You will submit a portfolio for either the Design or Illustration BFA. If you’re still deciding between the two, think about the type of creative work that excites you most. Design emphasizes visual communication and problem-solving, while Illustration focuses on visual storytelling and image making. Your portfolio should reflect your current interests, showcase your strongest work and demonstrate your creative process.

How to Build Your Portfolio

Step 1: Find Your Spark

When submitting your portfolio, specify whether you’re applying for Design or Illustration. Many applicants aren’t sure yet, often because they haven’t had formal design classes in school. How do you choose?

Read the descriptions below and see which one gives you that unmistakable jolt of “yes.”  Go with that instinct. If you feel a spark but don’t have enough pieces, go to the “Prompts” section below to help fill in the blanks. If you feel an equal spark for both, get in touch with an admissions officer—we’re here to help you find the best path for you.

• Design focuses on making things that communicate a specific message. Graphic designers use type and image to inform, persuade, and connect. If you’ve made zines, logos, murals, posters, animated GIFs, T-shirt designs, hand-lettering, diagrams, infographics, or charts, your work fits here.
• Illustration focuses on making images, expressing concepts visually, and storytelling. Your work in drawing, painting, portraiture, character design, and world-building all fits here.

Note: The boundary between these fields is not made of steel. Many designers tell stories and express concepts visually. Many illustrators make zines, T-shirt designs, and lettering. If you aren’t sure whether a piece fits in your portfolio, put it in!

Step 2: Review the Portfolio Requirements

Design Portfolio Requirements

Submit 8–10 pieces that show how you use visual form to communicate ideas. Every piece should demonstrate at least one of the following:

• How you communicate a message to a specific audience.
• How you organize complex information.
• Your unique design process. (For at least one project, show us your initial sketches or notebook ideas to demonstrate how your concept developed.

Need inspiration? Optional Design Prompts:

If you don’t have enough formal design pieces, use these optional prompts to kickstart your thinking. They are not required, just ideas to get you started:

• Design a logo or poster for a real or imagined organization.
• Create a visual piece or poster that gives us your personal point of view on a social issue.
• Design a physical zine, a T-shirt graphic, or a substantial example of hand-lettering.
• Create a short, animated GIF featuring a letterform or a doodle.
• Design a package for a handmade, multicolored wool beanie that showcases the fabric’s texture.
• Develop the design of an ant farm that allows kids to see the ants at work and incorporates type you chose and an image you created.

Step 3: Portfolio Guidelines & Submission Format

Portfolio Guidelines

• Keep it current: Submit work that reflects who you are as a maker right now. Avoid anything that’s more than three years old.
• Keep it original: All work must be entirely your own. While you can be inspired by others, do not include fan art, replications, or collaborative work where your contribution isn’t clear.
• Keep it human: No AI-generated work or text-to-image elements. We want to see your authentic human eye, hand, and craft without machine assistance.
• Mix it up: We welcome both formal school assignments and independent projects made on your own time.
• Sketchbooks: Unfinished work, process pages, and sketches are highly encouraged to show your thinking, but they should be bundled as explanations of your process rather than counting as one of your 8–10 final pieces.

How to Upload

Please upload each file individually to Redhawk Admissions Portal using the following standard format in the description field:

Title, Date, Size, Category (Label as “Design”),
and a One-Sentence Caption (Describing your inspiration or the assignment prompt).

We look forward to exploring your work!