i quickly scanned through in about 30 seconds. you have some decent content, but the layout is very weak which undermines the the thought and process that most likely went into each of your projects. definately lose the "blueprint" font on your titles and i would also reformat (simplify) your pages; they're much too busy and crowded and there's no consistency or flow between them....

the work is quite interesting. the presentation is not of same quality.

to make things easy i would suggest a non-design approach to the layout. drop the cute fonts; use futura or something simple instead; place pictures simply, and very matter of factly, without overlap. don't be afraid of white space.

if you can arrange images to create a narrative would be great.

luck!

Page 1: Not striking enough. It needs to be one centered, sharp image, maybe against a black background with perhaps the CAD rendering beside or behind it, smaller, like in the style of a photo negative. Just one or two images at most. ‘COMPENDIUM” in a more stark font, maybe red against black. LESS IS MORE.

Page 2: Cut the photo on the right. Center the left photo, maybe keeping the “Fuck Darfur, Blaise is the….” Along the right-hand side. Again, all your information should be in the same simple, striking font.

Page 3: When looking at this one again it does seem a bit childish. I suggest cutting the blue print down to a smaller image, placed at either one of the four corners of the page, with “FALL 2007” in the same font yet to be determined, against a stark black background (or some sort of solid color, nonetheless, it needs to continue to be the same color of background continued throughout).

Page 4: Too much. Two images, at most, the original and the CAD rendering. Maybe continue the theme of putting one next to the other in the same “negative” theme found on the front page. The only true splash of color should be the small image on the upper right-hand side, which should be the same red you maybe use for the “COMPENDIUM” title on the front page? The key is continuity and fluidity.

Page 5: Same here. It looks like you’re desperately trying to throw as many images at them as possible to prove your fluency in the program- unnecessary, you’ve already done that in previous pages. Concentrate on where you want the eye to be directed initially, then secondarily, then tertiarily, etc. etc.

Page 6: Get rid of the image on the lower left-hand side. Grey as a background is not working, it’s drowning it all out.

Page 7: And again here. You need to figure out a way to continuously present these similar, yet decisively different images in a way that displays conformity, but not boredom.

Page 8: Ditto ditto ditto. If you want to display all these renderings Blaise then you should simply create more pages (more $$ I know but if you really feel that all of these are necessary then it’s just gonna have to be that way).

Page 9: This one should be the long shot of the image, with its CAD counterpart. Page 10 could then be a focus on the intricacies within the interior.

Page 10: This page is great, and embarks upon the most important and unique element of your entire portfolio. Now: how to keep the information presented while conforming the layout to mirror that which you will come up with to fix the previous pages. Otherwise the whole thing seems disjointed. You’re not just shifting gears here but stopping and getting into an entirely different car. That’s unacceptable, and gives the whole thing an “immature” feeling about it.

Page 11: I think that this page would be stronger if you moved the geographical renderings to the bottom of the page, below the photo, and again integrated the text into the blue of the sky (or whatever background you decide)

Page 12: I think that this page would be made stronger if you could separate the two photos by a column of text, eliminating the awkwardness of the blending photos.

Page 13: You’ve already presented this image of the exterior of the box several times. Now would be an opportunity to focus on the interior by employing maybe the one photo of you drawing and maybe one other. It is a gorgeous photo of you and it’s almost like “the artist at work” you know? Like those pictures that they always display off to the side of the one work that stole the whole gallery opening. It’s very classy, and I think that’s the direction that you need to focus your attention.

Page 14: Honestly too much, and here I can see where your parent’s “voyeurism” concerns came about. Maybe just a close-up on the words, with an enlargement on the images of the top of the box.

Page 15: Again, we’ve seen all this before. The drawings on the right add nothing really, either. Is there something else, any new images you have to present, maybe a picture of the destroyed box against a stark, black background?

Page 16: Again, we’ve stopped at a red light and went from Honda Accord to a Dodge Ram. No continuity, no constant theme.

