A potential client asks for your portfolio. You've got 40 projects across five years. Sending all of them is wrong. Sending two is thin. The portfolio you send today might decide whether you get the next call.
The edit is the hardest part. The PDF assembly is the easy part.
Pick five to ten pieces
Quality, recency, and relevance. Five pieces that match what the client is hiring for beats fifteen pieces of variable quality.
If you're applying for a specific kind of work, tilt the selection toward that. Show range only if range is part of the value proposition.
Build a consistent layout
Each piece deserves a page or two. Hero image at top. Title, role, year, brief description. One paragraph of context. Maybe a stat ("100k weekly users") if you have one.
Keep the visual treatment consistent across pieces. Different fonts, sizes, or layouts per piece looks like a stack of CVs, not a portfolio.
Sequence with intent
Strongest piece first. Second strongest last. Filler in the middle if you must. Cover page with your name, role, and contact. Back cover with a clear next step ("available for new projects from X").
Merge the pieces in the chosen order. Add bookmarks so the recipient can navigate.
Compress and confirm size
Portfolios get heavy. A 100 MB PDF nobody opens isn't a portfolio. Compress to 5-15 MB for email; under 5 MB if you can without visible loss.
Test the file at the size and zoom your audience will use. Mobile screens? Test on mobile. Print? Print a sample.
FAQ
How long should a portfolio be?
10-20 pages for most fields. Photographers can go longer with image-only spreads. Writers shorter, with curated excerpts.
Should every piece have a case study?
For featured pieces, yes. For supporting work, one-line context is enough. Don't write 500 words per piece for fifteen pieces.
Should I link to live work?
Yes — include clickable links to live URLs. PDFs are great archives but stale; current URLs let the reader see the latest version.
What if my work is confidential?
Show what you can. Generic descriptions of confidential work, paired with public proof points (titles, dates, scale), still demonstrates capability.
How do I make it look professionally designed?
Pick one good font pair, one accent colour, one layout grid. Stick to those. Restraint reads as design.
A portfolio PDF is your work edited and shipped. Sequence in Flint's merge tool, compress for sending, send something that actually opens.