Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
M.Arch Portfolio - Are My Pages Actually Spreads?
Hi!
I completed my portfolio (M.Arch, no design background), and I have 16 pages that are each 7x20, so relatively short and very wide.
Looking at many schools' requirements, they have different page requirements for pages vs spreads. Only 1 school I'm applying to thus far, UPenn, has SIZE requirements for what makes a page vs. a spread. So my question is, can these long "pages" be PAGES, and fit in with 99% of the schools' requirements for 20-30 pages? Or will admissions committees look at my pages and say I'm gaming the system or something because they're really more "spread" size (and sort of broken up in that way only because I used grids to keep things organized and I don't bleed anything across the center line).
I worked on a version that is 10 instead of 16 "spreads" (each 10X24 - meeting UPenn's max spread size), for in case answers to this thread indicate that I can't submit them as pages... and I hate that version haha. It's way too crowded. So hoping for some positive answers :D
To understand what I mean, here is my portfolio: https://issuu.com/miriteich/do...
However, Issuu seems to want to make this a flipbook so it's showing TWO of these mega pages/"spreads" side by side. The first page is the example of what ONE of these would look like. I'd like the schools to view each of the mega pages/spreads AS ONE PAGE. Sorry for added confusion lol
Why are you doing this?
You should really just do 7x10 pages in a spread format PDF, and I can’t for the life of me understand why you wouldn’t do that, you literately organized them with a vertical split down the middle, where each half would be a reasonable size page….
If I were to review this, I would look at this and think they are spreads and you don’t know how to use PDFs. If I thought you intended it as a 7x20 “page” …. I’d just be dumbfounded as to why.
It wasn't exactly intentional. An advisor told me to do it this way so that just like you suggest, they could be spreads. But as my projects filled out, I ended up with 16 of them. I'm simply asking if it is possible to call them pages, I can't really reformat everything now (or maybe I can but I don't have the particular photoshop skill to - no design background remember? hahaha)
(16 spreads is too many - school reqs are between 20-30 pages so that would be 32)
One thing to remember in general is that people have limited time to look at your portfolio, no one is going to zoom in. It needs to be legible and say what you want it to say in a quick read. That size spread will work against you.
beautiful portfolio for m.arch. it shows you can process ideas to architectural means. your ability to do this puts you ahead of many candidates. good luck. sorry, i can’t help you about the layout but it looks very good to me with hand writing and all.
what josh says is true and very sad that people who look at this type of applicant’s life changing moments don’t have time to look at them closely.
Thank you!!! I worked so hard...I guess I just have to hope?
hope? Put in the effort and fix the formatting. You cant read anything unless you zoom in, you need to keep the reader in mind when laying it out.
Keep in mind that Round 1 portfolio reviews are typically done at a rapid clip - sometimes on a PC and sometimes on a larger screen. First impressions are key - there is literally no time to look at each portfolio carefully. Come Round 2, the committee will have more time to look deeper into the selected portfolios. Don't undermine your own chances by sabotaging Round 1.
Update for those that were concerned: Admitted with $ to Syracuse Feb 10 :)
Congrats! I loved living in upstate NY, you'll have fun.
Thank you! Still waiting on other schools but I'll def check out the campus, they're offering to cover my travel costs to visit next month. :)
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