O C R A - right?

I think the cover would look less busy (and more successful) if it was a white background instead of black. That's just my petty opinion.

yeah you may be right, and you're right with the font too, its one of my favorites...

omg yes way too busy... call me traditional but i have always liked something simple clean with a splash of color.. I think it is more professional.

I think you should always think of your portfolio like a museum or a gormet dish... Museums are usually all white with plenty of white space around it which focuses your attention to work itself rather than the container of the work.. A gormet dish is simple elegant with a splash of color and not to much food on the plate which appetizes you. Now if this is what one of your pages of work looked liked then id be intreged

Then again classy museums and gormet resteraunts do have interesting facades

I like the energy from it though

yup!

that looks straight out of a nerdy early 1990s video game. i think i like it because of that.

i would personally stick to more basic fonts (like helvectica) but that's just me.... and you should have a better title than "architecture portfolio" ... maybe just your name. if the school is going to get it in the mail with your application they don't need to know that it's an "architecture portfolio"

it feels like a gay computer chip party

YOU feel like a gay computer chip party

I hate when people write "architecture portfolio" on their cover...no shit its an architecture portfolio but is should be more sometimes-don't limit yoruself with a title, make yourself a brand. who are you? then title it accordingly if you like titles...just my dos cents

what if i title it "gay computer chip party"?

no but seriously, i am going to change that, i don't know to what yet....

Looks more like a "snazzy portfolio", early disco era!

Man its late in the day!

Just get rid of the title and leave the rest.

I totally dig the graphics.

here are a few more options on the boards...


the "no title option"




the cover, with the next page mirrored (the table of contents would be next, i'm working on it now...)

if you don't want it to look like a k-tel record cover, whoever made the suggestion of losing the black background was on the right track. then again, you may want it to look like a k-tel record cover. i can respect that.

Don't mirror. Definately do not mirror.

alrite here's white version...

I think the cover should correspond to what is inside of the portfolio. Post us a page from inside. I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish with the cover but I would absolutely tone it down. Is that really what you want staring at you as you are being interviewed. I think it would be a distraction.

after thinking about it for about an hour, i've come to the conclusion that i''m going to drop the colors off of the cover, and keep something similar to the black line at an angle. i'm going to have the line split at the table of contents (each line will then represent a semester)

thanks for the help all, i will post the finished portfolio when i am done (hopefully there won't be any references to an early 90's videogame, gay computer-chip party, or k-tel record)

K.I.S.S. -keep it simple stupid

simple is best... atleast for the cover anyway

This probably sounds cliche but i love architecture portfolios with a white background and gradients of grey to show depth and hierarchy and a little use of orange or red to highlight something important. It really draws your eyes attention to the page without cluttering it.

I suppose I agree with the poster who felt that a good cover design should be drawn from graphic relationships within your portfolio, or perhaps a dominant theme in your history of work.

This cover is bold, which in itself is neither good nor bad, but it sets up a series of graphic relationships and from your willingness to ask us for an opinion without any primer other than "do you like it?" I’m guessing it doesn't have anything to do with your work or the interior of your portfolio, it was simply something you liked for whatever reason. Not that this isn't probably how most people compose the cover of their portfolio, but being that this is a very eye-catching cover I think it highlights the fact (or at least the suspicion) that it's graphically arbitrary.

I love to find little details in any piece of work, portfolios included, that allow me to make connections throughout the piece upon contemplation. I'd recommend thinking of it beyond whether it is too bold or reminds you of xyz, If this is the first (and probably the last) thing people opening and closing your portfolio will see, what part about this hints that you're capable of designing meaningful things?

i usually just find a compelling/abstract image of a project I've done and smear that across the cover. Repetitive elements work good there....basically what I'm saying is, I would prefer if the cover was less designed and more "design".

I agree that it looks a little to busy. It really does like Nintendoish. Maybe you could try using less concentrated colors. I think there are too many colors to begin with. I like the black better than the white. Overall it's not bad, just needs some refinement.

looks to me like a techie version of a cosby sweater...

white or black, no color/lines, with your name, address, possibly submission type. Can't miss with that.

I prefer it in you monochrome with no mirror.

yeah but thats so boring and typical, i understand that that is what everybody does, but that doesn't make it interesting or "good" design. i agree that it is a little over the top, but when i was working on this, i was intentionally trying to stay away from the a-typical white background with a few words in helvetica.

i haven't designed any of the pages in the portfolio yet, i'm using this cover as a starting point, and i'm going to pull aspects of the cover into the interior layout of my portfolio. the interior won't be as "in your face" as the cover is, but i think that the cover right now is a good opener.

oh, and when i meant cover, i didn't mean the physical cover of the book, i plan on going with an all black binding (from kinkos), so you will only see this is more of a cover page, which you will only see once you open my portfolio.

i think i'm going to stick with the black cover, with only my name...

what are u applying to?

sorry, didn't see the internship part...in my opinion, most firms would look at this cover and throw your resume away (no offense). Use the creative one for grad school and stick with direct and to the point for your intern app's. Highlight your work as the creative act of the protfolio. Not the fact that you can make a neat cover in p-shop.
sorry to be harsh but the work is probably creative enoguh to suit that purpose.

I wouldn't use your cover image to dictate the layout of the rest of your portfolio - it's like allowing the elevation to dictate the design of the building (or starting with a book or movie title before you've even written the story). I'd go the other route - try to find an organizing principal or concept for your portfolio layout and then draw from the content/concept to discover what your cover is going to be.

I like the graphic, though - it could still be a good starting point for the rest of your portfolio... but if in the end your cover still looks like that, then you probably haven't learned anything in the process of creating your portfolio.

alrite, i understand what you all are saying, i'll probably have my portfolio done in a week or so, and i'll be sure to post it then, we can probably have a more meaningful conversation then,

thanks all