Page 17: Now these pages are simply breathtaking, but now, how to configure them into a congruent layout without losing the raw, geological pleasance of them. These pages need to invoke the same feeling of page 3, tying it all together as different aspects of a larger, grandiose theme.

Page 18: Ditto.

Page 19: This page is a fish out of water. And if there is anyway to integrate the text into the photos, to create depth (something that I think is lacking throughout the entire portfolio, it comes across as being too two-dimensional). White on black font perhaps?

Page 20: This should also echo that of pages 3, 17 and 18, whatever you end up doing with them.

Page 21: Too much. Why are the photos different sizes? The strength here is the 360 degree perspective being given, it should all be so congruent and similar that it has an almost time-lapse effect to it.

Page 22: Although the Cliff Notes theme is cool, you’ve got to figure out a way to integrate the idea into the entire overall theme, or else, again, it comes across as a random afterthought.

Page 23: And two full pages of nothing but simple, black on white, no-frills text is a very anti-climactic and uninspiring conclusion. Just because it’s a thesis doesn’t mean that the formatting can’t echo and conclude all that has been presented beforehand. Do you have any pictures of the Villa Savoy that could be included?

All-in-all babe I think you need to step back and think about what it is that you really want to project here. You have such a sharp eye for modern, simplistic, sleek and progressive aesthetics; how can you re-work your portfolio to exhibit that same sense of clean, striking style? If this were a house made of concrete and glass how would you design it so that each room continued to embody an overall chic appeal, while still taking on it’s own purpose and functionality? You seem pretty dead set on using these huge, page enveloping photographs that might be more effective if they were cut down and used as elements of the page on top of a stark background instead of being smashed together to become the background. My suggestion: look through all those modern art and architecture books that you love oh-so-much and take those elements and put them to good use here. Also search graphic art and web design firms that are “cutting edge” and see how that type of specific style that they employ can be molded into something you can call your own. You have a very specific taste and style baby, I see it in you every day when you point out a building, or house, or even the lines of a car that you like. All the work here is Blaise Treeson, now you have to find away to make it become and represent Blaise Treeson, and his completely unique and unequivocal artistic eye.

You can do this. I love you.

good comments, daisy, though i don't agree that 10 is all that. until i got to 11 i really didn't understand what 10 was getting at and the precedent images made no sense to me. will this page be seen by itself or as a left side with your project on the right? the layout of 10 seems a little haphazard.

the information/content is good. now you need to concentrate on refinement and being consistent, which seems to be the spirit of daisy's remarks. ONE font - and something a little more clean than times new roman or whatever that is.

i've heard it said several times in these portfolio critiques: don't be afraid of white space. give a reviewer some visual relief so that they can focus on certain specific and carefully chosen images!

oh, and, overall a fascinating body of work for a young person with limited architectural background. just needs graphic help.

cheers and good luck!

i love the work, better i think than a lot of the portfolios that show up here for non-arch portfolios, but weirdly schizophrenic. the fonts and font sizes are off, but then the photoshopped cliff notes graphic is fairly sophisticated, makes me wonder a bit if it's the same author. contained space is an interesting project, and i wish i knew more about how you came to make it. use the portfolio as part of your learning process - really study the way professional graphic designers use text - how they vary text size, what it means to use a serif v. a sans serif font. search archinect for graphic design threads. look at bruce mau, but also look at less "designed" magazines, just to start to get a sense of the basics.

good luck, i think there's a lot of potential in your work and your enthusiasm definitely shows through.

what kind of binding will you be using? keep an eye for the binding encroaching the page and overlapping your texts...

on your "cliff's notes" cover page, there is a white background on the villa savoye image and a portion of it covers the the farnsworth image.

Your cages of space are interesting, and the golden wire versions have a nice texture, but why the need to put doodads in them? It's not space unless it's occupied by something?

what everyone else is saying.


Without knowing exactly what your work is about, the first thing that comes to mind for me is a nice photography book highlighting sculpture. Go to B&N and look through some sculpture/art books and see how they present things.

