Chase, that portfolio is about 40 pages longer than it should be. The design / shape diagrams and mostly blank pages makes it obvious that you're padding the portfolio. If you're looking for a full time job in an office, show-off plans and sections at a meaningful scale where your potential employer can gauge your skills. Also yellow, I hate yellow backgrounds, but that's not relevant.

Thanks Non Sequitur,

I understood that my portfolio needed to be a bit smaller, and now I know to focus my portfolio around what they would be employing me for. So have the portfolio show off the plans and sections that I can draw. Should I include 3D modelling and physical modelling or no?

And too bad about the yellow, personally I love it (which is why I chose it obviously).

The graphic layout is actually quite good. I don't mind the yellow.

The first 3-4 spreads are unnecessary, shrink that down to one, but with a similar minimal style. The backwards "portfolio" drove me nuts. Drop the back end with the hand drawings/photos/manifesto, its irrelevant.

Otherwise decent.

It's a good looking portfolio and I love the yellow :DD 

which softwares are you using for your 3D modellings ??

Thanks guys for the comments. I use Rhino for the modeling, but just photoshop for the renderings and stuff. I'm a broke student so can't really afford to pay for v-ray or other rendering softwares. 

Also I'm glad someone else likes the yellow :)

:DD you should always trust your guts !!! that's what makes us different 

good luck finding an internship, i'm also planning to look for one but still haven't updated my portfolio

The graphic aspect is fine, and I agree with NS that their is too much fluff. However, if I'm being brutally honest, I don't see much architectural substance in most of your projects. I think you need to make a serious evaluation about the merits of each of your projects, and determine how to best express them.

I agree with everyone... It's way to long. There are plenty of visualizations that could be improved too (Like page 26). There are many good rendering software options that are available besides VRay.  3DS Max's MentalRay is quite good plus there's Corona, which is free at the moment.  3DS Max is free with a .edu email.  Beyond that, there is kerkythea.  With post processing in photoshop, any of these options can create quite inspiring viz.   

It's a well-designed "layout" and I like your works.

However, if you're looking for a full time job in design firms, you should strengthen contents, such as your thesis work, technical studies, few but strong internal and external perspectives of the projects that reveal your spatial fetish as well more practical plans and sections in a chronological order.

It's obvious that you let your potential employer know that you are really professional and well-rounded architect with variable projects and its distinctive conditions so you are ready to work severely!!! through out your portfolio.

Take enough time to make and edit your works, I know you're going to have an awesome internships.

@Korearch, Yeah I'm still an undergraduate student, so haven't really had the opportunity to do any research projects nor do I have a "thesis project." I know rendering is something I need to work on, but I have more drawings such as details and the like that are more professional I guess you could say? Including those would be a good idea I'm assuming?

And thanks for the tips guys! Some of yall like my portfolio some don't, but I kind of knew that would happen. I'll definitely re-work it to make myself more appealing to firms.

If anyone else has tips/ideas please share them!

Yes, but no, it depends on your academic levels. 

How could it be possible undergrad students understand buildings detail 100%. :)

If they were, it's fake though!!

It doesn't necessarily mean that you should obsessively include details which make you are professional at first.

I meant you need to appeal them you are also familiar with tectonics and have a comprehensive understand about building system very relevantly related to your own projects, as well you have delicate sense of design and academic interests.

So, they know you have been successfully achieved relevant academic courses with your undergraduate level, compared to other prospective competitors. 

 

(Again, detail is not the first priority. Don't mind trivial details, just leave it out from your portfolio, because they know. Try to show very basic but fundamental technical studies with sections or whatever plans with the design. Also, It could be photos of models or renderings.) :)

I like your graphics and color scheme; i think you have a unique vision that you could capitalize on but, indeed, I agree that there may be some fluff that can be cut out (ie. some of the title pages, extraneous / redundant imagery). There is nothing wrong with negative space if it is utilized well, and in my opinion, i think the portfolios that emphasize this - showing no more than necessary by exercising restraint - lends just as much to the character and personality of the individual to go above and beyond what the work is doing for you. If you are one for excess then by all means have your portfolio showcase this, with well thought out layouts. 

I definitely think, as discussed in the other thread, that more exploration in research / professional work would help strengthen your body of work - and don't forget to mention your role in the design team. I also read up on graphic design templates and layouts, including color schemes and what not which helped me distill my work in the best way that I knew how.

The name of the game is rinse and repeat - show this to colleagues, professors, mentors and continually improve based on their feedback. But trust your judgement (as someone else said). Your work, you know best. Cheers

@chicagleggos you have been the best help so far. I really appreciate all the feedback. I am currently working on my portfolio in order to start applying to a lot of jobs, and will definitely continue my own research and competitions to strengthen my own design work. 

Thanks for all the help!

Start trolling ISSUU.com for portfolio precedents - search GSD, GSAPP, ect and the results should bring up some good portfolios - bookmark the ones you really find impressive and then think of ways in which you can improve your projects to match their quality of diagram, render, ect. 

Here are some ones I think are good:

• http://issuu.com/jamesleng/docs/jamesleng_portfolio2013
• http://issuu.com/jiaweng/docs/jia_weng_portforlio_pages
• http://issuu.com/ali.fard/docs/ali_fard_portfolio
• http://issuu.com/huchenchen/docs/huchenchen_issuu
• http://issuu.com/ricardsolar/docs/8x11print

Scroll down and browse the related publications to find other precedents.   

 

Work on your visual skills.  3DS Max is free for .edu emails, you could start out doing simple ambient occlusion renders with Mentalray to add a feeling of volume and work up to using the free version of Corona.  i.e. Simple diagrams (look at overlaying the outlines from a Make2D/export CAD in Sketchup of the same view as rendered) [See also BIG] or Complex diagrams.  These were just the first AO examples that pop-ed up on the Googles but it's simple and adds depth to visuals and looks nice with overlaid vectors. Tutorial.  For your diagrams on page 11, maybe make the different cube faces darker or lighter to add volume, see image. 

Your project on page 19 looks like this fire station but the final viz for your project seems flat.  Look at cleaning up the roof (maybe even the first floor... the rounded stuff fights the nice orthogonal layout... I think it would be nice if the floor plan created a volume of space to occupy in the negative space. See quick diagram.  Try putting furniture in plans to show how they are used?      

I think you have good potential but the visuals seem flat and the projects seem to focus on the formal object - but most of the time it's just simple geometry stacked on each other, no depth that looks at creating interior spaces worth occupying.