<p>Just a few days ago I checked out some book binding companies (Basically you send all ur page layout either using their own software or Adobe and they bind it bookstore quality)</p>
<p>Some of the samples I saw were super super beautiful and pro. </p>
<p>My question is, as an applicant for M.Arch I from non-arch background, is it advised that I use those services for my portfolios? Will this work against my application in the eyes of admission committee? Is it more appropriate that I simply spiral bind my portfolio at printing shops given that I’d spend great amount of time designing page layout ?</p>
<p>None of my daughter’s friends are using this kind of binding for their portfolios for grad school applications. Sounds very expensive, the schools wouldn’t require it, and the spiral or velo binding is appropriate.</p>
<p>My D is currently a first year MArch student. When she applied last year, her porfolio was spiral bound and she had a very successful admissions outcome and was a senior BA college student at the time.</p>
<p>(edit, I don’t know what a “velo” binding is…and I don’t know if her binding is called “spiral” but it looks like that to me, even if I don’t have the terminology correct. It is a black wire that spirals through holes and is the type that a printing place does, not a book binding place)</p>
<p>You’re correctly describing spiral binding and I think this is what the majority of my daughter’s friends have used for their grad school portfolios. Velo binding is an option that punches holes on the side. A plastic binder slides on the top and bottom. It’s harder to describe than I thought, so since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a link to images. I’m sure once you’ve seen these pictures, you’ll recognize the option.</p>