short and concise version of your work is much appreciated, however, i think just having one page is over-doing it.......

Vikrum, I have other pages there too. It's really to get to the interview stage. I plan to send this to employers and if they like what they see, then possibly they will invite me to interview where I can show them a more extensive portfolio. Thanks for your comment though.

Lewis

You really would be better off sending more than one page. This honestly looks like a page right out of the middle of your portfolio and does not stand up on it's own. No context, no process, no story- just a bunch of same-sized images scattered on the page. Looks more like a test print page than a design portfolio. Each of these projects needs their own page. Differentiate the size of the images so that there is a clear direction of what to look at and in what order. There are plenty of examples littered throughout this site that should provide some visual examples of what to do and what not to do.

send 3 pages.... 3, is the magic number

So, your thread title really should be "will this get me an interview"?

Who's this Joe Mayo everyone is talking about

Quizzical, yes that would be a more accurate description. Although the end result is a job. I guess it's one step at a time..

'Will this get me a job?'...Not Likely! I have no degree and seem to be doing better than you me mate! Good luck!

www.facundus.yolasite.com

one project. looks like student work. polished but fairly typical (not a bad thing). no technical skills apparent in the work, makes me think you haven't any experience (my apologies if that is not the case).

interview? hm...would never say never, but perhaps not in this economic climate. my advice is to try and stand out more. or failing that do as cherith suggests and try to give a rounder picture of your approach/work. it would be nice to see that you have more depth with a few more projects.



all blacks why do you think you are doing better? if you are working and building all the power to you, but your portfolio does not look so.

lewis--you've got skills that will land you a job, if and when things get going--that section perspective is nice;

right now, obviously, you have a lot of competition

one thing to consider: when putting together a portfolio or work samples, you probably shouldn't send the "board" that you pinned up at review (or some facsimile of it); be a little more selective--use your best few images from a couple of your best projects as a teaser.

I'm also just going to add that what is or isn't going to get you a job or interview these days doesn't always rest in how good your portfolio is.

I agree with CC. A portfolio might get you in the door. Might. Right out of school, I worked hard to prepare a nice portfolio, landed a decent job. Since then, haven't shown a 'polished portfolio' to land any of the last three jobs I've had. A copy of my resume and an old record set of drawings from a previous project is all I bring with me now.

To the OP, nice presentation.

someone else mentioned it, but 3 pages is probably best to send in prior to an interview. And it shouldnt just be your 3 best pages from your portfolio, it should be a layout that is concise and easily conveys that this is a sample set of your larger portfolio you will bring with you to an interview.

that way, if you do get an interview, they havent seen your very best pages of your portfolio and only get to then see your "lesser" work.



Its been a few years, but i think i broke down my work sample set to show the specific skills i had. Show a couple of your best renderings, show some technical work, show some hand sketches. That way you might stand out a bit from some grads who spend all their time making the prettiest rendering possible and thats really it.


good luck!

I had the shittiest looking portfolio.....what got me my job was the actual built projects I worked on while in school.

What I showed them...... A set of CD's and pictures of the built work.

i'm a little baffled by all the harsh criticism in this thread. i think it looks like good work (though i do have a bit of a problem with drawings that are too washed out; architects tend to think washed out looks sexy, but clients always complain that it is too hard to see whether on a board or in a powerpoint; i tend to agree with the client.) in any case, this thread just goes to show you that some employers will like one thing and others will like another. if i were hiring, i would give you an interview. in any case, good luck; with a lot of patience, i think you stand a good chance of landing a job.

harsh? this is not harsh criticism. talk to me when a review rips your final model to pieces and tells you that entering architecture school was probably a mistake. that's harsh.

Cherith,
First mistake, entering into architecture school .
Second mistake, didn't listen to you reviewer and just quit school.
Third mistake, criticizing someones work when you didint even belong in architecture school, why should anyone listen to you ?

@marmkid

i dunno--showing the lesser work upfront sounds like a good way to get f**cked out of an interview

I'll delete this in a few days. But, I think the images you have present and the fact you're already doing an 11 by 17 layout... I think you should split the two projects and try your hand at a larger layout.

I did this, with no editing, by importing your pdf file. Isn't amazing because I had zero fonts and did this in about 10 minutes.

Unicorn Ghost,


Waoooo.. Thanks for your input.

