the composition is pretty clean, but maybe TOO clean. the font is pretty boring, and there is nothing that really grabs me. perhaps the content simply needs more work? it seems like it has been "fluffed up" a LOT more pages than it needs to be......i would put this in the "maybe pile" if i were still at admissions, and give it a second pass later. i would say about 3-4 more hours a page would help flesh it out or at least indicate to you that those pages need to go. i guess it is a tad on the banal side.

good luck.

Thanks man.

Just to get a sense, how much do admissions committes really care about things like font selection?

From critiques I had with some professors from a couple of above mentioned schools, they seemed to not really give a shit. First critique, I just had images in an ugly green folder and they were like.. thats fine, we're def. more concenred about the content.


cmdctrl, since you say it is a LOT more pages than needs to be, what would you deem unnecessary? it'd give me an idea of what's carrying through and whats not... danke.

very nice, very clean layout. i think the order of projects works. i selfishly want to see an image of 'crimson' in its entirety, only because i like looking at topographical representations.

i think page 13 should be your front cover. maybe page 11. if one of these becomes your cover, it will make up for the minimalism and quietness of the project title separations.

would you put your CV on page 2-3-4 or 5? i want to see more work! add more.

that is, more projects.... not 3-4 hours more per page.

thanks architectum.

- Unfortunately, I have only a limited number of images of Crimson, & since it is now destroyed, can no longer take new images. I do have another piece to add though, but its not topographical in the same way, and deals more with the form of the city ...

- the black box on the cover is actually going to be a separate piece of card-stock, and my name etc printed on a different kind of paper underneath - perhaps with one of the images from the Naksa series behind the card-stock.

- i wasn't sure about putting in my CV, but if I do it would go on the same spread as the ToC. What do you/others suggest?

- i'll put an updated portfolio w/ additional work up next week (hopefullly close to finished + with more constructive criticism from here) .


QUESTION: how do people bind their portfolios? is wire-o binding a crime?

first, wire O binding IS a crime. it can poke the hell out of yuor hands, and it just doesn't look that sweet. think of something cleaner and nice. don't get too fussy, because admissions will just tear it apart anyway.

no. font is not something panels sit around and fret about. but a bad one looks bad...it will (perhaps subconsciously) make the portfolio seems less great. it can only hurt, and since it is usually ONE person (not a panel) making the first pass, just pick a good, quiet one. try narrower. that one just looks clunky and fat.

personally, i find the title pages annoying. you are not a famous artist, so devoting a title page to each project comes off as a bit much unless there is a symbol or something on it to key back to the contents page. the titles could easily be worked into the content because the pages are rather empty. this CLEAN is bordering on lack of content. that may make the portfolio seem meatier, too - but don't go too far the other way and make it busy, either.

i would put more time into the untitled sculpture....it shows potential for architectural work. most of the others are strictly art....

finally, get RID of those white borders on kathmandu....it is terribly distracting. i realize that was probably the mount surface, but photoshop works, and so should you. there are lots of little touches like that that will show you have not put enough time into this to get into an elite program (if that is what you are aiming at). remember, they have THOUSANDS of applicants WILLING to put MANY hours into their portfolios to make them perfect on top of having a lot of talent. not to mention, the more hours you put into it (and GRE etc) the higher your chances for some free money.

more work might backfire as there ARE page limits for many schools. they do generally like you to stick to those limits because the top schools have a TON to get through. if these truly are your best projects, make these shine. less is more....

good luck.

If you're going to use white text on colored backgrounds, make sure there's at least a 0p3 (3 pt) border around the sides. 0p6 (6 pts) or 1p0 (1 pica) is much preferred.

Another trick is that if your text is a certain size, your colored box behind it should be between 150% to 160% of height of your text-- so, if you have 18 pt type, your box should be 28.8 pt.

On page 8, your caption or under picture text is awkward. You can't have dangle lines like that. You can either add a few extra words to make it more even or you can actually shrink your text box down.

If you you do offset text, it is tricky. For instance, you use a 2 column text box to measure your picture size... you should duplicate that text box, make it three columns and align your text box to be the size of 2 of the 3 columns. Golden rations and all that.

