PDF Portfolio

[hypoart]

Hi all, 

Good luck with submitting applications!  I am submitting my final two applications, but have come across a bit of a hiccup.  My final two schools have asked applicants to upload portfolios as a PDF document.  I was able to get Photoshop to do this pretty easily but it lacks functionality for me to add notes (i.e. title, medium, dimensions, date, brief description) or a cover sheet.  Have any of you other applicants used any other program to create a PDF portfolio?  I'm thinking Word is probably the next choice, but would love to hear about any other options. 

Thanks!

[Relm]

If you have a Mac, the first thing I'd try is Preview. Make sure thumbnail view is enabled. You can drag and drop documents (think of those pretty much as pages) onto/in the sidebar, move them around, and then export the entire thing as PDF. But make sure the exported works in other operating systems (namely, Windows) before submitting, just in case. If you run into snags, try printing your images to PDF before dropping into Preview. (And if that doesn't work, consider signing up for an Adobe free trial and downloading Acrobat -- not the free reader -- which has all the bells and whistles for making and editing PDFs.)

If you have a PC, you'd probably need to download some kind of utility, but you could also do the Adobe Creative Suite month-long free trial to get Acrobat temporarily if nothing else.

Good luck!

Edited January 6, 2016 by Relm

[Painter1]

If you drop the images into PPT, Pages, Word, or Keynote you can then add all inventory data in text easily, after that, export to PDF as a finished file. If it is already in PDF, you can add text, no need for Photoshop. Open the PDF, top right corner of the file, click fill&sign, then a menu opens, click add text. You can type anywhere you point your cursor. 

[hypoart]

Ahh, wonderful suggestions.  Thanks for the options!  Good luck to you two!

[nikcav]

Adobe InDesign is also really great for this. You choose the number of pages you want, then you can add in your images and text, and just export as a PDF

[hypoart]

Hey Nikcav! 

Thanks for the suggestion about InDesign.  I ended up using a combination of Word and Preview (thanks again Painter1 and Relm)! 

I had a gander at your work and really liked the cyanotypes.  Those plus your thesis work make me think you might be inspired by Francesca Woodman (I adore her work). 

Best of luck with your applications! 

[nikcav]

13 hours ago, hypoart said:

Hey Nikcav! 

Thanks for the suggestion about InDesign.  I ended up using a combination of Word and Preview (thanks again Painter1 and Relm)! 

I had a gander at your work and really liked the cyanotypes.  Those plus your thesis work make me think you might be inspired by Francesca Woodman (I adore her work). 

Best of luck with your applications! 

Thanks! And you are correct! She was definitely one of my biggest influences while I was working on thesis, along with the short story The Yellow Wallpaper. Is any of your work available to see?

[hypoart]

1 hour ago, nikcav said:

Thanks! And you are correct! She was definitely one of my biggest influences while I was working on thesis, along with the short story The Yellow Wallpaper. Is any of your work available to see?

Oh, that short story gets maddening to read after awhile.  I'll send you a PM!