nothing says you’re a wannabe architect like believing that many sans fonts that are similar to Helvetica are only slight variations of it. (unless you use arial of course)
my concern is over proper citation / accreditation of work. while most portfolio descriptions say something vague as to a representation of your creative work. etc. etc., what about the text regarding the work shown. i think it wouldn't bother me if kai had simply displayed what he did in his portfolio and not describe it. but describing it as an "installation" or a "movie still" or "performance piece" seems, if anything, misleading.
so is the text in a portfolio also afforded "creative liberty" or is it a given that it is an accurate description of what is depicted.
or are we looking at the mutant step child of benjamin's art in the age of mechanical reproduction?
ok i take that back as i saw a response of kai's clarifying the contents of the portfolio.
bullshitting an essay is technically misleading the reader as to what your thesis and conclusions were. i wouldn't be surprised if most peoples' letter of intent includes some embellished aspect of what they'd like to do with their degree.
woah there, I'd like to make some clarifications, it appears some people are confused.
•I did NOT use anyone elses work, everything I put into my portfolio was entirely my own work, nothing was taken from anybody else, not even photos which were manipulated. Taking other peoples work would be wrong.
•I did NOT say that a piece of art was displayed in a specific gallery when it was not
•What I DID do was take photos and say they were stills from a movie or performance piece.
•I DID build a crappy little model, put it in a small corner of my basement, take a picture and say it was an installation piece (without specifying it was in my basement or mentioning the scale).
I basically made a portfolio that was graphically pleasing and had projects that appeared as if they were full of content, in fact they were not. If Admissions committees can't tell the difference then that is a fault in the system and I'm going to take advantage of it. I had other more important things to do than bust my ass on a portfolio that will be skimmed through and judged on graphic design.
put one of those exploding ink packs that they put in money bags at the bank (when a bank is robbed). When the admission people open the package, it will throw ink all over them
i agree with kai, keep it simple & stand out, then push it to the extreme...works for me.
also, and although this annoys me, i think it is true that you can stand out by not looking like such an architect with a typical architect's portfolio. i definitely suspect that this appeals to schools since as much as anything they are trying to create an interesting dialogue. along these lines, i always felt that given my architecture background (undergrad degree & work experience) that i would probably be more attractive to the top mba and law schools rather than architecture schools...simply by bringing a (hopefully) refreshingly different perspective to the exisitng dialogue.
and after reading the average starting salaries for mba grads from most of the top school that were published in the harris/wsj this week i can help but kick myself for not at least trying to get into an mba program. avg salaries were typically $70-90k with $15-20k signing bonus. can you believe that, $15,000 just for accepting a job?
sorry for the digression, but if i had to summarize portfolios in one word:
my one bit of advice to add to the pile is...about the pile. no matter where you're sending this portfolio, no matter what the purpose is, it's going to be placed in a pile. a big one, a little one, a good pile, a bad pile, a "get him quick!" pile, a "get him killed!" pile.
and there's something about piles, which is the biggest item (i.e., the one that can hold the most weight) gets put on the bottom. but you can't stack the phaidon world atlas of contemporary architecture on a new testament from the gideons or mao's little red book. (sorry, i'm trying to think of common small books and am coming up short)
in other words: make it small. make the portfolio small in area, never mind how thick it is. (i can see the jokes coming now...) that way it's on top. and there's a sense of novelty about small things -- and the sheer size (or lack of it) of your portfolio will be a design decision in and of itself. you can pull off minimalism that way.
my portfolio is 5" x 5" x 2". two inches thick. most pages have only one image. there's some foldouts and not much text. it's small and square. i can print it out on my trusty deskjet 920. i'm not looking for work anymore, but when i was i would just send copies of the portfolio to employers -- they didn't have to return them, they were disposable. my last job search, i sent out four portfolios/resumes, i had three interviews.
