Spreads or No Spreads, Size, Format and Layout

For a mini portfolio or teaser that you would send out via email, which do you think would be preferable spreads or no spreads?

Spreads tend to look more interesting and dynamic.
A mini portfolio that will be sent out via email should be optimized for viewing on a screen, so why not make the page size longer, 11 inches by 20 inches for instance. Is following standard page sizes like 8.5 by 11 or 11 by 17 a must?
A more horizontal and longer page looks more attractive and gives viewers better direction. Moving from left to right.

Two 8.5 by 11 portrait pages side by side look good, but it doesn’t look good when turned into a 11 by 17 page for the pdf because the page is broken up into two sections.
Two 8.5 by 11 landscape pages side to side is too long and makes the text small.

A single 8.5 by 11 landscape just looks boring and not dynamic.
A single 11 by 17 landscape is a little better, but not as interesting as something with spreads.

Is there an ideal format?
Thoughts?

I am trying to create a portfolio with no spreads but it just looks boring in comparison to the ones I’ve seen with spreads.
Any examples of a nice portfolio with no spreads?

Thank you!

Landscape, always.

Let the work make your portfolio dynamic, not the aspect ratio. I recommend 16:10 which looks good on screen as well as printed. Sometimes they are printed and handed around.

I’m in two very different minds with this one for a teaser;

1.) Create something that stands out, if it’s a teaser, the aim is to tease, and then follow up with your full portfolio and more description later. So maybe something a bit different, maybe not even paper sized formats at all? A teaser trailer, web page, interactive piece? But not something too far that it detracts from the work and becomes about the format instead!

2.) The more traditional mini-portfolio route, these are always useful when there are lots of submissions, you can just run out prints of the ‘yes interview’ folder, ready to review with others, or bring in to the interview for reference. In this case, I’m with Yo, I’d use whatever format shows off your work the best, that can still be printed easily. Look at how your images and projects work before settling on a format that might not work for your work.

At the end of the day, you want to create enough to tease, to intrigue, to get somebody to want to find out more, so it depends a huge amount on who you are, how you want to represent yourself, and the work you already have.