As for the colors. I don't have a problem with the color choices per say. I don't like the total vibrancy of them. Pick a really hot color you like and then move the fill down about 15% or 20%.

It takes the edge off, preserves the color and doesn't make it stick out so awkwardly.

I have no problem with the drop shadows you use. And I also appreciate that you've made them slightly brown (like real shadows!).

But I would suggest going a little lighter on them. Drop shadows are suppose to be subtle. You can achieve this by either increase the transparency or you can increase the the size of them and make the color lighter.

Page 12 is really clever but I don't like the flatness of the scale figure. Try duplicating it and use one of the duplicate layers with a different transparency setting like dodge, burn, overlay or hard light and then adjust the transparencies of both layers until they look better.

Page 17 needs some color correction. Increase the contrast a little bit and pull out a little bit of the midtones. Darken the shadows. It will print better.

Page 33, be sure to use a drop shadow on the overlaying map since you've been using them throughout your whole portfolio.

Color correction on 39. Lighten up the shadows so it doesn't over print.

One big suggestion-- I think the type, layout and structure is overall great. I'm not a big judge on content however.

But you need indentations on all of your paragraph or body text... even if it is a slight 0p6 or a full p1.

Oh and on the title pages, I would list date, media, possibly reason (class, work, personal project) and any additional credits.

That will give them enough content to allow them to exist and not come off as pretentious.

thank you unicorn...another photoshop fiend? i am surprised you had the energy to go into all that...


he is right, those touches may seem like nothing, but they make a portolio pop.

like i said before MORE HOURS.....


good luck.

I use to run the design department of a newspaper company that use to put out close to 450,000 copies a week across 6 publications.

Well, that's a lie. Our readership / circulation figures are 450,000. Our publishing numbers were closer to 270,000.

Page 38 has two different colors of drop shadows. If you're going to use them, make sure they are all the same direction and color!

unicorn ghost, that's awesome... thanks for getting into all that detail... much appreciated! (some of those are actually shadows btw)

If you have more time:

- What do you think of the white space around the kathmandu prints?
Apparently it makes ctrl angry, and makes him/her think I'm lazy, but I'd appreciate another opinion. I put them there because it was suggested that without them the idea that they are objects printed that way is lost.

I'm torn on it.

The borders show the scale of the print versus the size of the medium.

They, however, are O.K. how is.

The thing I dislike is that I can't discern what media they are actually on. Most scanned pieces of paper of pieces of fabric usually have a little bit of grain or a wrinkle or two. These just like off-white boxes with a drop shadow. And that drop shadow makes it look cheesey.

If you can't enlarge the prints however... smaller art is better than jpeg-artifacty art.

@ CMNDCTRL - Wire binding a crime? I actually like it...what would you suggest instead? Im due to have my stuff printed next week and am now wondering what to do...

@ jetvancake - on first impression i really liked your work (perhaps because i have a penchant for cartography), however upon closer examination id have to agree with others in that your portfolio may benefit from more detail and ultimately depth.

For example, your first project suggests u used celluar plant structure and urban form to dictate your markings - was their any particular formula u used? how have u distinguished denser centres from less dense neighbourhoods? are you essentially marking street networks?

I think pages 10 - 12 are pretty sweet - I love the colours. I agree with unicorn in that your prespective image needs tweaking. your man has no arms and looks malnourished. I also feel katmandu requires further expansion.

Hope my ramblings are of use - good luck matey.

LinkOne, here's a conversation I just had yesterday:

Me: What's a good way to bind this thing?

IIT Professor: Wire binding is what I'd suggest.. simple and clean...especially since you're probably not going to ask to have them sent back. And obviously you don't want to be spending too much or making something elaborate and having it fall apart...
__________________________________________

So yea, I'm guessing it's a matter of how much you're willing to spend to stand out... which i guess might be important esp. in the top programs.. but also not an extremely big deal...

