I don't get it. What's so weird about their application process?

eh - don't listen to me, I'm on no sleep. I said something stupid, and I regret it.

-to

geez.. i pretty much fucked up my gsd application. for some reason the damn thing wouldn't submit and when it finally worked, it was two minutes past 12.

Did it really not let you submit? Damn.

-andrew

2 down... I can relax a little.

Next deadline, Jan 15th.

lol, well its funny now.. just got a confirmation email that says that i submitted my application at 12:00:03. so it was three seconds late.

the reality is that none of these programs are going to look at anything until the new year anyways.

And the process is always behind for whatever reason, "we recieved an extraordinary number of applications this year..."

-andrew

why would they make the deadline on a saturday? it's not like they are there in the office this weekend collecting all of the applications. hah

Whoever invented december deadlines should have their fingernails ripped Syriana stylz! Like what the EFF? They won't even look at them until feb anyways, its just dastardly! Especially for those still in school just wrapping up finals and stuff. All schools should have deadlines set at Jan 15!

DASTARDLY!

i concur.

those bastards.

Penn was my top choice as an undergrad...but after looking at their student work, and columbia's....not so much. If you're into that sort of thing (Surfacey McSurface), good for you, not me though.

Penn was my top choice as an undergrad...but after looking at their student work, and columbia's....not so much. If you're into that sort of thing (Surfacey McSurface), good for you, not me though.

oh shait...a reply to a previous post, disregard

OKAY - Really important question.

Went to pick up my portfolio today - and all of my dark grays look bluish. HELP - HOW DO I GET RID OF IT. the guy at the copy place said to try to make the color look darker.. and i said - HUH? its a goddamn charcoal drawing. make itlook gray.

so - does anyone have any advice? i refuse to let it be. i need to fix this asap. i'm using photoshop and indesign if that makes a difference

thanks ;)
-Nora

This is probably the most difficult part of printing IMO or I may just not know how to go about fixing it, BUT you can try to overcompensate using Photoshop by increasing green and yellow hues. You can also ask the guy to try different color profiles.

What are you giving the print shop? PDF or native files?

Leave it, the schools might see it as a statement on the authenticity of hand drawing..sorry, no clue man. Im guessing it has something to do with your RGB/CMYK files not liking your greyscale images within. Try a better printing company

Ah.. thanks for the link.

I still don't know what to do. This is the second time my print job came out like garbage - and it may be my settings in Indesign because i mean, for it to come out bad TWICE - it definitely has to be me.


The print place I used asked me to send it in a PDF file. Would it print differently if they printed it straight out of indesign?


ALSO, they gave me a hard time about printing back to back- saying that it comes out bad because it doesn't align properly. ugh.

noritabonita-
make sure that the linked file that you worked on in photoshop is grey scale and not cmyk. if its cmyk (or rgb) the printer will mix the ink differently to get the gray value. if it's truly a gray scale image then it should print properly.

I think that last comment is a testament to the crappiness of the company you're using...try ABC, thats what im using, a bit more expensive, but they seem to know what they're doing...good luck

Thanks guys! - I am going to switch it to grayscale now...

hmmm abc? are they in ny? i was going to check out print icon w18 but at this point i don't care how much i spend on wasted prints. i want this to come out as perfect as possible..

"it comes out bad because it doesn't align properly." what does that mean? the vast majority of book/portfolio printing is double sided anymore. any printing company that can't handle printing a double sided document has serious issues. i think lulu is a pretty legit option if you're scraping for something... I'm currently setting up a document for my studio work this fall that i'm going to have them print.

Id be surprised if they werent in NY...the good news: you're in NY! There's GOT to be a good printing place nearby. I feel the same way, I dont care at this point how much I drop, I just want it done RIGHT, which seems hard to do.

