I started working on my official portfolio on December 5 and had it done by December 12, assembled/bound by the 13th. BUT - I'd put together a mini portfolio for my recommenders in November and already had decided on a format and design (that "test" book took me about 1 day to design/print/assemble). So it was just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

I don't tend to go through a sketch phase or testing many ideas, I just mentally brainstorm/weed out for a while, then dwell on an idea and think about it long enough that it's sorted out and complete in my head, both in terms of aesthetics and information organization, and then expel the whole thing in one go. I had a sense of what I wanted it to look like already, and certain adjectives in mind. Writing comes fairly naturally to me so I did not stress out about the project descriptions. All of my descriptions range from 2 sentences to about 250 words, no more. Printing/binding was the bulk of my work. I was also confident about what to include/not include, so I didn't spend a lot of time figuring that out either.

I come from a graphic design background so I have a lot of practice with laying out books. It's not new to me, so I think the types of decisions that come naturally for me after several years of practice caused a lot of other people's stress. I don't consciously think about every little thing as much as others. Either way, I personally can't imagine having worked on this thing for 6-8 hours a day for a whole year. So don't let that put you off.

ICC profiles are awesome!!!

I just downloaded the icc profile from the ILFORD website (I am using ILFORD paper), and the printouts look X100000 better!

you guys really need to use these if the paper company provides them

Man im going to GSD!!! (this part is just a joke...)

PS - I should also add that I am self employed. I blocked out the month of December to be able to work on my grad application stuff and did not take on any clients for this month, so the 5th-12th was me working more than a full time job's worth of work every day just on my portfolio. If I had been working full time, it would have taken me longer, so if you have other commitments don't think you can do it that fast! But again, much of that time (60%) was spent waiting for prints to come out on my very slow epson, not on doing design work.

Sirgemhl,

Since you're talking about ICC profiles, I have a question for you.

I just went to the printer to look at my proof and the colors are ALL screwed up. They have an HP Indigo printer and it uses CMYK inks.

I'm hoping if I convert all my images from RGB to CMYK that will solve the problem, but I'm not sure.

Do you know anything about prepping files for printing on digital presses? Does anyone know about this?

Do printers also have ICC's?

Thanks in advance for any help. I'm going to be working Christmas weekend to convert the files.

sirgemhl - do ICC profiles really work that well? Do the pages look more vivid or just more professional in an overall way?

I've not used them so far because I'm not printing mine at home. I'm taking in the whole indd package to the printers so, if needs be, I can edit images on the fly.

baboomba - yeah, you should definitely go CMYK. RGB printing will have you tearing your hair out - it's only meant for the red green blue representation of monitors.

Chch,

Thanks for the info. Can I ask you one more question? Do I have to save the files (photos mostly) as CMYK when I scan them or can I convert them anytime?

Thanks.

yeah, you can convert them anytime. This may not be 100% the best thing to do - I'm sure there's some printing experts around who would tell me that it lowers some aspect of quality - but I've not had any problems changing it after scanning.

Ok. Thanks. So it's pretty easy, then. So I just open them, change the color profile to CMYK and then save? That's it?

yup :)

Great! Thanks a lot. Really good news. Hopefully, it will make all the difference. My portfolio looked like sh*t.

bambooma,

as for CMYK vs RGB, my printer uses CMYK so I had all my files in CMYK as well... hopely that will solve the problem, but I must let you know that I really dont have a clue.

about ICC files,
it seems companies will provide ICC profiles for their media for specific printer models. the ILFORD paper has a list of about 30 printers to who they provide profiles.
So it would be correct to say ICC profiles are printer to paper optimiztions. not something for printers by themselves.
of couse, I can be wrong...


Chch,

It could be just my case but the images are DRASTICALLY better looking when those are used.

The difference I am talking about here is that the printouts with the profile used are much much more closer to what I see in the screen (maybe this can also mean vivid images).
The previos method used was 'highest quality color' settings.

