Creating a portfolio

Which courses need a portfolio?

Admission to each of the following courses involves portfolio review. Specific portfolio requirements can be found on the course page. Follow the links below and read the portfolio advice tab on the entry criteria section.

Undergraduate courses that require a portfolio

• 3D Design and Craft BA(Hons)
• Animation BA(Hons)
• Architecture BA(Hons)
• Electronic Music and Sound BA(Hons)
• Fashion Communication with Business Studies BA(Hons)
• Fashion Design with Business Studies BA(Hons)
• Fine Art BA(Hons)
• Fine Art Painting BA(Hons)
• Fine Art Printmaking BA(Hons)
• Games Art and Design BA(Hons)
• Graphic Design BA(Hons)
• Illustration BA(Hons)
• Interior Architecture BA(Hons)
• Product Design BSc(Hons)
• Photography BA(Hons)
• Textiles Design with Business Studies BA(Hons)

How should I present my portfolio?

We will require you to share an online portfolio with us to allow us to assess your work. 

Your digital or online portfolio is a selection of your work that we can look at online (rather than a portfolio of digitally made work). Typically, your portfolio will include 15–20 images of your work, or a show-reel if you're applying to a course such as music or animation. For some courses you may also be asked to provide a supporting written statement.

Your portfolio should be published on a single platform such as Carbonmade, Blogspot, Blogger, WordPress, Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube or SoundCloud. The platform you choose may depend on the type of work you want to show.

It should be accessible from a web browser such as Safari, Chrome or Firefox without the reviewer having to enter a password.

What kind of work should I include?

Your portfolio, showreel and statement should be relevant to the course you’ve applied for and showcase your talents and interests. We are excited to see your work so far and your potential so don’t delay sending your portfolio because you think it isn’t ‘finished.’ We expect you to be trying things out and experimenting, so don’t feel you have to be too rigid. We’re very happy to see work produced during A-levels, foundation courses, work experience and from outside of your education.

For all courses

• anything that demonstrates your motivations, influences and interests as an artist.
• your ability to develop an idea from concept.
• your potential to experiment, imagine, and explore ideas and techniques.

For visual arts, design and media courses, this could be:

• studies, sketches, collages, designs
• work that shows a good understanding of drawing, composition, form, proportion and colour
• images of working sketchbooks – our tutors are interested in your working process
• images of 3D objects you have made; paintings; prints; fashion and textile designs; photography; typography; illustrations; performance; video; sound composition; text or application of creative process such as weave or CAD work.

How should I prepare images for my online portfolio

All images should be in jpg format and 72dpi resolution. Ideally they should be flattened and optimised for screen viewing with maximum dimensions of 800 pixels on the longest side – you can do this using Photoshop if you have access to this application.

The name of each image should be the title of the work. We recommend that you include a brief description, up to 20 words long, of each piece of work including the date that the work was made.

What is the portfolio submission process

1. Apply to your chosen course through UCAS.
2. We will email you your University of Brighton username and password. This means you can access Student View to manage your application and find the full advice about the kinds of work to provide.
3. Our Admissions team will review your application. If you meet the academic criteria they will offer you a place on the course subject to successful portfolio review. You will then be advised on how to prepare your portfolio and when you need to submit it.
4. When your portfolio is ready you'll send us a link on Student View.
5. The course team will review your portfolio, and if it demonstrates your potential to succeed on your chosen course your offer of a place will be confirmed. The offer may still be conditional on meeting the academic requirements – this will be set out in your offer letter.