Portfolio guidance
When applying to many of our Arts, Design and Media courses, you will be asked to provide a digital portfolio. This is an opportunity to show us who you are, your artistic ability and your potential.
This page provides a detailed insight into how to prepare the best possible portfolio for your course.
Portfolio submission deadlines
You will be asked to submit a digital portfolio to us within 28 days of receiving your invitation to submit a portfolio review. We know that you may be applying to us relatively early in the academic year, while you are still building an updated portfolio, so please note that we are happy for you to submit the following: GCSE work (for undergraduate programmes); work from the previous year; work in progress, such as sketches of ideas; and photos of your work.
Which courses require a portfolio?
You will be asked to submit a digital portfolio if you are applying to the following courses:
- BA Fashion Design
- BA Textile Design
- MA Fashion Styling
- MA Fashion Design
- MA Textile and Surface Design
Please note: If you are applying for a postgraduate course and you have an undergraduate degree from Birmingham City University in a closely related discipline, you may be exempt from providing a portfolio.
For detailed guidance, select your course from the dropdown below.
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BA Fashion Design
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings. For fashion design: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings. For textiles: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages and paintings. For both: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work, garments and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Take photos of 3D pieces you wish to include. Please ensure they are clear and show a sense of scale, texture, material, colour and context.
- Try to show one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included. Annotations are helpful as they show how you research and reflect on the development of your work.
- Include one to three final pieces that you are able to talk about. This might include garments, interior pieces or artistic statements.
- Include content from your sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- There is no set way to order your portfolio, but we would advise that you arrange it in an orderly way. For example, you may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order, or start and finish with your best pieces.
- If you are presenting your portfolio in an unusual way, keep it clear and clean.
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- Willingness to experiment using a range of media, fabrics and technology.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
- For fashion only: evidence of an understanding and love of text as you will be working with books, scripts and poetry on the course.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your work as one PDF or PowerPoint file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
- Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work to your PDF or PowerPoint. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be accessed easily. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.
BA Textile Design
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings. For fashion design: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings. For textiles: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages and paintings. For both: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work, garments and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Take photos of 3D pieces you wish to include. Please ensure they are clear and show a sense of scale, texture, material, colour and context.
- Try to show one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included. Annotations are helpful as they show how you research and reflect on the development of your work.
- Include one to three final pieces that you are able to talk about. This might include garments, interior pieces or artistic statements.
- Include content from your sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- There is no set way to order your portfolio, but we would advise that you arrange it in an orderly way. For example, you may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order, or start and finish with your best pieces.
- If you are presenting your portfolio in an unusual way, keep it clear and clean.
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- Willingness to experiment using a range of media, fabrics and technology.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
- For fashion only: evidence of an understanding and love of text as you will be working with books, scripts and poetry on the course.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your work as one PDF or PowerPoint file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
- Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work to your PDF or PowerPoint. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be accessed easily. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.
MA Fashion Styling
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.
Content
- Please start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself, your aspirations, what we can expect to see in your portfolio, and if there are any specific parts that you would like us to focus on and why. When preparing your personal statement, please answer the following questions:
- Why have you chosen to apply for MA Fashion Styling at Birmingham City University?
- What course you studied before applying for this course?
- What can you bring to this course?
- What do you want to learn from this course?
- What interests you about this course?
- We would like to see at least three ideas and concepts. You should include at least one project from start to finish – showing your source of inspiration for the concept, technical ability, and research processes.
- It is useful to include any live fashion projects, competitions or industry projects, as this can highlight your potential.
- We would like to see a variety of work which shows your fashion styling abilities, this could be shown through examples of fashion photography and styling work, fashion magazine work, fashion events or in fashion films or social media.
- The order you present your work in is the order we will view it, so structure your work in a clear and organised way. For example, you may find it useful to start with your best-detailed project that shows your journey in a project from start to finish followed by the other projects which could just be a short overview of the final outcome with any key techniques you want to highlight to us in that project.
- If you are including work that was created as part of a collaborative creative team, it is important that you state what your role was in the project and evidence the specific organisational or fashion elements that you contributed towards the project.
Skills we would like to see
- Evidence of an enthusiasm for the fashion styling subject area.
- Use of a variety of fashion inspirations and influences to inform your work (these could be contemporary, historic or global).
- Evidence of styling experimentation using a range of image-making formats (e.g. social media, photography or fashion film).
- An ability to organise the resources needed to undertake fashion styling projects.
