Just to clarify you're not graduating to 2008 and this is your portfolio for getting a job, this is your portfolio to apply to enter school in 2008 correct? I only ask because I thought you were done with school and I was thinking... where's the architecture?

Overall I like the layout. My only criticism are sort of minor.

- Table of contents with page numbers but most of the pages aren't numbered... kind of a pet peeve of mine. I know it's not as clean with the numbered pages and it's not a big thing I just find it annoying when I'm trying to relate the two and you have to count through the pages to figure out what page you're on. Also in this case there is little additional info in the table of contents that isn't in the project section. You could just get rid of the table of contents and add the media and size info to the project.

- I may be slow but I haven't really figured out your math equation yet or it's significance:

brad + paper binder + feather? = x
and then latter in the portfolio x = The Escape

This is all under "Creative Process" so I guess these were all these objects that influenced that image (was that an assignment)? Should they be separated by "Lifeline"? I kind of like the formula on the Creative Process page (rather than having just the title), but I might put "The Escape" on the next two pages? I dunno, I saw the x so I flipped back...

Anyway kind of small things.

alot of blank space, i would suggest compressing

i'd keep the rotation of images uniform throughout

is this going to be submitted as printed and bound or will it remain in pdf format?. if it will be printed and bound then on page 8 (or 9 in the pdf format) the "X" is too close to the left edge...same with page 10: the texts are too close to where the binding will be.

master in architecture | 2008...the symbol in between seems inconsistent

i think the word "contents" is too close to the edge of the page. same with "creative process" on the next page.

what's up with that lone sketch on page 21?...the same image appears on the next page...so i'd get rid of page 21

each page is very well composed, but i would have to agree with apurimac. you only have about a dozen relatively small projects over 32 pages.

although i like the compositions of the subsections, i would consider taking a different approach that doesnt requie a full spread. if each subsection had a larger body of work it would work better, but when you have a title spread, and then only one spread of work behind it, it starts to feel like a lot of filler.

you can pretty easily combine spreads 2,3,4 into one spread.

great sketches btw.

this is a really great portfolio.

i did ask myself, "where is the architecture/design?" but the absence can be justified if you are applying for the march program, and not graduating from it (hence presenting this to an employer.)

what program did you use to create it?

nice.

i don't mind the blank space. i was expecting architecture somehow, based on the title, but i guess this is an application to study march at ucla + not the fruits thereof...?

it looks like a semester of pre-arch study to me. nicely presented. the dwgs and so on show some technical abilities. the line project is clever but maybe the only project to show how you might tackle a project as an individual...

only critical comment i have is about the text describing the projects. it is a bit irelavant at times, and says the same thing many times over in parts...in this sense doesn't match the minimalist layout. if you are being reductive, why not reduce text too? doesn't have t be haiku, but maybe pretend you are robert frost...

psycho-mullet: This is my application portfolio into the M.Arch program. I have no prior experience in Architecture so I'm using only the work I've completed in prior art classes.

I am going to have saddle stitch binding which will permit me to have objects close to the edge, in effect combing two pages into one. Think of the two pages as one and look at it as a whole. Which is why it's important to be viewing the portfolio in two-page mode.

I do agree with the page numbers, but I can't help to feel that it ruins the frame. Intuitively they shouldn't be there, but for practicality they should. However, I just realized that if I'm going to have a table of contents with page numbers I should have each page numbered as well.

As for the equation. This subsection is from my creative process class. Think of the equation as the "process" and X being the "creative" final result. It's sort of a teaser. I got an idea from you though. Maybe in place of "x" I should have "The Escape" and instead of "X=" I should have the equation again. This might make it clearer. I also don’t like the fact that it’s the 2nd project shown after Lifeline, but I wanted to put my most interesting piece first.

damson: this will be printed out and stitched with saddle stitch binding. This should convince you that the objects are not too close (read response to psycho-mullet.

The symbol is actually roman numeral “I”. UCLA has a M.Arch I and M.Arch II. I'm applying for M.Arch I and need to state that.

The lone sketch on page 21 is not the same as the other page although they are the same style contour sketch.

the setting of your name on the front page really bothers me. Why is 'PORTFOLIO' eating up your first name, if you've got the room to put a space between your first and last names? Your first and last names belong no further away from each other than your first name and 'PORTFOLIO' do.

on the table of contents, you don't necessarily have to list the whole range of pages for each piece, you can just say what page it starts on.

I LOVE the look of the cover page for the 'basic design' section, and it makes me wish the 'creative process' cover page were more like it. They don't have to be *alike* persay, but they don't look like they were done by the same designer right now. Same with the 'drawing and compostion page, now that I look at it. It may be as simple as using photos of these drawings that cast a little shadow on the background surface instead of using clean scans of them where you can't see the boundaries. The 'freehand drawing' intro page is better again... there's somewhat of a tactile quality to the lines there that tie it into the good page earlier on.