I just spent 70 bucks on a test print (aka my princeton portfolio) that I pickup from ABC tomorrow..fingers crossed

careful with lulu by the way...a girl at my work just got her portfolio back, everything was fine EXCEPT this blue background she had printed shit brown for no apparent reason. Also, I went to lulu to try and print my 11 x 8.5 (landscape) format, and guess what? They dont do that orientation...letter is not standard enough I guess.

norita... getting it to align properly on double-sided prints are tough, even from professional places. i did mine at eastside copy on 13th and 5th avenue. it was pretty pretty close to perfect.

w3 - yeah you should have seen my face/reaction...I went after work just to pick up my test run.. it was such a bad mix, i was tired and cranky cause i was up since 530 am and at work until 6. then they were about to act like double sided printing was some far fetched phenomenon. hahah...

asbuck - yeah its the holiday season AND application time. i'm going to be in serious trouble, especially since I am studying abroad in Jan.

blah, i already printed from lulu. it came out bad. they didn't cut the paper evenly, and they were all different lengths... it was so bad that when it was closed you could see how uneven it was.

HAHAHA dj, i went therefor this. this is the place i am talking about

maybe the kid who helped me was just lazy...

so disappointing becuase i know other people who have gone to them too and have had gotten pretty good results. hm, who knows.

Ok, maybe this is not relevant to this thread, but seriously, all you people printing your portfolios with lulu/kinkos/your epson from '02; wtf are you thinking? This is the most important document you can possibly submit to a school and you are letting some assclown from who-knows-where print it? Asbuckey07 has the idea. Seriously, this is not something to fuck around with or try to save money on. It can get expensive, but you are already cutting a check to a school for $100 or whatever for "application fees"... spend an extra $50 and get a real portfolio.

And if "your print standards aren't that high", then I'd reconsider architecture as a life pursuit.

-andrew

From my experience you need to find someone at those places who knows what they're doing...hard to do, but they're there trust me. I had to teach the guy doing my quote how to multiply.

yeah good post rabbits. architecture is often about spending a bit extra ($ and effort) to get it right...this is just an example of that.

i completely agree.. can't be stingy. i am going to have to sit with them and watch them make every single portfolio. its the only way it will come out well.

i will be annoying and yell at them for every little thing. HAHA.

did you try test printing your portfolio before you sent it out to print shops...?

I have a specific question for those of you that are completing or having completed a portfolio for Harvard GSD.

The instructions state that 'In addition, the applicant’s name, date of project, and a statement of whether the project was academic, office-related, or personal should be included on each page.'

If the portfolio contains multiple pages of the same project, do we really have to include the date of the project, our name, and whether or not the project was academic or professional? In my case, all but one project was academic, and adding what seems like 'footers' is going to cause me to have to reformat my portfolio.

Any light on this issue would be great. Thanks!

no, just at the beginning

Thanks DJ.

Also, what are most of you doing for portfolio covers? I realize that it is a personal preference and depends on the content, but what do you think looks better: a simple cover with the name of the applicant, program to which they are applying, etc, or a graphic statement (such as an image of a project, or some designed element (other than typography, etc.)? I keep doing different iterations, but they seem sort of pretentious (ie giving the work a title.)

I'd like to hear some opinions on portfolio covers. Thanks!

my portfolio cover is very simple. photo i took and my name. i didn't really think about it until now, but i guess you could put the program as well. seems like, though, they would be all separated out into what program before admissions even looks at it. so i don't think it's necessary.

and with this whole printing thing - while it does look a lot better on better quality, in the end - a good print is not going to be what gets you in.

i printed this beautiful, beautiful copy of my portfolio last year from one of those epson 19x13 printers on some beautiful photo paper. and it looked great (not necessarily the content!). the color was perfect.

and guess what? i didn't get in.

and the crappier one i printed off on lower quality paper and the color wasn't nearly as good (but not terrible). i got in.

just wanted to relate my experience. take what you want from it.

i've gotten to look at portfolios of people accepted to schools and honestly, they all looked really beat up. and some looked maybe like they might have been printed nicer than others, but - probably like admissions, i noticed more of the content than what it was printed on.

