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Portfolio guidelines

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Portfolio guidelines

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Portfolio guidelines

For the majority of our courses, we'll ask you to digitally submit a portfolio as part of the application process. We've created specific portfolio guidelines for each of our courses, you can take a look at these below.

Portfolios should show examples of your work – both finished and work in progress – that demonstrate your interests and skills.

If we ask for a digital portfolio then we'll give you 30 days to submit it. Sometimes we'll need a portfolio submitted quickly, if there's a UCAS set deadline approaching, but if you need more time, just let us know and we'll try to help.

If you've applied to study an online postgraduate degree, please refer to the AUB Online portfolio guidelines.

Interviews and auditions

None of our courses currently require an interview.

The only course requiring an audition is BA (Hons) Acting; if you're invited to one you'll have at least 10 days' notice.

Foundation Diploma – portfolio guidelines

Illustration of a woman in a bikini reaching forward with a pink fish to her right. A shark is shown behind them. The text "A day in the deep" appears above the illustration.

Foundation Diploma in Art, Design and Media – portfolio guidelines

Undergraduate degrees – portfolio guidelines

A large group of performers in costume underneath a spotlight on the stage.

BA (Hons) Acting – audition guidelines

cartoon stood on box surrounded by crowd

BA (Hons) Animation Production – portfolio guidelines

Park area with a field, trees and steep hill leading to a box-like building. People are shown walking dogs and jogging in the park.

BA (Hons) Architecture (Part 1 ARB/RIBA) – portfolio guidelines

Lady in red dress stands on a chest with smoke coming out from behind her. There is a luggage trunk to her right and a pile of documents to her left.

BA (Hons) Commercial Photography – portfolio guidelines

BA (Hons) Communication Design and Strategy – portfolio guidelines

A gallery wall with documents and framed pages on the walls. Two mannequin heads with headphones on stand on a pedestal in the centre. Five balloons arranged vertically spell the word 'Voice'.

BA (Hons) Creative Writing – portfolio guidelines

Installation piece for Future Forest at Moors Valley, Dorset

BA (Hons) Digital Technology (Design) – portfolio guidelines

Model in a colourful outfit and headdress walks down a runway as part of a fashion show.

BA (Hons) Fashion – portfolio guidelines

A person sits looking directly toward the camera. A person sits either side of them looking through magazines.

BA (Hons) Fashion Communication – portfolio guidelines

Close-up of an actress in costume with their eyes closed.

BA (Hons) Film Production – portfolio guidelines

Panoramic image of the fine art studios including the work in the studio

BA (Hons) Fine Art – portfolio guidelines

concept art of a snowy forest scene, with a character sat on a horse in the far left facing towards a building in the distance for a 3D game

BA (Hons) Games Art and Design – portfolio guidelines

BA (Hons) Graphic Design – portfolio guidelines

Illustration of an overground train on a bridge over a street, with people in the carriages and city buildings either side.

BA (Hons) Illustration – portfolio guidelines

BA (Hons) Make-Up for Media and Performance – portfolio guidelines

Model of a small-scale black motorbike with leather seat on display, text on the side reads 'Danger Ingozi'.

BA (Hons) Modelmaking – portfolio guidelines

Close-up portrait photograph of a person with hair over their face.

BA (Hons) Photography – portfolio guidelines

App mock-up for a project with GiffGaff mobile company.

BA (Hons) Sustainable Design – portfolio guidelines

Close-up photo of a heavily patterned woven material

BA (Hons) Textiles Design – portfolio guidelines

Postgraduate degrees – portfolio guidelines

Illustration of a man walking up a ladder in a library while a witch stands smiling and holding a pile of books.

MA Animation Production – portfolio guidelines

Flat plan of jacket including illustrations of a person wearing the garment, the garment on a hanger and fabric samples.

MA Digital Fashion Innovation – portfolio guidelines

MA Film Practice – portfolio guidelines

Two maps made up of coloured lines on resin, one is hanging on a wall above the other.