It also bothers me that some of your drawings are shown sideways. Some of them it doesn't matter on, but others just look strange.



The piece with the spacemen and the ostriches and SUVs just doesn't do anything for me. I'm sorry, the rest makes sense, and that doesn't seem like grad level work, but like someone that is just figuring out what photoshop can do. Some of your other pieces are very nice, and it's obvious that you've worked hard on the portfolio as a whole, but I just don't think that piece belongs in it.

oops...maybe i should ask: what is the lone sketch on page 21 communicating that the sketches on the next page aren't?

aside from the details aforementioned, I think it is a beautiful collection of your design and art works.

since you bared all...I commend you...it should do just fine....I am envious that i haven't had the guts, as of yet

dammson, I figured that what the lone sketch was communicating was as a part to the whole (remember that these pages are side by side), giving the 'drawing & composition' title page the same asymmetrical balance as the other title pages.

don't say things like "this project has to do with..." that's really poor style. come up with a more elegant way to introduce it. i can't think of anything good off the top of my head, maybe something like "this project explores..." or "this project examines..."

Yeah I hadn't really read the text yet, I agree, I'd almost avoid the word project, in some situations I think you can just drop it out completely:

"The objective in this project was to creat..."
"The objective was to create...."

If it has a name maybe substitute "This project examines..." with "Lifeline examines...."

just say what it is. introductions are not necessary. that is the lesson from journalist rem.

i dont understand need for rational text introducing a fundamentally irational process. it feels slightly forced. more irrational text would be lovely. unless it was HYPER-rational...which is a certain kind of baroque attitude as funky as organic design.

minor point though. i have habit of reading text. lots of people don't.

i dig it

Frankly I've never understood why anyone needs a table of contents in a portfolio (and especially not in a 30 page one!). It's not like anyone's ever going to actually open up your portfolio and then go, "oh that's right, I only need to see X, I'll just skip over to page 8 here instead of going through 1-7." It just ain't gonna happen. Therefore, a list of contents is fine, but just leave the numbers off--remember, it isn't really the same idea as a chapter book.

jump:

Which text specifically do you feel is irrelevant and/or redundant? As I see it, some projects do need explanation as some of my work is not so obvious as to what they are about.

higherness: InDesign for the layout and Photoshop for everything else.

Rationalist: I might agree with the title. I’ll play around with it a little more. I’ve made the changes to the page numbers. I do agree that having the two pencil drawings horizontally breaks up the reading flow, but if I lay them vertically it will reduce the size tremendously. Do you think that this is ok? I originally had them laid out horizontally full-bleed (covering the entire page).

Chase Dammtor & psycho-mullet: Thanks for your inputs and I agree. I will make the appropriate changes.

jump: you're way over my head with the rational/irrational text bit. Taking the journalism cours(es) has made you nit-picky ;-)

myriam: IMHO a ToC is a formality and I feel that it helps organize the portfolio. I come from a IT/business background so I can't help it. But I will consider taking it out.

This is good, keep it coming. I think after this I will be 110% complete and happy with my portfolio.

good question.

my answer is one of personal taste, so freely ignore as rubbish, but for me all of the descriptions of the assignments are uncessary, or too long. the works speaks very well for itself. since this is a minimalist presentation the text should be equally so - unless you have something really impt to say...

some of the description are kind of naive and over elaborate (for my taste).

ie, with the surrealist image:

Objects are perceived immediately as having a certain size, that
is as lying somewhere between a grain of salt and a mountain.
No object is perceived as unique or isolated. Seeing something
involves assigning it a place in the whole: a location in space, a
score on the scale of size or brightness or distance.

doesn't communicate any idea to me beyond the obvious one that objects exist in space and we perceive them contextually.

The objective in this project was to create a surrealistic landscape
or an interior which is believable as a real and a deep space. I began
by collaging photographic imagery on my paper leaving plenty
of white space, and completed the composition by painting. This
meant mixing the right colors to make the images blend well
with the photographic images I pasted. Using various distance
gradients and my knowledge of linear perspective, I was to create
an illusionistic space which provides plenty of depth illusion, while
bringing together a bizarre set of events (as it happens in dreams).

this text tells us you did a good job because of your technical knowledge. you are quite emphatic about it, but why tell us what we can decide for ourselves? the picture communicates your technical skills already...

