Presenting your project

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Designer Leanne Fischler explains how she puts together her portfolio of a project.

Student ink wash and charcoal wildlife and woodland designs — Image caption,
Present your work in a way that focuses on your visual work and in a style that complements your subject and technique. This student piece shows this effectively

You should put together a body of work that reflects your progress through your project. It needs to show the journey from your initial theme, brief or task through to your finished piece.

Own response. Millie Maratta. Notes and drawings of a zebra, koala and 2 giraffes. — Figure caption,
Present your work in a way that focuses on your visual work and in a style that complements your subject and technique, as this student has done

You can present this work in a range of ways, for example a sketchbook, journal, design workbook, a collection of sheets or a digital presentation.

Choose a format that works best for the area you are working in and which will most effectively show your skills. Decide on a style for your presentation that works with the style or theme of your work. For example you might choose a very orderly, geometric layout or a loose and flowing organic arrangement.

Once you have chosen a format and style of presentation, stick to it. This will help your work seem consistent. However, make sure that your work is shown in a way that is varied and visually interesting. Try altering the position, size and number of images across different pages, sheets or slides.

Don't spend a long time thinking about fancy layouts, backdrops or decoration. The aim is to present your work well rather than dressing it up.

What to include

Concentrate on your visual work to explain your project. Select images that tell a step-by step story of how you got from your starting point to your final piece.

Not everything you show has to be finished or perfect. Including tests and experiments is often the best way of showing your decision making and development.

Charcoal, pen and pencil drawing on parcel paper of some flowers and shells — Figure caption,
This student has shown a range of experiments - this can help explain your choices, even if they are unfinished

Don't include everything you did. If you aren't happy with the quality of something you did you don't have to use it. It can sometimes be useful to show less successful work if it helps explain why you chose a different idea or technique.

For any images you are thinking of including ask yourself:

Is this a good reflection of the quality of my work?
Does this help tell the story of my project?

If you can't answer yes to one or both of these questions, you might do better to leave that image out.

Notes and annotation

Review page. Black paper with pictures of faces with makeup, butterflies and notes. — Figure caption,
Review and sumarise all your research and early experiments before developing your own ideas.

Use notes and annotation to support your visual work. Don’t use annotation to describe what can be seen. Use it to explain:

where an image fits in your process
what you were trying to achieve
how successful (or not) it was and why
how this led to your next steps

Don't let your notes distract from your visual work. Avoid fonts or handwriting that is so large, colourful or detailed that it grabs all the attention. Keep your notes neat and small. Think about where to put them, so that it is clear what image they refer to and so that they fit with your overall presentation layout and style.

Student annotation on pen and ink drawing of shells — Image caption,
Make sure what you have written makes clear sense and that your spelling and grammar are correct.

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Assessment objectives and presenting your work - AQAPresenting your project