I can see your point, there is now a clearer heirarchy of images.

But now the type fonts make this look like something from a Newspaper and there is a too much text. Some offices in London are receiving 25 new CV's per day.

I'll have another look at the arrangement.


Lewis

greyvsgray
"i dunno--showing the lesser work upfront sounds like a good way to get f**cked out of an interview"


no one said to show lesser work, i am not sure where you got that from?

If you are afraid showing something in a portfolio sample will not get you an interview, why on earth would it then bring that same lesser work, in more detail in your full portfolio, to the actual interview?

typo

.....why on earth would YOU, not it, then bring that same lesser work, in more detail, in your full portfolio, to the actual interview

"25 new CV's a day"

That's not very much competition then, compared to the over 300 applications a given office here in the US is getting daily.

you must have forgot vikrum, I was talking about your last review. Sorry to use you as an example.

cherith,
wow, wow, wow.
it took you a whole 11 hours and 6 minutes to come up with that...
i can just imagine you standing there with your ripped final model crying for the same amount of time....

and you should use me as an example, just that you got the story wrong, i am the one doing the ripping on models.....

whatever dude. go troll somewhere else.

Yes , once again, you have just fully demonstrated your abilities with your six minutes of thinking, which all you can reply is "Whatever".

um...okay.

the things i look for in a portfolio are: one, does the aesthetic of the representation look compatible with the office? if the sample has an inverted black background and a photorealistic 3dmax rendering, i will generally hit delete. if the work is well layered, textured and shows an awareness of white space, it will make it on to the next round. two, does the work show a proficiency with the tools used to create it? generally a good portfolio will reveal how it was made. it will show proper workflow with adobe products and proficiency with drafting, 3d modeling and rendering. three, is the project thoughtful or simply formal? a project description is okay as it shows your writing skills (which are important!), but a clear and concise diagram that clearly explains the project is better. if the project is merely a formal exercise or has some bizarre premise (usually the studio instructor's fault more than the students, but the students fault for choosing that professor), i'm probably not as interested.

aspects of a portfolio that many assume to be important, but i don't find to be terribly important. one, quantity of images - i can generally read the above criteria in about a page. i don't really need too much more than that to make a decision (one of the reasons i like the op's approach). two, construction documents - at least not for an intern with 0-3 years experience (for a candidate with more than 5 years experience, a cd set is useful). i wouldn't expect a new graduate to know how to detail. the office will teach these skills. three, images of built work, particularly of work done at another firm. projects these days are so team oriented, it's almost impossible to tell who did what on a project from an image of built work. i generally just get annoyed when someone tells me he or she "designed" it. no, you didn't design it, a whole team designed it that you were a part of. furthermore, the aesthetic or functional aspects of the built work will reflect far more on the firm that created it than it will the individual being interviewed. it shows your experience at another firm, but not necessarily, what you have to offer.

anyway, this is merely my list. other offices will have other criteria. (some may even like black backgrounds, god help them.)

I think that the funniest part about all of this is that Vikrum douche anxiously waited "11 hours and 6 minutes" in front of the computer to wait for CC to respond.

Funny stuff -- keep it up!

i noticed that too, med. he might have gotten the email notice, but geez...turn those off! there are better things to do than check archinect every few minutes!

vikrum, i have to ask, and this is an honest set of questions not meant to start an argument - what makes you an authority? what are your qualifications? why should we listen to you?

i never claimed that i was an authority, i was just speaking from actual experience.
i never said anyone should listen to me, but the fact that you replied to my post, and even posted some question, you must find my posts provoking or even as med said funny, now, who doesn't like a funny story once in a while....

hahahaaha...not so much provocative, but yes provoking.

i do agree that architects need to reign in their egos a bit in general. so some critcism is good. but you could maybe tone it down a bit, too!

but as for the topic at hand....back to polishing the silver on the titanic...ha.

I set up a portfolio with 10 projects that showed different skills, and then would quickly slap together different ones for each firm, depending on the skills they wanted. So if it was a Revit firm, I'd put two Revit projects and maybe something hand drawn, and if they were looking more for drafters, I showed more built work, construction drawings, etc., more conceptual firms got Rhino and 3ds max work.

I managed to get a good amount of interviews, mainly just based on showing some competence on whatever the firm seemed to want. Granted, I'm not in the US or Canada, so things were easier for me.