Actually, I have one more question for everyone. What do you guys think about uncoated paper vs. coated (dull finish). I've heard that uncoated paper can sometimes allow the ink to bleed slightly and blur things.

sirgemhl - hmm...you've got me worried about my printing tomorrow now! still, I'd never heard of ICCs before today so fingers crossed. Also, I have a monitor callibration prog running in the bg, so I think that help some way to minimising the distortion.

Just an extra bit of info... all printers use CMYK while monitors use RGB. The diffference is that ink produces subtractive colours (reflected light) while monitors produce additive colours (emitted light). Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are the primary colours of subtractive (+ the K stands for black) and Red Green Blue are the primaries of light. Hence if you send RGB info to a printer it mixes the inks incorrectly and messes up your colours.

Profiles are to be loaded into the workstation you use to print, so definitely ask them (if your having a service for your printing) if they are using them or not.
Im guessing most professional places will.

Not really sure how coated and uncoated papers differ...
mine doesnt look coated (it could be...) but the images look fine.
maybe its because its photo paper?

Thanks everyone for the information.

uncoated absorbs sweat. distorts paper.
people usually have sweaty hands.
they will deform your pages.

Thanks again for the info. Not to worry. I decided on the dull coated.

m.arch 1er's coming from an art background: how many projects in your portfolio? I have about 15 (painting collections, sculptures, etc), it's all quality work, some it has the same them, hope it's not too repetitive or too much. any thoughts?

*same theme, (not "same them")

I'm checking out of this thread for a few days, probably. Happy holidays to all, and good luck wrapping this stuff up!

Happy holidays rationalist and GOOD LUCK!!!

Almost there... almost there...

a few more red bulls and ill be there.....

hey hallojii-

same here, engineering background, i have 5 architecture projects, 8 photographs , 6 drawings, and 3 furniture projects that i built.

its stressfull now having any idea to know if you on the right track. I was at berkeley looking at their accepted portfolios from non arch background students and they were all over, some all art and some all architecture.

yeah, ucla's accepted portfolios were the same... i guess i'm a bit fearful of the fact that i won't have architecture work from the jumpstart program i did at ucla last summer, i misplaced all my work upon moving to a new house, so hopefully my artwork will carry enough weight.

...i wish there was a radar gun that you could point your portfolio at and it would tell you what schools you could get in. sigh...

ughh i just checked gsd app recommendation forms... NONE of my three recommenders have submitted them yet!! guess im going to have to send some merry xmas emails along with a finish my recommendation note....

ughh

Sorry to hear about LOR's ClemsonDnb. I think you're well passed xmas emails. CALL THEM! and stress to them how important it is. Make shit up. Tell them if they are not it in by Friday morning your whole application gets thrown away.


Well goodluck and keep us posted.

I think I am going to spiral-bind my portfolios. If I print them out at home, can I take the whole thing into a Kinkos or a print shop and have it done there?

absolutely. However, I vastly reccomend wire-o over spiral.

Man, I'm giving up on the professional print job and am going to print mine myself. The printshop has an HP Indigo printer. Computer-generated images look fine. Scanned photos look like shit.

I'm also going with the wire-o. I was going to have it perfect bound, but oh well.

Rationalist, if that is a picture of your portfolio it looks great.

well...it should be the content that counts, not the binding or the professioanlism of the print job...

Thanks for the opinion. I think color is important, though, don't you? When I print at home the colors print correctly. Besides, that HP brochure paper is actually not too bad for home printing. Heavy and bright.

Typical. My application to Harvard, done on my cranky little $69 HP inkjet with paper from Officemax. Ha!

baboomba -- everyone always likes to tout their own method to make themselves feel better, so i'll join in!

i printed on my own and was definitely glad for it. like you said, the colors came out how i wanted them and i could waste as much ink and paper as i could afford without it digging too much into the most important resource: time.

i also went with the wire-o binding, done by our "friends" at kinko's. it's cheap, hard to screw up (just make sure you leave enough gutter space), and reviewers will likely appreciate functionality over originality in this area.

loac -- you can trust kinko's on the wire-o. despite my initial trepidation, they did a good job.

hey -

does anyone know the address to send portfolios to princeton? i hate the way this obvious data is missing from everything i have read!

better yet, can anyone direct me to where the address can be found in their literature?

thanks.

i printed my portfolio at home too. when i visited the schools' open houses in november, almost everyone has a 11x17 printer, so i thought it might be a good investment anyway. plus it was convenient to check colors and lineweights using your own.

nope, not mine boomba. I've just found that some people don't know the difference between spiral and wire-o and figured I'd better browse google for an illustration.

