

 

Please ensure that: • your online portfolio submission can be viewed in any standard browser • you have reviewed and checked that your submission works in the way

you intend it to be seen in a web browser (preferably Firefox) on a different computer (ie, not the computer you made the submission on, to check that your files have uploaded correctly to our server).

• you pace your work so the examiners will be able to judge your submission in the way you wish to present yourself – they will look at your work for a maximum of 15 minutes only.

Portfolio Recommendations The portfolio should show: • excellence in your current expertise, study area or professional activity • evidence of your interest or ability in service design and associated fields • samples of your creative abilities or relevant personal interests. This could include: projects and exercises from previous degree courses; where relevant, examples of professional work; personal sketchbooks; self‐generated projects; evidence of an ability to make in 3D, as well as examples of creative work in any other areas. A portfolio is a visual representation of your skills, experience, interest, and potential. Remember to: • include great achievements in your current and past roles • show examples of work/projects that demonstrate your knowledge and

interest in the world of Service Design • communicate something special about you • clearly describe the exact role you played in a group project if relevant • keep to a neat, simple layout – clear communication is key to success • Put a CV in the portfolio - we have the application form but it’s always

useful to see more information • Make it stand out - we have a lot of portfolios to view, make yours special,

break the rules **If you have no design experience, show us where you have promise or have made the effort to try – we are looking for potential**

 

Portfolio Requirements • You are asked to provide a personal statement of a maximum of 500 words. • You may upload up to 20 individual projects or items to your portfolio. These may be single images, a design consisting of more than one image (such as publication), a presentation, or a moving image or audio clip. You may add a gallery of six further images to support each of your projects. You should provide a description of a maximum of 100 words for each project image and a caption of up to 50 words for each of the gallery images. • Moving image or sound work must be limited to a maximum of five minutes (full length work will be viewed if you are invited for an interview in Part 2). • You may include links to websites, such as your personal site, but it must support your main submission. If there are websites you have professionally designed for clients, you must explain your role in the design and implementation processes. • Images should be in an acceptable format (see formats below) to the following recommended dimensions: width: minimum width 400 pixels, recommended 1024 pixels (larger images will be resized)  height: minimum height 400 pixels recommended 768 pixels  resolution: must be 72 dpi (dots per inch) – re-size all images appropriately  maximum file size: 2mb for each image and 80mb for a movie file  file formats: JPEG, PNG, MP4, MOV, M4V website URL (please note PDF files are not suitable). For each piece of work you must indicate: Title Medium (where relevant) Date made Size (cms) length (mins).

 

Part 2: Interview If you are invited for an interview you will be required to bring with you your physical portfolio of work submitted online and work in progress. A note about filling in the application form: • References: Good references are really valuable and powerful. • Write a good personal statement, WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE HERE? • Don’t expect feedback on portfolios, unfortunately we don’t give it there

are just too many applicants. You can find further information about the application process via the RCA website: http://www.rca.ac.uk/studying-at-the-rca/apply/application-process/ma-application-process/ The Service Design MA Programme is based at the following address: Dana Centre 165 Queens Gate London SW7 5HD Tel: +44(0)20 78381234 RCA/Service Design December 2014