I think this is getting somewhere.... I've been soliciting advice from all my friends (including, amazingly, some outside of architecture), and taking their comments into account... the layout hasn't changed much since sunday but I have purchased more staples for my high-capacity stapler (essential!) and designed the cover to take into account the thickness of the booklet.
let me know what you think. high-res on flickr.
also, a question for anyone listening- any idea how to reduce the size of my pdf? no matter what i do i can't get below 11mb... unless i export every page to jpg, reduce to 800x600 and recombine in a pdf, which gets me a 5mb file... which i suppose is not *too* big to email, but i wouldn't want to send a file that big unsolicited....
anyway, i sent this copy to NBBJ this morning, to apply for a summer internship. I'll be in Seattle for a weekend next month, and I figure it might be good to get an interview while I'm there. So this officially marks the beginning of my job hunt. Start counting the months.....
Thoughts on the M.Arch I program at the Ohio State University, 2005-2009, plus additional work with OSU as a critic and lecturer.
10 Comments
nice book, how did you bind pages?
Thanks. The process is a little complicated. I have an indesign file set up for 8.5"x5.5" sheets, facing pages. I use the print booklet command, "2-up consecutive" to a pdf, 8.5x11 landscape... this gives me the front and back of each leaf printed 2-up on a page, so i just fold down the middle. Then I stapled the 'loose' ends all at once w/ a high-capacity stapler (60-sheet capacity). The cover I printed out on 11x17, trimmed down & spray-mounted on.
for the next round i'll probably print the cover on heavier stock, maybe photo paper.... but for now there's something appealing about getting this for $6 in prints and 20 minutes folding & stapling ;)
great, thanks for your help!!!
I like the idea of using a "real" cover and a staple-bound book... I'm really starting to get tired of those stupid wire/plastic comb or spiral bindings. They have the feel of "I don't care about this, so I'm just going to use these things
It looks really sweet!! That actual binding (rather than spiral) is definitely the way to go. I just re-created my portfolio using a similar technique, but actually gluing it rather than stapling it. It takes a little longer though. My only suggestion would be that there is too much descriptive text on the intro pages for each project. No one viewing it will actually read that much text, and if you are taking it to an interview you really only need enough descriptive text to act as a cue for you to talk about the project (if you really need any at all). My personal opinion, but it does look really nice!
yeah, thanks guys, i am a little worried about the arts-and-craftsy nature of a hand-made binding, but as it is you can't see the staples, so i'm coming to terms with it. I was never planning on a spiral bound book, although Lulu had come to mind.... but now that i've got this technique down there's no reason to pay Lulu prices....
and i know the text is a little much, but i'll probably leave it in (maybe edit down a bit) if only to remind myself what each project is about!
looks very good.
me i just spiral my portoflio. i DON'T care. and i make no bones about it.
My only concern about staple binding the way you have is whether the pages open out in a comfortable way, but your photos suggest that they do. Another cheap staple binding method is the traditional saddle stitch (print spreads, using the 2-up saddle setting in the same print booklet tool you used, then bind using staples through the folds). I feel like someone might get on your case about not using any sketches in the portfolio, but it looks great.
rationalist, i would have liked to do saddle stitch, but i can't print double-sided pages here at school, and we don't have a 'long' stapler here for getting to the center of the binding.... plus, this way you *never* see staples, and with saddle stitch you'd see them on the center spread.
Hi Evan,
I am new with portfolios. What software did you use to create your portfolio. It looks great!!
Cora :)
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.