Creating an Art or Design portfolio

Creating an Undergraduate Art or Design Portfolio 

If you’re applying to one of our creative degree programmes, you will be asked to submit a portfolio as part of your application. This is your opportunity to showcase your work, demonstrate your creative interests and share how you approach the making process. 
 
You’ll need to submit a portfolio if you’re applying for any of the following programmes: 

• BA Fine Art
• BA Fine Art (Extension Degree)
• BA Fine Art and History of Art
• BA Design

Art degrees

How do I submit my portfolio?

You’ll submit your portfolio online. After you’ve submitted your UCAS application, we’ll email you instructions explaining how to upload your work. 

We’ll confirm your submission deadline by email, so we recommend preparing your portfolio and supporting documents before you apply. 

Once we’ve reviewed your portfolio, we’ll let you know whether you’ve been selected for the next stage of the application process, an in-person interview. 

Applying from outside the UK? If you’re an international applicant living outside the UK, you’ll submit your portfolio in the same way. If you’re invited to interview, yours will take place online via Microsoft Teams. 

What should I include?

You can submit up to 12 items that showcase a variety of your artwork and creative approaches. Files should be in one of the following formats: 

• JPG or PDF for images and documents
• MOV for video
• MP3 for audio 

You’ll also need to submit an essay from your Foundation course (or equivalent) or A-level (or equivalent). 

At Goldsmiths, we expect students to work independently and take initiative. Your portfolio should therefore demonstrate not only what you’ve studied, but also what inspires and motivates you. 

We’re particularly interested in seeing how you’re beginning to explore your own ideas and develop your artistic practice, and how you experiment, investigate and go beyond the requirements of a set brief, and your working process, including how your ideas develop and the decisions you make along the way. 

You should provide work that reflects your interests and is central to your practice.

For further guidance, see our Example Fine Art Portfolio (PDF) for further information.

The use of AI in your portfolio

If you use AI in any part of your portfolio, you should indicate this and add a description of how it was used. The description can be with the AI element or separately as long as it clearly refers to the AI element.

Design degree 

How do I submit my portfolio?

If you’re invited to interview, you’ll need to email your portfolio to us at least three working days before your interview.  

You can submit either: 

• A link to a website showcasing your work
• At least 12 key slides from your portfolio 

If you are unable to attend an in-person interview, we’ll offer you an online interview. 

What should I include?

Your portfolio should demonstrate the range of your developing skills, interests and creative approaches. Include examples of your process, experiments and early ideas and any completed projects. 

Where possible, present work in its original format. You might also choose to bring sketchbooks to help demonstrate how your ideas have developed.  

Our BA Design programme is broad and interdisciplinary. You can submit work focused on a particular specialism or show us a multidisciplinary practice that explores several creative disciplines. 

Your portfolio might include a combination of: 

• Models and 3D work
• Prototypes and material experiments
• Design sheets
• Sculpture
• Paintings and drawings
• Graphics and illustration
• Typography
• Photography
• Animation
• Writing
• Other work that demonstrates your creative abilities and motivations 

We’re also interested in self-directed projects, work inspired by your outside interests, and creative work from other subjects you’ve studied. 

What if I haven’t studied design before? 

You don’t need to have an established design practice to apply. If you haven’t had the opportunity to study art or design formally, we’d like to see that you understand how different creative disciplines work and have begun to consider how your interests and existing skills might translate into a design practice.  

Tell us about your process 

Include work that you can talk about confidently and explain the thinking behind it. We’re not simply looking for successful outcomes, rather we want to understand your motivations, what you’ve learned and how you’re beginning to develop your own creative identity. 

Ideally, include two or three projects that you can discuss from the initial brief or idea through to the outcome.  

You’ll also receive some questions to prepare before your interview. If you’re attending in person, please bring a printed copy of your answers with you. 

Presenting digital work

If you’d like to show us a film or other digital work during your interview, please bring a suitable device, such as a fully charged laptop or tablet. 

Interview time is limited, so if a film or video is longer than two minutes, prepare a shorter, edited version that highlights the most important parts. 

If a digital project is particularly important to your portfolio, make sure it’s represented in your submitted work too. For example, you could include a series of still images from a film or animation.