I like the layout and how renderings/photos are placed on 2 pages. How are you planning to print/bind this? Also, shadows of people in your renderings are off. For stair details and other detail pages, did you try call outs?

All the people except for one rendering are done using cut outs in the digital model itself.  I'm not certain what call outs are...?  I appreciate you taking a look!

thenewintern was refering to calling out materials in you details.

i.e. a note such as "conctete stair tread" with an arrow pointing to it.

yup that's what I meant when i said call-outs. I was referring to page 15 rendering shadows. Do you know about the photo filter tool in Photoshop? Try out warm color ones it will make your rendering look even better. Usually I even fix the people in my rendering according to the shade and shadow. Lets say for ex. a person is standing under street light then i use dodge tool to make their head lighter and i use burn or a very transparent black brush (turn down the hardness) and I paint over the person. It gives a little more depth. . .

Building on page 24 (facade design) is floating, i think a ground line would help. page 9, section is nice, why not make it  bigger so it doesn't look tiny compared to plans.

I'm not sure if its necessarily ideal to have breather pages for each of your projects. i myself used a lot of breather pages for projects that weren't very elaborate. My professors simply told me to fit everything in two pages per project. just a suggestion. 

I was just look for an old post of mine and i came across this. I just saw your updated portfolio on issuu. it looks great! good job!!

@newintern

Thanks for looking at my updated portfolio.  I think it makes my initial version look a little rough.

Here is the link for anyone else who wants to chime in!

Issuu

I would exclude the guitars. I'm assuming they're not your designs, and even if they are, they are still under the brand of fender. You really only want YOUR original work that displays YOUR ability to design. They're also only line drawings, not really showcasing your true ability to draw very well. Even simple sketches and field notes would probably be a more powerful way to show your character through drawing.

I would also think about the quote in the beginning. I'm not suggesting removing it, but it is the very first thing a reader would say, therefore it is setting the tone for your portfolio. Are you answering that question through the projects/images/text you've include? Again just a rhetorical question.

Overall, I like the simplistic lay out and cleanliness in your renderings and drawings. Good work for sure.

i think its really good.  the layout is good, you're clearly a very talented designer, and you have a couple nice tectonic details in there. agree with the others on using only your work.  this will get you a job.

I like that you carried a design theme throughout, but I'm not a fan of the Title Font that you use throughout.  I like that you used a font to announce each project, but your name is so important and I really couldn't make McWaters out of that until the resume (which was unfortunately placed at the back).

Cut the Table of Contents... you'll save money.  That, and you want people to "journey" through your design concepts, not go straight to the page that sounds the most interesting.

Cut down on the Text... a lot of paragraphs doing the work your drawings should be doing.

I think you have some interesting items to present, but there is no order or arrangement to it.  It's almost like "I have all these cool photos, I can't choose my favorite so I'll just throw them all on there."  I had an existing theme running through my portfolio based on the number 3... three pictures, three colors, three fonts, 3 pages per project and I stuck to that religiously.

Personally, I like an intro page to each project... it's a great opportunity to showcase a model or rendering you put a lot of effort into.  It also helped carry the color theme for the next section where I showed Section cuts in black and white but a scaled object in that section's color.

Lastly, the Site locations are a little distracting.  I think you have something important to show on pages 16 and 17 (which you need to ditch the numbering system), but there is a girl with a ton of make up drawing my attention from the two blonds in the corner.

@JayCon

I truly appreciate your critique...quite in depth.

Two questions

Do you think my drawings have the ability to eliminate some of the text?

Are you using the "girl with a ton of make up drawing my attention from the two blonds in the corner" as a metaphor? I'm a little unclear about that.

Again, thanks for putting your time into this!

 - Cyclist

Do you think my drawings have the ability to eliminate some of the text?

Definitely, and it has to.  Images speak louder than words.  You can show more in a drawing than you can describe in a paragraph.  In an image, I can see scale, purpose/intent, location, importance, features, etc.  I love the example of an iphone.  Show of hands, who read the manual to turn it on? 

Another good example is the trimmer I bought this weekend.  I didn't read a paragraph that represented the trimmer, I saw an image with 3 fonts... A large font showing the Company, a slightly smaller font naming the product, and a third, smaller font with 3 bullet points: "Trimmer/edger," "battery powered," "3 year warrantee."  The assembly was easy to understand too, all pictures.  The only lettering was leaders referencing the first image.

Are you using the "girl with a ton of make up drawing my attention from the two blonds in the corner" as a metaphor? I'm a little unclear about that.

Again, thanks for putting your time into this!

it was a metaphor... not my best, but what I was preaching was design harmony.  My attention was completely drawn to the site map.  First, it's the largest item, which inadvertently makes me think it's the most important (big fish in a small pond).  It also has all of these attention grabbing colors and in all honesty, I'm not sure what you're actually  trying to show me or how that image is so critical to the overall design that it takes precedence. 

I see yellows, pinks, blues, and I gather that I'm looking at a map, but what I'm not doing is looking at the previous sketches on the page just before it.  I would bet there is far more, and important, information going on in the previous drawings to better describe your design intent, however my attention is completely captured by the less informative, larger image on the opposite page.  Anyone who has seen the Drew Carey show will remember Mimi, but for the life of me, I can't remember Drew's brunette girlfriend.  Was it Kate?  I don't remember, all I can think about is the lady with all the crazy make up.

Pretty excellent and clean folio, impressive work, and great mix of technical and design knowledge.

I'm a big fan of the second page with the hospital.  It's all about the big money shot!