What is the best color schemes for an architectural portfolio?

When applying for an architecture job, you need to make sure your portfolio matches your experience and talents claimed in your resume. Your portfolio is an opportunity to showcase your expertise acquired within the craft architectural scholars refer to as “scientific art” to potential employers. Additionally, the portfolio captures the essence of your design expertise in combination with your style or expression. The portfolio helps firms to determine if you are the best match for the designs created or associated with the branding of the firm to which you are applying.

As you plan the overall layout of your portfolio, be mindful of flow in visual appeal, as this is an essential element to accurate presentation of your work and talent. By choosing the best color schemes for your portfolio, you can be sure to display an accurate expression and feeling emulated through your work to potential employers. The best color schemes for an architectural portfolio mend way so that your portfolio’s contents are easy to absorb for the viewer. Aim for a clean expression, avoid clutter, and embrace white space should it flow well with your content. You’ll also want to be sure to adhere to specific layout rules consistently throughout to give your portfolio cohesion.

Architecture Portfolio Templates

The colors you choose should blend the content of your portfolio to tell a story, represent a playful expression, or feeling captured in your overall design style. Generally, if your content material is bright in color, select a muted color palette, as part of the portfolio layout. Conversely, if your content material is very subdued, use a color scheme to help draw attention to your work. To select the best color schemes, ask yourself: What word(s) describe or emulate my expression of architectural design? For instance, inviting, colorful, contemporary, bold, lively, provocative, minimal, balanced, elegant, or any combination thereof?

Next, this is where the psychology behind color in design comes into play in terms of your portfolio presentation.

According to Colm Tuite, a user experience designer from Dublin, there is real science behind picking colors to create a feeling or expression in thought. Tuite explains colors can fall into one of three categories: pures, tints, and shades. The pures category are colors that are often incorporated into bright designs and express lively, cheerful, summery feelings. The tints category are colors mixed with white to express a lighter, calm, overall peaceful feeling. Finally, the shades category are colors mixed with black and reveal a mysterious, dark, estranged, provocative expression, as Tuite details in his explanation. An example of a mysterious and provocative expression shown in this architecture design portfolio here.

If your expression in design is bold, you may want to consider a complementary color scheme, but use with caution. A complementary color scheme would the use of two colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Keep in mind that the high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look, but this color scheme is tricky to pull off and must be managed well to avoid clashing.

Are you emphasizing an environmental consciousness vibe along with your design? Use a combination of colors found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eye. This combination of color would be considered a “down to earth” color scheme and what would be an analogous color scheme on the color wheel. Analogous color schemes are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel that go together well, creating serene and comfortable expressions. In an analogous color scheme, be sure to have enough contrast by choosing one color to dominate, a second to support, with the third color as black, white, or grey as an accent. An example is shown here.

Most popular architectural design portfolios, in terms of layout and best overall presentation of color schemes, include the following:

Black and white, or Greyscale presentation of designs through the use of single lines with various thickness, in addition to shade and shadow, as shown in this example here.

Greyscale presentation with an element of color, where one bright color, for example, in the case of landscape and greenery, green is selected, and also as the color to contrast to the achromatic drawings. Here is an example of a greyscale presentation with pink as the element of color added, as shown in this example here.

Another example of a greyscale presentation with an added element of color used to distinguish the wood material, as part of the building desi gn, is shown here.

With a greyscale presentation, one element of color may become two added in the way of distinguishing between different materials used within the architecture of your design, such as to reveal wood, bricks, stone, or glass, for example.

Do you need to get a headstart on your new portfolio? Click the image below to find a number of great portfolio templates you can use to start your new portfolio. If you’re a student, use coupon code STUDENT for 15% off automatically.

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