to me, the text tells us very little about your own intentions and more about what your teacher wanted you to do. but since this is your portfolio i would much rather read about the content and not the technique. the table of contents tells us what the project is, and that is enough for me...if you include text at all i would really be more interested in reading about what the piece is about. if it is about technique then maybe write a poem about technique...i don't know....just something more interesting than my professor made me do it kind of thing.

text in the other projects are kind of the same. slightly simplistic (if not redundant) announcements that the world more or less exists, then a description of what the professor told you to do. but the works are much better than that, so i think you picked up on the professor's ideas and ran with them on your own. that individual process of creativity within framework of the project is what interests me...if you don't feel comfortable writing that, then i would go for enigmatic text as graphics like you did with the first project. it is fuzzy maybe, but not boring.

having said all that, like i said these are minor points and the work stands on its own regardless of text. so it is pretty safe to ignore all of the above. i wouldn't even have bothered if you hadn't asked.

re: myriam: IMHO a ToC is a formality and I feel that it helps organize the portfolio. I come from a IT/business background so I can't help it. But I will consider taking it out.

Yeah, definitely consider it. It always smacks of overkill to me in what is essentially a pamphlet. It will not be used, and it's cuasing you awkward problems, so I say ditch it. I always find portfolios strongest when they limit themselves to only the super strong, essential items. I wouldn't include anything that might give someone a reason to pause.

Also, just a word of caution, as I too did a spread-leafed portfolio: leave yourself a few days to test and retest your printing process, whatever it is, because you are likely to get as much as 1/8" page travel when you print and with back-to-back printed pages and flat binding you have no room for error on the margin travel. (Sorry if this sounds like gobbledy-gook--if I'm not making sense let me know and I'll come back to clarify.)

Make sure you very carefully set up your marks and bleeds so that if your pages DO travel, you are able to overcome it as neatly as possible in your cropping. What you're trying to do is wayyyyyy trickier than it seems. (Trust me on this one!) If you've never done it before I would ask a trusted mom-and-pop printer shop to help you with it, or failing that, see if you can find an online InDesign tutorial or pointers on how to set all this up properly. Otherwise you may find yourself very stressed at the very end.

ok so I don't care what anyone else has posted, not even gonna read em... but your layout is great! great use of space and blank space; it adds a breath of fresh air. the images/fonts are very well done. consider having your text revised... it doesn't always read well. you sometime jump around with 'you' 'we' and 'our' etc. do you have more work to add? it felt a bit brief. also, one last thing: the title 'portfolio' doesn't say anything about YOU... UCLA is extremely competitive! so good luck!!

ps... find a GOOD printing company!!!!

I'm going to do my first test with www.lulu.com They've been recommended by a couple of people. They print and bind for a relatively good price. Does anyone know of any alternatives? Or I hope I can find someone local that's not Kinokos or Staples.

myriam: I did manage to find InDesign tutorials and I've been using bleed margins and page settings appropriately. I'm going to start the initial the printing tests very, very soon.

cityboy9: I have more work, but these are among my best. I will be revising my text as well.

I was thinking about using lulu.com also. I checked out their site and the terms and conditions, and it looks like using them to print your work entitles them to post it electronically...?....or did I misread?

just thought it was worth mentioning so you don't end up making things more public than you'd like.

I think they do post what you have, but only a preview that consists of lower resolution images of the first few pages. You can do a search for "architecture portfolios" and go through tons of other people's work.

Wait a minute, are you printing these as two-page spreads on ONE piece of paper, or on two separate pieces of paper (across the binding)?

afrdzak... i think your portfolio is great. I am also applying to M. Arch I programs in Jan, however - I do not have strong art bkgrd, just a minor in art. If i could make one suggestion, it would be to try to condense it down a little. 32pgs is a lot - I know Upenn has a requirement of no more than 20 pgs.. but then again, I am not applying to UCLA so the requirements are probably different.

noritabonita: Thanks. I attended the UCLA open house one of the faculty members, also on the review committee, said not to get too lengthy (more than about 30 pages of work). He added that they go through many, many portfolios and the work needs to entertain/keep their interest. However, contradictory to this statement, they allowed us to leaf through a few portfolios of students that have been accepted and there were more than a few that exceeded this limitation by a lot. Someone mentioned that they saw a portfolio with 100+ pages. So what I've concluded that the requirements set on their websites are guidelines and not rules. Keep their interest, show your best, and make sure that they can leaf through it easily and comfortably.

myriam: I think with saddle stitch binding they will have to be printed out as two-page spreads on one piece of paper. It's up to LuLu.com. Check this out: http://www.lulu.com/en/products/portfolios/

Works for me.

Oh! in that case, leave it be. its awesome. I think its very creative and shows your personality. What kind of academic background are you coming from?