Grabbing attention with your Portfolio
agreed
nothing says you’re a wannabe architect like believing that many sans fonts that are similar to Helvetica are only slight variations of it. (unless you use arial of course)
my concern is over proper citation / accreditation of work. while most portfolio descriptions say something vague as to a representation of your creative work. etc. etc., what about the text regarding the work shown. i think it wouldn't bother me if kai had simply displayed what he did in his portfolio and not describe it. but describing it as an "installation" or a "movie still" or "performance piece" seems, if anything, misleading.
so is the text in a portfolio also afforded "creative liberty" or is it a given that it is an accurate description of what is depicted.
or are we looking at the mutant step child of benjamin's art in the age of mechanical reproduction?
he's not a good example to use.. the entire thing was misleading. no, not misleading, fraudulant.
ok i take that back as i saw a response of kai's clarifying the contents of the portfolio.
bullshitting an essay is technically misleading the reader as to what your thesis and conclusions were. i wouldn't be surprised if most peoples' letter of intent includes some embellished aspect of what they'd like to do with their degree.
woah there, I'd like to make some clarifications, it appears some people are confused.
•I did NOT use anyone elses work, everything I put into my portfolio was entirely my own work, nothing was taken from anybody else, not even photos which were manipulated. Taking other peoples work would be wrong.
•I did NOT say that a piece of art was displayed in a specific gallery when it was not
•What I DID do was take photos and say they were stills from a movie or performance piece.
•I DID build a crappy little model, put it in a small corner of my basement, take a picture and say it was an installation piece (without specifying it was in my basement or mentioning the scale).
I basically made a portfolio that was graphically pleasing and had projects that appeared as if they were full of content, in fact they were not. If Admissions committees can't tell the difference then that is a fault in the system and I'm going to take advantage of it. I had other more important things to do than bust my ass on a portfolio that will be skimmed through and judged on graphic design.
kai, when did you graduate from minnesota? who did you study under there?
Hey market, shouldn't you be drawing a section or something?
yes. i am doing just that right now. how are the strings?
I graduated this spring
put one of those exploding ink packs that they put in money bags at the bank (when a bank is robbed). When the admission people open the package, it will throw ink all over them
i agree with kai, keep it simple & stand out, then push it to the extreme...works for me.
also, and although this annoys me, i think it is true that you can stand out by not looking like such an architect with a typical architect's portfolio. i definitely suspect that this appeals to schools since as much as anything they are trying to create an interesting dialogue. along these lines, i always felt that given my architecture background (undergrad degree & work experience) that i would probably be more attractive to the top mba and law schools rather than architecture schools...simply by bringing a (hopefully) refreshingly different perspective to the exisitng dialogue.
and after reading the average starting salaries for mba grads from most of the top school that were published in the harris/wsj this week i can help but kick myself for not at least trying to get into an mba program. avg salaries were typically $70-90k with $15-20k signing bonus. can you believe that, $15,000 just for accepting a job?
sorry for the digression, but if i had to summarize portfolios in one word:
succinct
but are you in it for the love or the money?
it's difficult to find the balance of both. sigh... i know finance kids who just left undergrad and they're making 20k for bonus.... each quarter.
my one bit of advice to add to the pile is...about the pile. no matter where you're sending this portfolio, no matter what the purpose is, it's going to be placed in a pile. a big one, a little one, a good pile, a bad pile, a "get him quick!" pile, a "get him killed!" pile.
and there's something about piles, which is the biggest item (i.e., the one that can hold the most weight) gets put on the bottom. but you can't stack the phaidon world atlas of contemporary architecture on a new testament from the gideons or mao's little red book. (sorry, i'm trying to think of common small books and am coming up short)
in other words: make it small. make the portfolio small in area, never mind how thick it is. (i can see the jokes coming now...) that way it's on top. and there's a sense of novelty about small things -- and the sheer size (or lack of it) of your portfolio will be a design decision in and of itself. you can pull off minimalism that way.
my portfolio is 5" x 5" x 2". two inches thick. most pages have only one image. there's some foldouts and not much text. it's small and square. i can print it out on my trusty deskjet 920. i'm not looking for work anymore, but when i was i would just send copies of the portfolio to employers -- they didn't have to return them, they were disposable. my last job search, i sent out four portfolios/resumes, i had three interviews.
has anyone taken a pre-college portfolio development course, and if so, was it worth it?
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