Alan-

it's simple (i just checked their website)

Princeton University School of Architecture
Princeton, NJ 08544

fin

Robust84-

are you sure? I sent it to some address that included 'clio hall' or something..

they say that you should send it to the graduate admissions office, not the school of architecture..

perhaps it doesnt really matter, but thats what the webpage says.

About my portfolio, I finally printed out two copies of it, and Im really happey that I printed it myself.

it takes around 5 hours per copy for printing and an hour for sewing.

and about the sewing, I am glad that it turned out to be not that difficult as I thought. It opens COMPLETELY FLAT with NO GUTTERS! AWESOME!

Alan and Robust-

maybe im wrong about that address part...

dont listen to what I said...

I dunno where to send it for Princeton. The generic university graduate admission stuff said Clio hall, but it for some reason sounds more reasonable to me to send it to the architecture school.

actually, i have no idea.
the Princeton grad school web page says:


Application for Admission

All sections of the application must be completed and submitted by the deadline in order for the application to be considered. Your application will be submitted electronically to our office—do not send us a printed copy of the Web application. If you are submitting a paper application, it must be mailed directly to the Office of Graduate Admission. Do not mail applications or materials to the academic departments or faculty.

Oh, and plus,

the admissions office of Princeton said that material received at 2nd of january will be counted as received on time..
if anyone didnt know..

good luck everyone!

jeez, are there any other people here that aren't applying to any ivy leagues? It seems like it's princeton-this, GSD-that... Is anyone applying to a really unique, unexpected school that seems like it would really work for you for reasons other than reputation?

i know sciarc isn't unexpected, and everyone applies there as their other west coast school, but it's definitely my fit. Or at least I feel that way right now from what I know. It has this really high energy, creative buzz about it, and I like how focused it is on the theoretical aspects of architecture. I come from a studio art background and so far sciarc seems like the only program that will really full fledgedly allow me to incorporate my passion into a profession (the other programs would allow this too), but sciarc definitely takes the cake for me. Im still applying to some ivies, but feel I would be much happier at sciarc. But i'll be thankful when I get in anywhere. take meeeeeeeeeeee!

"full fledgedly" -- well put. i definitely have to use that somewhere.

i'm not applying to any ivies, but primarily because i'm on the west coast and not in a position to relocate. there are also about 120,000 other reasons i can think of.

I don't think any of my schools count as Ivy, do they rationalist? But they are not shabby either. I mean, if they had a program that I wanted and were in a city, I gave them full consideration, and none of the ivies fit that bill....

So I have bad news. My back-up recommender is too busy to write me back-up recommendations! And I have no idea if my original recommender is even finished with the ones that she said she would do. I guess I could call. But anyway, I guess that means that U of Minn is out for me. Their deadline is in 2 weeks - heck, their deadline for assistantships already passed - and I was never seriously considering going there. So what's the point right? And I've still got the other 4. I have to get into at least one of those, right? Why am I so worried still?

I guess not, technically. I guess I just consider Bartlett and the AA sort of 'overseas ivies'.

Sorry for the little ivy rant then. I was mistaken. It just occasionally seems that the architecture world is a bit ivy-centric, and it makes me sad. Glad to see everyone making balanced decisions!

this probably isn't news to most, but there are 8 schools that officially comprise the ivy league:

brown
cornell
yale
harvard
princeton
penn
columbia
dartmouth

not that it makes it right, but i can see how architectural grad school conversations get "ivy-centric" since 6 of the 8 have what are widely considered top-tier programs. but that's a whole 'nother debate that's beaten to death here.

dubK -- sorry to hear you're having such troubles with recommenders.

really...if you don't think you'll have time to do it when it needs to be done, don't accept the solicitation in the first place!! lame.