MA Fine Art – portfolio guidelines

MA Graphic Design – portfolio guidelines

Distorted image of a historical costume on a mannequin.

MA Historical Costume – portfolio guidelines

MA Illustration – portfolio guidelines

Abstract image of multiple hands and bodies in heat map colours (red, yellow and blue)

MA Painting – portfolio guidelines

MA Photography – portfolio guidelines

A large building complex shown at night with several domes on the roofs and people standing outside

Master of Architecture (Part 2 ARB/RIBA) – portfolio guidelines

Portfolio FAQs

Most of our courses will ask for a portfolio. However, there are some exceptions. The following courses do not require a portfolio as part of the application process:

BA (Hons) Costume
BA (Hons) Creative Direction
BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance
BA (Hons) Events Management
BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design
BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design for Health and Wellbeing
MA Creative Teaching and Learning Design
PGCert Creative Teaching and Learning Design
PGDip Learning Design Methods

For undergraduate courses, we don't expect you to submit a digital portfolio at the same time as your UCAS application.

If we require a link to your online portfolio we'll contact you by email and through the AUB applicant portal to request the URL. So you only need to provide us with your portfolio when we request it.

To understand what our course teams expect to see please see our portfolio guidelines.

We normally ask that your portfolio is provided within four weeks of us requesting it.

If you're unable to provide us with your portfolio within four weeks, please just let us know so we can make a note on your application and extend your deadline.

It's worth knowing that the sooner we receive your portfolio the sooner the course team can make a decision on your application.

For undergraduate courses, we need to make a decision on your application before a deadline set by UCAS and this will determine the latest date that we will be able to accept a portfolio – we may have to reduce the deadlines from April onwards.

We’ll ask you to submit a single link to your online portfolio. This can be a link to a public portfolio on a website like wix.com, Instagram, Behance or similar or it can be a private link to a copy of your portfolio hosted on an online file sharing site like Google Drive.

For showreels and auditions we also ask for a single link to a video or playlist hosted on YouTube or Vimeo or similar (either public or unlisted).

There are a number of platforms well suited to submitting your portfolio. We recommend you take into consideration what type of file you are generally using and how you wish it to be viewed.

For static images (for drawings, photography, scans, etc.) we advise applicants to use Flickr where possible, however we're happy to accept portfolios through any online sharing platform of your choice; whichever host site you find easiest to use.
You may wish to consider using Vimeo or YouTube (for moving images and show reels), Google Drive or a blogging site like Word Press, or Tumblr (for static images or a mix of files types).
Some students choose to create a personal website (wix.com is popular) containing their work and perhaps explanations of the work submitted.

The most important thing you can do is ensure you adhere as closely to the AUB portfolio guidelines as you can.

Regardless of which platform you choose, please just ensure your portfolio is available to view publicly and isn't password protected or require a login to access it.

You can produce your portfolio using YouTube, Vimeo, Behance, Wix, Flickr, Drop Box, Google Drive or another suitable platform for your work.

We need you to collate everything in one place and have available a single link that you can share with us. It's also very important that there is no password or login required to access the link.

You need to submit your portfolio link via the AUB applicant portal. This will ensure your portfolio is properly recorded on your application. You can do this following the instructions below:

Log in to the AUB applicant portal (click the “Problems logging in?” link if you can't log in).
You'll see you have two messages; one message giving you details about the portfolio you're requested to submit, and another message where you can submit the portfolio link.
Select the “Applicant Portfolio Request” message on the right-hand side – this is where you'll be prompted to provide your portfolio URL.
Paste the URL in the box provided and select "no" on the drop-down menu and click “Save”.

Once this is done the link will be automatically added to your application, and we'll receive a notification to send your full application to the course team for further review.

Once you submit your link the admissions team will test the link to make sure it’s working and available without logging in.

If that’s fine then we’ll pass your application and portfolio on to the course team to review. If there are any problems then we’ll get in touch by email and through the applicant portal to explain the issue and reopen the option to submit a new link on the applicant portal.