- A love of colour, texture and garment silhouettes.
- Knowledge of fashion designers, fashion stylists and associated image-makers e.g. fashion photographers, iconic fashion names and experts.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your digital portfolio as a single PDF file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 20MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- You can add any external website links to your video and animation work in your PDF portfolio. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and they can be viewed without a password. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.
MA Fashion Design
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below
Content
- Please start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself, your aspirations, what we can expect to see in your portfolio, and if there are any specific parts that you would like us to focus on and why. When preparing your personal statement, please answer the following questions:
- Why have you chosen to apply for MA Fashion Design at Birmingham City University?
- What course you studied before applying for this course?
- What can you bring to this course?
- What do you want to learn from this course?
- What interests you about this course?
- We would like to see at least three collections or projects. You should include at least one project from start to finish – showing your source of inspiration for the concept, technical ability, and research processes.
- It is useful to include any live fashion projects, competitions or industry experience, as this can highlight your potential.
- We would like to see a variety of work which shows your fashion design and garment construction abilities, this could be shown through the development of a collection beginning with your inspiration. Please share your initial research and show us how you interpret a theme with sketching, drawing, or other creative means. How do you interpret your ideas 3-dimesionally? Show us the development of your initial exploration of shape and silhouette through toiling your creative ideas through to constructing a cohesive collection that is then creatively styled and photographed.
- The order you present your work in is the order we will view it, so structure your work in a clear and organised way. For example, you may find it useful to start with your best-detailed project that shows your journey in a project from start to finish followed by the other projects which could just be a short overview of the final outcome with any key techniques you want to highlight to us in that project.
- If you are including work that was created as part of a collaborative creative team, it is important that you state what your role was in the project and evidence the specific organisational or fashion elements that you contributed towards the project.
Skills we would like to see
- Evidence of an enthusiasm for the fashion design subject area.
- Use of a variety of fashion inspirations and influences to inform your work (these could be contemporary, historic or global).
- Evidence that you can interpret a source and develop a creative response 2-dimesionally and 3-dimesionally, through sketching, toiling, and garment construction.
- An ability to organise the resources needed to undertake fashion design projects.
- A love of colour, texture and garments.
- Knowledge of fashion designers, genres, and associated industries e.g. fashion subcultures, movements, iconic fashion names and experts.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your digital portfolio as a single PDF file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 20MB, and 30 pages. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- You can add any external website links to your video and animation work in your PDF portfolio. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and they can be viewed without a password. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.
MA Textile and Surface Design
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.
Content
- Please start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself, your aspirations, what we can expect to see in your portfolio, and if there are any specific parts that you would like us to focus on and why. When preparing your personal statement, please answer the following questions:
- Why have you chosen to apply for MA Textile and Surface Design at Birmingham City University?
- What course you studied before applying for this course?
- What can you bring to this course?
- What do you want to learn from this course?
- What interests you about this course?
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation, and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings and include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work, and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Take photos of 3D pieces you wish to include. Please ensure they are clear and show a sense of scale, texture, material, colour and context.
- Include content from your sketchbook(s), as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- We would like to see at least three collections or projects. You should include at least one project from start to finish – showing your source of inspiration, preparatory drawings for the concept, technical ability, and research processes. Show us how you research and reflect on the development of your work.
- It is useful to include any live projects, competitions, or industry experience, as this can highlight your potential.
- The order you present your work in is the order we will view it, so structure your work in a clear and organised way. For example, you may find it useful to start with your best-detailed project that shows your journey in a project from start to finish followed by the other projects which could just be a short overview of the final outcome with any key techniques you want to highlight to us in that project.
- If you are including work that was created as part of a collaborative creative team, it is important that you state what your role was in the project and evidence the specific organisational or fashion elements that you contributed towards the project.
Skills we would like to see
- Evidence of an enthusiasm for your subject area.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development, and inspirations and influences to inform your work (these could be contemporary, historic or global).
- Evidence that you can interpret a source and develop a creative response 2-dimesionally and 3-dimesionally, through sketching, and willingness to experiment using a range of media, fabrics and technology.
- An ability to organise the resources needed to undertake textile and surface design projects.
- A love of colour, and texture.
- Knowledge of textile and surface designers, artists, craftspeople, and associated industries, iconic designer and brand names and experts.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your digital portfolio as a single PDF file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 20MB, and 30 pages. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- You can add any external website links to your video and animation work in your PDF portfolio. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and they can be viewed without a password. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.