First off, I you have to kill those fonts. Serif fonts, imho, should only be used with care. Never use a blue print font!

Next, I look at it and think, 'where is the border?'. Why is everything at 100%? It makes it look cramped and detracts from your work.


Go with the other suggestions here - minimal. Use Futura, Arial, Myriad, or something that is solid and subtle.


For the pages, I'd really suggest making the images small, like 1/5 the size of the page, strategize how the layout goes together and flows, but keep a lot of white space.

Think about how much nicer a photo on the wall looks when it has a massive border and frame. The large amount of white space makes the actual work look much more powerful.
Add a sentence or two, small, to describe things. Again, think about where i goes.


Keep it clean, keep it minimal, eliminate any unnecessary images (it looked like there were a few that told the same story).

Sketches - I'd also like to see some sketches about the process. You've got some interesting stuff, show us the depth of thought that went into each piece.

i pretty much agree with the general sentiment above, i.e., the work is good but the portfolio itself could use lots of improvement. if you heed the advice of those above then you have your shot at columbia...if you use that portfolio as it stands then i think you are a long shot.

you could even turn your portfolio itself into an odd little project of community input by posting each new version to archinect. we could literally see it transform based on the recommendations of an anonymous public and you might even make a reference to this in your portfolio by including links to each post here...should any of the future reviewers care to see it's evolution.

///////////////////////////////////////////

on a tangent now, this is an interesting phenomenon seeing more people post their portfolios here. i remember in earlier times when it seems nobody dare expose themselves to that kind of public scrutiny.

what are the implications of this...what if nearly all candidates posted portfolios here and college admissions committees started checking archinect to see how candidate stood up to wide public review?

THANK YOU GUYS!
What amazing insights, remarks, and suggestions. My parents, friends, and teachers were unable to give me feedback that was so conditional. I’m off to start a massive revamp. Here are some of the answers to some of the questions posed.

PAGE LAYOUT (planned as of now)
Each page is 18” x 6” folded into thirds to create a 6x6 accordion
Each composite page folds out into three 6” x 6” leaves, each leaf holds one 5x5 pdf page
Binding is to be determined, but I’m thinkin almost nonexistent, maybe add a bit of a craft element and sew the pages together, or create my own wire “staples”
Intro- 1 Composite page = 1-3 pg pdf
Countained Space- 2 Composite pages = 4-9 pg pdf
Thinking inside the Box – 2 comp pg = 10-15 pg pdf
Central Park – 2 comp pg = 16-21 pg pdf
Thesis – 1 comp pg = 22-24 pg pdf
When looking at any of the three projects, with both pages open the length of the book will be about 3 feet, which obviously breaks the requirements but I feel the format better depicts the projects as a gestalt process rather than discrete snap shots. Do you think I should rethink this format due to its violation?
Does any of this make sense, I’ll mock up some sketches to maybe diagram….

CLIFFNOTES PAGE
Hahaha, funny story here. I’m really not very good at photoshop and indesign. I designed the template of this page in AutoCAD! Bottom layer is a yellow square and the second layer positioned higher is the diagonal stripes (closed plines with solid black hatch arrayed). Then I rendered it from “Top” view, cropped in photoshop, added both internet found structure diagrams with added transparency, cut and pasted the cliffnotes icon in bottom right, and added words in indesign. A bit convoluted I’m sure! Hahaha, but I appreciate the praise even in the form of skepticism.

EVOLUTION
This is the era of information exchange, hesitation and total self-reliance will lead to stagnation. I was about to go to the presses before your guys comments! I’ll keep everyone posted with Compendium’s evolution.

KEEP THE CRITICISM COMING. THANX EVERYONE!
blaise

Puffles has a good point. I know that several of the professors where I went to school (who also reviewed grad school admissions portfolios) were pretty regular archinect readers. I wonder if it's possible that feedback received here, or the progression of portfolio refinement, has played or will ever play into grad school admissions.


OR...what if people start to sabotage each other? Probably unlikely since most of the feedback seems to come from people who aren't applying as well...but if more and more folks start posting portfolios...