I got my Bachelor's in Information Systems.

they do indeed, afrdzak. Just making sure you knew that, and you're accounting for printing double page size. that's all. :)

Nice, I like it..

afrdzak-what font is that, helvetica?

smellen: Myriad Pro.

Everyone: I want to thank you all for piercing your critical eye into my portfolio. I've made some suggested changes and am still working on a couple more. I'll post the revised and hopefully final version this weekend.

thanks!

I really like your portfolio. I too am applying to M Arch (3+) programs, and its nice to see some non-design portfolio. Your presentation is incredible. I am especially drawn to the chapter pages with the paint swatches and sketches on it. i also love the organization of text, you have a great eye for that.

what i think you could think about is the organization. while i agree with others that it could be condensed, the chapters is what is throwing me more. the drawings are spaced out over 2 different chapters and i dont think you need to do that considering have 4 drawings, they can all be in one chapter.

also, once i have my portfolio together, i would like to send it to you in a pdf if you are interested, i'm not bold enough to post it here, but having a second opinion would be nice. and perhaps we can discuss cover options because i remain undecided as well. it looks great!

hey smellen.. can I join in on that too? haha, it would be great to get some feedback - especially since this is the first time i am ever making a portfolio.

smellen: I wouldnt mind looking over it, but I think you could get a much varied response from our peers here as some have a very good critical eye. Plus, I have my own style as you can see. Either way, msg me when you're ready.

i was thinking about printing my portolio on lulu.com as well.

I've got full bleed photos and some of them cross over the pages (5.5"x8" laid side by side for full spreads of 5.5"x16") . I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with how well this works? I've got some text crossing over too and I'm wondering if it will get swallowed up in the crease?

I like the full bleed and crossover, but when I first printed them and handmounted the pages it was quite a bitch to make it all line up look good.

jumphigh: if you have access, print a full spread onto a A3 10x17" and crop. BTW, LuLu has only a few predefined sizes they can print out. The closest thing to yours is 9x7.

yeah, I would have to reformat it to a different size, but I was wondering if it would distort the bleeds very much? Its about 40 pages.

jumphigh, if you are printing back to back on separate pages full bleed across the binding, you will have a bitch of a time getting your front and back sides to align at the same time. If you are printing single-sided, and perhaps then gluing the pages back-to-back, you will have slightly less of a problem, but it will still be a lot of work and might run the risk of looking homemade.

even more problematic for you will be the binding method: if you are edge-binding your cut pages, there will be very little paper surface exposed to the glue at the edge (no matter how careful your binding professional is). Some pages may even not get any glue on them from the start. This means that your portfolio begins to fall apart after 1-2 showings. In an interview setting, this is ok (but not ideal), because YOU yourself are handling the portfolio, it's sitting on a desk, and you are showing it only one time, slowing, and you are in control of the process. Plus you have the time between interviews to go and have it re-bound / re-printed.

IF YOU ARE SENDING YOUR PORTFOLIO OUT, you will not have control over how it gets passed around from admissions officer to admissions officer, and I can guarantee you the pages will begin to fall out (and possibly get lost) after the first person rifles through it.

You are much, much better off finding a way to print on one continuous page and use a staple binding like afrdzak is doing. Even if this means reformatting your page size. Trust me on this one.

i speak from experience as my portfolio has been set up like this for a few years now and i've had to print and reprint it a number of times. this method is very time-consuming to print, apart from the issues w/ the binding. it does look good, though.

and yes, the bleeds jump all over the place. i went to a bunch of print shops, worked with a number of professionals who went out of their way to spend lots of time with me trying to get it right, and you just can't get the machinery to have less than about a 1/16th to an 1/8" page float. Once again this is manageable if you are printing single sided. If you are printing double sided though the back and the front will not quite align. So you have to pick which one to crop to, to create your bleeds-across-the-bindings.

thanks myriam

I did do print them out, page at a time single sided, then ran them through a machine that gives it a peel back sticky mount, and then mounted them front and back on the pages of a book that i made. First I did it out of paper backing, but after a few interviews the creases tore the paper. so then i made another, and spent some more time so it didn't look as crafty, out of mylar sheets. That worked a lot better, though it still doesn't look like a professional print. The benefit was that I could edge the full bleed pages together at the crease so that the text and images lined up well and then two pages read together as one full spread.

I am loathe to go through that whole process for each grad school portfolio, thus why I ask about a printer. I'll reformat it to make it more standard for a printer, but I'd like to keep the full bleeds and overlapping pages if possible.

2 years in the making and finally done! Thank You Everyone and wish me luck.

http://trafati.googlepages.com/Portfolio9x7v3NL.pdf

(remember, 2-page up mode)