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Undergrad Portfolio Critique

derekmc825

Hey there, so i am currently in my 3rd year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Architecture major and i need some help/constructive criticism for my portfolio that i will be sending out to firms for summer internships. 

http://issuu.com/dmcfarland/docs/dmcportfolio

 

Some of my font sizes came in pretty small, and too thin so maybe I should change that?

The portfolio is in reverse chronological order, does that seem to work well, or not?

What do you think? Don't be afraid to rip it

 

Thank you so much in advance,

 

Derek

 

 

 
Dec 18, 11 7:06 am
backbay

i only flipped through so i can't really critique, but i'd just like to say that your drawings look incredible.  are you sending it to a school or a workplace?

Dec 19, 11 1:29 am  · 
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derekmc825

Thank you very much. Im already at Cal Poly so I'm going to be sending it out to a bunch of offices/firms pretty soon

Dec 19, 11 4:12 am  · 
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l3wis

hi derek, i have a few suggestions for you!

1) on your title page, i wouldn't break architecture into two lines. personally i would also add some heirarchy to the text there, instead of DMC ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO, something more like DMC architecture portfolio.

2) it may just be my screen, or issuu, but the (thin) text that you have as your body text is really difficult to read...

3) on your resume I would not list each individual restaurant you've worked at. i would generalize all your irrelevant work experience into something like 'food service industry positions 08-10, and then elaborate in smaller body text if you wish. you just want your arch. experience to be focused upon, not the three other jobs you held at restraurants.

also, do not seperate your jobs into 'design experience' and 'work experience'. same thing. call it all work experience, including freelance.

4) you feature alot of projects in a very consistent format-- which is great! but also it can become tedious to flip through them all...

i would advise you to distill this down into an 'emailable' pdf for work applications. i think something on the order of four, possibly five best projects is -plenty- to introduce yourself to firms (along with your resume, and cover letter/email). definitely you might print out the long version for an in-person interview.

 

good luck man! you are doing the smart thing, taking care of this now. =)

Dec 19, 11 4:31 pm  · 
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derekmc825

Thank you so much jk3hl and i really appreciate your feedback.

1) these are great suggestions and i like the heir achy ideas

2) and yes it is a issuu issue but i did change it to make it more legible

3) excellent, ya making my resume more architectural rather than everything (restaurants) is better

4) and ya i wasn't sure how long an emailable portfolio should be so i was thinking probably on 5 projects would be good.

Thank you again, also when do you think would be the best time to apply/send out my portfolio to firms for an internship in the summer?

Dec 19, 11 7:17 pm  · 
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Znaika

First of all, a beautiful format. Well done. However, I think you should think about omitting some of the work. You probably know which ones yourself.  I really like your first three projects. 

Dec 20, 11 1:47 am  · 
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derekmc825

Oh thank you desna2 :) i think i will ommitt a lot of projects in the emailed pdf version but possible print all of the projects? what do you think?

Dec 20, 11 1:50 am  · 
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Znaika

derekmc825- So do you mean the pdf that you will be sending in an email to the firms? Well in that case, it does seem like a good idea. The good projects will land you an interview (I'm definitely sure) and you can then bring the full portfolio, with the not so good projects and maybe show/explain how your skills grew? 

Dec 20, 11 2:33 am  · 
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derekmc825

yep thats exactly what I mean, to send to firms. Yeah thats a great idea :) thank you so much

Dec 20, 11 2:39 am  · 
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l3wis

i think i would start sending materials 2 months beforehand. you'l probably get some responses saying that we don't know our hiring needs for the summer, not sure if we're hiring interns yet, etc... but if you talk to them early and keep checking back in with your contact your name will be at the top of the list

Dec 20, 11 11:40 am  · 
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