Same person also told me I might want to get rid of the more 'architectural' work.. untitled sculptural commission.. because despite its greater relevance to architecture it lacks continuity with the other work... and is less resolved.. Any opinions on that?
__________________________________________

Thanks for you comments though.. I'm hoping to add more text - which I need to edit out of exhibition catalogs and all - to flesh out the projects.. add more depth. Like. the first project is grounded as much in urban form -street networks, buildings, etc. - as it is hindu/buddhist philosphical ideas of imaging/representation .. map vs abstract drawing.. organic vs synthetic... Obv. I need to be a lot more articulate... without trivializing my own culture.. good luck to me! Same with some of the other projects..

Appreciate your comments though, definitely helps.

Good luck to you also.

LinkOne, here's a conversation I just had yesterday:

Me: What's a good way to bind this thing?

IIT Professor: Wire binding is what I'd suggest.. simple and clean...especially since you're probably not going to ask to have them sent back. And obviously you don't want to be spending too much or making something elaborate and having it fall apart...
__________________________________________

So yea, I'm guessing it's a matter of how much you're willing to spend to stand out... which i guess might be important esp. in the top programs.. but also not an extremely big deal...

Same person also told me I might want to get rid of the more 'architectural' work.. untitled sculptural commission.. because despite its greater relevance to architecture it lacks continuity with the other work... and is less resolved.. Any opinions on that?
__________________________________________

Thanks for you comments though.. I'm hoping to add more text - which I need to edit out of exhibition catalogs and all - to flesh out the projects.. add more depth. Like. the first project is grounded as much in urban form -street networks, buildings, etc. - as it is hindu/buddhist philosphical ideas of imaging/representation... map vs abstract drawing.. organic vs synthetic... Obviously, I need to be a lot more articulate... without trivializing my own culture and all.. good luck to me! Same with some of the other projects..

Appreciate your comments though, definitely helps.

And, good luck to you also.

Thanks for the binding info - i think ill stick with wire. I cant imagine a prof (even at an ivy) saying "this work is incredibly insightful, shame about the WIRE binding...". Its cheap and cheerful, and I kinda like the way it looks.

I see what you mean about the architectural work. If i may offer some counter advice...

if you can find a way to provide more details about process and your motivations for all your projects you might find it easier to tell an overall "jetvancake-story". At the moment you seem to have focused on "final images" as oppose to this. I guess what im trying to say is it doesnt matter to much about what the final product is in each of your projects as long as you portray design led problem solving - i.e. what your motivations for a particular study were, any constraints or perameters, and possibly evaluate any solutions or outcomes. if you can do this through imagery its even better. (This may prove challenging for the hindu/buddist/organic/synthetic/abstract/map influnces for your first project - maybe refine these elements?)

im hoping to put my portfolio tomorrow eve, so if you get a chance let me know what u think of my crap!

Great. That sounds like good advice and I've heard it from a couple of others too. Thank you.

And I look forward to shitting all over your work! Hah.

This is the portfolio i ended up sending out. Just wanted to hear your thoughts while I sit and wait for decisions next month.

And much thanks for your comments on the original draft folks. It was a lot of help.

i cannot really remember the first one...but this seems better. perhaps it has just been long enough and it is "fresh" again. the understated titles are much more appealing. i remember them being a bit garish before.

as for the wire binding, no there are no rules. i was being dramatic for emphasis! i have just always particularly hated it. it kills the "gutter" of two-page layouts (which i find the most powerful reason for a book-type portfolio), and is distracting. my point was, isn't there a cleaner way to do it?...turns out, there is. printing in a booklet layout, with two simple staples, and VOILA! a clean, cheap binding, that does not stick out like a sore thumb. you could also use the folded/double bound technique, but it really wastes a lot of paper. the key is to not distract from the work.

good luck, jetvancake.

Looks great! good luck!

I like your portfolio quite a bit. I have trouble deciphering whether it is the presentation or the work itself that I like best, which is a good thing. My only complaint is that the text is a little long winded. I think your ideas are rather simple and I feel some of the explanations could be more concise. Coming from a fine art background myself, I kind of want the work to speak for itself a bit more. This is an architecture portfolio though, and it is better to have more information than not enough. You're not going to have to focus on any of this again anyway, I'm sure you'll be getting some positive responses. Thanks for posting it.