I agree with most of the sentiments above. People have commented on your choice of font, and are right, but attention also needs to be paid to the use of text. Here are a few suggestions to guide that;

*don't go so close to the edge of the page, or the gutter (fold). You want a person to be able to hold the page in their hand without their thumb obscuring the text, or for text to get lost in the binding, and it will make a nicer shape if it's got some whitespace around it. I know you say your binding is undecided now, but I would figure it out soon-ish, because the space you leave around the text for the binding should be determined by the type of binding. The same does not go for images- those are fine bleeding all the way out, with the understanding that the stuff at the edges is really just a graphic device and won't be read as well as the stuff in the middle of a page.

*go smaller. Many typographers cite the ideal readable size as 9pt. Depending on the font, it may be better at 10 (you know how some fonts appear smaller), but definitely don't do 12pt for anything that's not a title.

*too many! Narrow it down. It's ok to have a 'title' font and a 'text' font, but in your case since the images of your work are very busy visually, I would just use one font and use bold and light weights of it.

*Just say 'NO' to hyphens! They literally make it more difficult to read your text. It's ok to use them very very rarely when the shape of the text really needs it, but you have far too many of them.



In general, I would head to the graphic design section of your local bookstore and/or library, and just plop yourself down there and read and browse and look through every layout book you can get your hands on. Your work has the ability to look good, but the presentation doesn't right now. Learning the basics of layout will serve you well throughout your career. I am partial to grids, and think your portfolio would greatly benefit from the use of one, to keep your layouts looking unified dispite the wide variety of content.

i have 3 words for you:
TOO MUCH TEXT

o, and 2 more:
good luck...

whoa. designed the layout in autocad, that's so funny.
really nice work. good luck!

Ok anoither piece of advice...although I'm normally all in favor of creativity, I don't think portfolio binding is the place for it. Keep in mind that most reviewers will spend something like 30 seconds on a portfolio (these are busy students & profs who have dozens of portfolios to review) and the last thing you want to do is annoy them with the literal, physical structure of the portfolio. Folding pages and unusual layouts are more likely to frustrate and annoy than they are to inspire admiration of your creativity.

It's a much better strategy to work within the confines of the format and let your work move to the forefront. I know this might sound lame but I would really suggest just sticking with a simple wire binding. This allows the portfolio to open fully and allows you the opportunity to use full two page spreads of your best images for a true "wow" effect. Although something like a stitched binding appeals to the craftsperson in all of us, its difficult to open fully and you have to very careful that no info gets lost in the seem. Likewise, a portfolio that features individual "plates" in a well made box might seem appealing but you run the risks that plates will be lost and placed in an unflattering order.

I wouldn't necessarily suggest a gbc binding because they are somewhat cheap looking in my opinion...but if you check with some of your local print/copy shops you should be able something slightly nicer. For example, I had a personal favorite of a local printer who did a metal wire binding with with small round holes (rather than the cheap plastic & rctangular holes of gbc). Also I could get the metal wire in either a black, silver, or gold finish that would allow me to select the best compliment for the tone/character of the work presented. And worse case scenario is that I could take a portfolio designed in this format and have it printed at the shittiest kinkos with the sorry gbc binding. The point is to keep the aspect of the portfolio process simple. It's to your advantage to have an easily reproducible portfolio. If you commit to creating a one-of-kind handcrafted piece then you really risk going out on a limb. What if it's lost in the mail & admissions ask for another? What if it comes down to the admissions deadline and you're still struggling to make the damn thing because you think you have a hot idea...but don't really know how to construct it?

As a profession, architecture is very much about working within conventions and selectively weighing the risks of stepping beyond those conventions. In other words, pick your battles carefully. A portfolio is an excellent opportunity to subvert the artist-ego and think in terms of the user first & foremost.

I think the most interesting project is the octagon instalation. It drew me in straight away, and the text for it is well thought out. not too much not too little.