on another note - i went and met with my mentor last night and he really liked my portfolio! said it had come a long way from last year. in fact, he wanted me to send him a copy so he could show people what a good portfolio looks like! granted he's not in the academic field, but it's always nice to hear something good. i thought he'd have a lot of comments and i'd be redoing some stuff right before the deadlines.

when you guys get into school, look into getting a mentor. in some areas, the aia has a group called the young architects forum. you don't have to be a part of the aia to do this. my local chapter had a program where you could meet up with architects in the area and talk with them. it's been really helpful in providing me with direction, feedback, etc. esp. good when you'll be looking for internships in the summer - they usually know who's hiring and good places to work.

anyone going to post their portfolio??? i'm debating.

i may post my portfolio but i'll have to take out 1 of 3 segments, since i may get in trouble if some work goes public

oooh taboo portfolio...post it

norabonita: Do you have Officedepot on NY? As a last resort, I actually gave them a shot and it came out surprisingly well. Alignment was fine too and if they're not busy they do it on the spot. It's about $1.20 per page, but I brought my own paper since OfficeDepot is limited in options. I was lucky to find a store that sells only printing paper and their inventory is amazing.

If any print shop gives you shit about aligment, then move on. A good print shop will have experience printing double-sided prints (ie calendars).



Our portfolios submissions are almost a crapshoot. Think about it, you will have different people on the admissions committee almost every year. I'm sure they have certain guidelines to follow, but when it comes to your actual work (including the portfolio layout) it's going to be subjective, like any piece of work we will do throughout our academic career. Then you're also competing with different people every year. One year yours might be the best thing they've seen, the next year they throw it out at first glance.

Lets take Berkeley for example. They prefer to have their portfolios stapled at one corner. This signifies to me that they're not interested in the quality of bind, thus the quality of print is not a heavy factor. They want to see the content in an easy fashion. They want an additional Personal History statement, which is another important part of the application. This signifies to me that they really want to get to know the applicant.

Another example, UCLA. Think about where the school is situated - Los Angeles, a city where outter appearance is important. It takes a certain mentality to live and love LA, and the school's faculty is no exception. Here, binding is important and so is the quality of print. In essence, they want someone who looks good on paper. (My comment is not an indication of what I think about the program itself).

Last year, I got into RISD and Syracuse. As I was revamping my portfolio for this year's applications I noticed many spelling errors. I think you see where I'm going with this.

I say, know your school, do your best, make sure it looks nice, conveys your work in a legible and clean fashion; and don't forget the details.

"Lets take Berkeley for example. They prefer to have their portfolios stapled at one corner. This signifies to me that they're not interested in the quality of bind, thus the quality of print is not a heavy factor. They want to see the content in an easy fashion. They want an additional Personal History statement, which is another important part of the application. This signifies to me that they really want to get to know the applicant."

or....they want to rip out the one/two pages they give a shit about and forget about the rest. probably the latter.

I don't mind posting my portfolio from 11/20/07. I have made a few aesthetic changes since then so this is not my final draft: http://trafati.googlepages.com/Portfolio9x7v3NL.pdf

View it in 2-page mode to see the full spread.

Haha, ok, or that.

thats a nice portfolio...I like the simplicity and the ambiguity of it. Its good for someone without an arch background to take the route you did. Also, I sort of dont feel bad not reading your text because it doesnt seem like it would matter. A good thing, as admin boards probably dont enjoy reading too much.

also, your name is tofan rafati? I would let you in on that name alone

nice port afrdzak. i agree with buckeye about the text; from all my sources, layout and pacing is MUCH more important than text (you can even get away with mediocre content here and there if it's nicely presented)

Thanks asbuckeye07.

Maybe I should just submit a cover to them with my name in large, bold font, positioned strategically, heh.

Actually, I had a lot more text in last year's submission.

And thank you too absolutalden.

I would like to give my props to those on archinect who critiqued my portfolio.

Meh, I've submitted my apps to UCLA and Berk and I'm already nervous. 3-month wait is lame.

wow, the more i look at this, the more it looks like mine! the drawings accompanied by the 'icons' (paperclip, feather...) is especially similar. great minds think alike?