Point taken for the architecture stuff. I'm quite cynical about graphic design being so cosmetic, so I shied away from using anything less than my strongest/ most thoughtful work from that field.

Here's a secret: it's just as, if not more important, to demonstrate how you think about design, than actually design. Those who will be reviewing the work need to see that you understand the basics (scale, shape, proportions, light, etc) and can manipulate those in interesting ways. More often than not, this is easiest to see in the discarded concept sketches that lead to that final shiny image.

That's helpful, thanks. Re: "so little substance," could you expand on that some more? I take your point about showcasing the process images more (there are a few in the portfolio but I underemphasized them) but I'm curious if you're saying the justifications I included for my design decisions were vapid, or that I just need more images, etc. Compared to architecture I find the field of graphic design itself to be pretty insubstantial, so any specifics you can offer me would be much appreciated.

Your jackrabbit procession drawings are interesting and certainly hit the "show how you think" mark but they are way too small. Consider their impact if you had a full spread, or two, solely dedicate to those sketches. Same thing with any sketches that lead to the box and business card designs. The other sketches in the replication dynamic project should be burned as they do not do you any favours. I'd just leave that project out completely actually.

That's super helpful, thanks! I plan on cutting all the architecture stuff, but I'm curious to know why replication dynamic in particular would be detrimental to show. I figure it just looks like someone without an architecture background made it? Also, were you being sarcastic about listing my interests under habits?

To your first point, the dynamic project is bad. Plain and simple. I've seen and interviewed nearly 100 undergrad arch applicants and something like this immediately sours the review. I say it's the equivalent of a high-school kid moving around blocks in sketchup trying to replicate their parent's subburban house. the odd axo'esque sketch with the pink walking swirls could be interesting, but it's very amateurish. That project would be far better represented by a few good hand-drawn perspectives rather than a sloppy photoshop cut/paste.

To your second point, no, I am not being sarcastic.  I think using "habits" as title is funny but as Bloopox notes below, it's entirely unnecessary to include.

Yeah I figured the architecture stuff probably looks corny to a trained eye, but I was trying to show where my interests within architecture lie. I guess that's what the SoP is for. Point taken.

The size of the text actually reminds me of another question: when they're reviewing this stuff, are they viewing it on screen or printing it out? I assumed they'd be viewing it on screen, so I made the text larger. Either way I'll definitely reduce the size.

Thanks for your comments.

They're usually doing some of each. The time that's actually spent on each candidate when the committee gets together as a whole averages only a minute or two. Really. That's not an exaggeration of how minimal that time is. Almost all of the perusal of portfolios happens on individual committee members' own time. Some of these people tend to print out the portfolios that are assigned to them, especially in the latter stages when the applicant pool is small-ish, so that they can write notes and such, and have those at the table with them when the committee convenes again.

Thank you for your insight, this is extremely helpful.

But it's ok to add academic interests I think. Definitely not 'observing...' but if you spend your free time reading about French history or biology, or maybe you play an instrument, that's probably ok. That kind of stuff has helped me get a job before, but not sure where it ranks for academic CV.

Playing an instrument, excelling in a sport, etc. are ok... they can help particularly if you've achieved something unusual in those areas (i.e. if you're an Olympic swimmer you should definitely include that - universities like to collect people with high-level achievements even if they're entirely irrelevant to the person's intended field of study) - but I'd disagree about reading in your free time. Typically "Interests"/"Hobbies"/"Habits" come across as unnecessary filler categories, almost as bad as including a half-page of graphs or your proficiency at every software you've ever tried, and it would be better to leave the resume sparser.

Noted. I'll probably maintain the academic interests (my interest in urban planning and public policy seem relevant) but yeah the other stuff is unnecessary. Thanks for your advice.

Noted. Thanks for your advice.

Yeah, based on your and others advice I plan on spreading out the projects rather than cramming them in. I'm glad you think some of them are interesting despite my awkward formatting!

Oh and good to know that PUREHOUSE LAB or Co-Liv as they are known currently and Vectuel are profiting from slavery with their unpaid internships, great you called them out in your résumé.

You are familiar with Co-liv?

Nope, just read in your résumé that you had an unpaid internship a.k.a. slavery..

ha, good catch there Rando. Hayes, listing on your resume that you've worked unpaid gigs is exceptionally poisonous. You don't know your value if you're not paid.

I've done a lot of reading about unpaid internships and you both are totally right I should omit that part. To defend myself, I spent the spring leading up to that summer applying my ass off for internships and I couldn't get a single paid internship. Maybe I started applying too late or maybe my work just sucked and no one wanted to pay me, but I decided it was preferable to accept an evaluation of zero dollars and learn something instead of playing xbox all summer. I know I'm part of the problem. @ randomised I asked about Co-liv because I don't explicitly mention that I rebranded purehouse lab to co-liv, so I figured you must have heard of it elsewhere.

No I just googled them today and found out they are now called Co-Liv, so maybe if this post climbs the google results they'll have to rebrand again ;)

I would love to avoid that scenario. Also, thanks for your initial comment. I'm flattered by your reading of the NASA logo as allusions to constructivism and evocative of an OMA project. I hope that project surpasses those on pages 16-20 ;)