The first projects(the wire cages) were repetitive. perhaps too much. they were all showing the same skills, just in different outcomes. perhaps shrink the computer images, as although they show cad skills, they are not as evocative as the images of the actual works. perhaps make them thumbnail.

As the last work is the most architectural, perhaps have that first, or at least a pic of it near the start so i know where your heading.

keep the printing/binding simple as the work should speak for itself. intricate bindings often break or are difficult.

good luck!

good advice puddles.

personally i just put my stuff in a 30 ring MUJI binder with sleeves to take the pages. i can change the content easily to suit who i am showing to, and it is dirt cheap and takes no thought. simple is always the best.

I know when I applied to grad schools most would only take very specific dimensions and binding. I basically made the final design based on the lowest common denominator, which turned out to be 8.5 x 11. I think it was Columbia that insisted on glued binding (stupid), all others were wire from Kinko's.

Also think about stacking these portfolios. There'll be boxes and boxes filled, stacked up. Random or unique sizes will look like an annoyance and distract from the work.

puddles is right on - keep it simple. Spend the time on the pages (minimal/simple usually takes more time than stuffed - you gotta make choices)


I agree with mholl that there should be some more heirarchy. I really think going and looking at some minimalist photography/art/sculpture books would be worth a few hours.

i can get to see it - you've exceeded your bandwidth - suck 2b me

up and running again, stupid Google,

http://d3.myfreefilehosting.com/d2/COMPENDIUM.pdf
http://www.mediafire.com/?f4yfdzwtgjp
http://files-upload.com/files/627418/COMPENDIUM.pdf
thanx guys, the reformatted one is on the way.

what exactly does Columbia quality mean?

So if it's not Columbia, it's community college? I'm very confused.

I'm just trying to get a sense of how good my portfolio is. from what people have said it seems to have good content but needs inprovement in formatting which is what i'm doing now. while columbia is my shooter school i'm also applying to parsons, CCA, CUDenver, and UNM - so a whole range from state school to ivy. I see that most of the links are not functioning properly.... anyways, i'm off to reformat, i'll repost a revised version in a couple days and see what you think. thanx everyone

Dale, blobs. Think blobs :P

I am surprised that a highschool student has any kind of well thought out, organized, creative portfolio at all. Kudos. I don't know how hard it is to get into top schools but with that presentation and good grades and SAT scores I would be very impressed as a college recruiter. I didn't have a porfolio at all when I went to college and when going on job interviews just grab a couple sets of plans and wing it. So even though anything can be critiqued, I think you did an excellent job.

and the asshat of the day goes to....

...asshat..

Will use.

hey guys, got a new version here, let me know what you think.

http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=68015_0_42_0_C

Like I said last night, much much better.

Couple of things:

Page 17: The wording, "...the intimidating white surfaces" or something like that, doesn't mesh with the completion of that phrase, "made the audience and myself feel at ease when interacting and drawing." Usually use of the word "intimidating" is the antithesis of "inviting" or in this case, "feeling at ease." (you know this from GRE work I'm sure;-) You might want to reconsider that.

Also page 28: what we talked about last night about making the shading on figure on the right less bold, in order to make it stand further away from the eye.

Finally, although it does tie into the theme nicely, is there just one tiny little thing that you can do to all those pages that separate the different themes of your work to make them pop just a bit more? Also, the long box in the Theses excerpt page doesn't make sense to me.

That's it.

GREAT JOB

i dont have time to read the other responses but if youre still reading this thread heres what i have to say:

since they are your major projects, the two projects you highlight should be condensed into no more than about 4 or 5 faces (i.e. a face of a page). You have too much text. Work on the overall design scheme and focus on using an 'invisible grid' to help organize the content. don't worry to much about binding, if the content is great thats what matters. include drawings and diagrammatic sketches, these are wonderful things and will help communicate your thought process. design a nice cover that communicates quickly. and think about the 'user' of the portfolio, the person who will be looking at it.

if you need more textbook info on portfolios, i recommend "portfolio design" by harold linton, a nice book with good examples and good advice.

best of luck.