3 Big Differences Between Portfolios in Taiwan and Germany

🔸Portfolios in Taiwan and Germany are very different
A portfolio is a portfolio, but Taiwanese and German portfolios differ a lot in content, format and topics. That's why, after I arrived in Germany, I ended up redoing almost my entire portfolio. What follows is what I gradually figured out from my own experience. I hope it helps.

🔸Portfolios in Taiwan
Taiwan's education system focuses heavily on studying, so many students have no work related to their field when they apply to university. When putting together a portfolio, many people include sketches, watercolors, marker drawings, photography and the like, and do their best to show off their "drawing skills" and "perfect" work.

🔸German portfolios: ideas come first
Students in Germany have more time to explore their interests, so many of them already have work related to their major when they apply. That work doesn't necessarily show advanced drawing skills. It's often simple drawings that still get the concept across. Rather than technical showing off, professors want to see your ideas and your thought process in your work.

🔸German portfolios: no art class work
As I mentioned, German professors care a lot about an applicant's "ideas". Some university websites even state outright, "Please do not put work from art class in the folder" (in German: Bitte legen Sie Werke aus dem Kunstunterricht eher nicht in die Mappe.)

🔸Why no art class assignments?
Take a sketch as an example. If you can draw an object very realistically, the piece shows you have great drawing skills, but it doesn't show your ideas. To a German professor, that makes it a useless piece, because they don't care that much about your drawing ability.

🔸German portfolios: process matters
German professors also care a lot about the "making process" behind a piece, and they consider "failures" to be work too. So even if the final product isn't ideal, they strongly encourage applicants to include the experience in their portfolio and explain why it failed and how you thought about solving it. All of this is key to whether you get admitted.

🔸What kind of students are German professors looking for?
German professors believe "technical" skills can be built up over time, but "thinking" is an innate ability. People who can think for themselves have a lot of potential. So they're looking for a diamond in the rough that, after four years of careful polishing, will shine by graduation.

🧡Debby's honest take
When you actually make your portfolio, you still need to tailor the content to each school's character to greatly improve your chances of admission. But if you stick to the principles above and understand what German professors expect from a portfolio, I believe it will still help a lot in preparing a portfolio for Germany.

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