So there are some things I still need to tweak but I'd love to hear any comments and critique on my portfolio as it sits. I'll be using it in my job search in the upcoming months. Looking for feedback on any and all aspects! I'd like to possibly add some photography to the end but I've heard mixed things about doing that in an architecture portfolio. The portfolio that got me admitted to my undergraduate program was 100% photography though. I have a lot of strong images that I could pick and choose from.
My experience is that firms don’t care very much about photography, I think you’d be better off sticking to the design work you have, unless you have some really stunning images.
I find the relationship between the “highlighted” subtitles, and the information somewhat jarring. Having the text so close to the outside of the highlight is flirting with trouble, and the vertical offset between the two sides is confusing.
On a similar note about the text, I think a lot of the text, and some of the content, is floating way to close to the edge of the pages in some places.
Given that a lot of the content is rendered, I’d really like to see a bit more verity. I don’t find the technique you are using particularly compelling, so the apparent emphasis of it throughout the work seems unwise to me. I think it would try to emphasize it a little less in favor of other content and shorten the entire thing a bit. I also wish there was a little more technicality in some of the design projects, not necessarily as much as is on the ToC page, but in that direction.
I'll rework the ToC page to try to make it less confusing and move things away from page edges.
As far as the rendered stuff goes, do you think I should reduce it down to 1-2 renders per project? Maybe change the Extroverted Industry rendered sections to line drawings like the rest of the projects? Are the section and plan drawings in the last project more of what I should shoot for with the others?
Well there are lots of different ways you can render things, which might serve some of the projects well. I do like the direction you are going with the drawings in the last project, but I think they could use a little bit more detail and some finessing with the lightweights and whatnot.
Although your computer generated models are all pleasing to the eye with well thought out plans, they also reek of someone who leans a little too heavily on programs like Cad, Revit, and Rhino as it is a little too obvious that you never went through the physical model stage of developing the models. Also, try to include other techniques you've learned on the computer other than the extrude button. As it stands now, although your portfolio clearly shows your ability to grasp the bigger picture, it also unfortunately shows a lack of experience as well as imagination and attention to detail.
Cheers natematt. I'll rework some of the other drawings and try to finesse the line weights a bit more. I never did any technical courses so that's about as detailed as I can knowledgeably get at this point.
Redjester, thanks for the reply! You're right, the physical model stage was always secondary in my projects unfortunately. Towards the end I started to use that form of design more often. I don't have much experience as I've never done any design work outside of school projects. If I refine some of the things natematt pointed out do you think I stand a chance of getting employment?
Hi all, I have updated my portfolio a bit and would like feedback! Getting ready to get it printed in the next few days! Any and all comments appreciated!
The T in your name on top is actually really hard to read so I am not really digging the way it looks.
I understand that page is a resume of sorts, but it feels very sparse, like a lightweight resume, which I am not fond of. Either don't do it as a resume or do a heavier resume. That is just my opinion.
I would probably make comments on the rest except I don't have your old resume to compare.
Thanks natematt! My girlfriend said the same thing about the T, I'll revisit it.
In my applications I send a much heavier resume with my cover letter in another PDF. If I'm doing this should I just get rid of the resume in my portfolio all together?
I don't know why the old link doesn't work, here's the first iteration of my portfolio.
Portfolio Critique
So there are some things I still need to tweak but I'd love to hear any comments and critique on my portfolio as it sits. I'll be using it in my job search in the upcoming months. Looking for feedback on any and all aspects! I'd like to possibly add some photography to the end but I've heard mixed things about doing that in an architecture portfolio. The portfolio that got me admitted to my undergraduate program was 100% photography though. I have a lot of strong images that I could pick and choose from.
http://issuu.com/tomchy/docs/portfolio_441ca4102da2f5
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
My experience is that firms don’t care very much about photography, I think you’d be better off sticking to the design work you have, unless you have some really stunning images.
I find the relationship between the “highlighted” subtitles, and the information somewhat jarring. Having the text so close to the outside of the highlight is flirting with trouble, and the vertical offset between the two sides is confusing.
On a similar note about the text, I think a lot of the text, and some of the content, is floating way to close to the edge of the pages in some places.
Given that a lot of the content is rendered, I’d really like to see a bit more verity. I don’t find the technique you are using particularly compelling, so the apparent emphasis of it throughout the work seems unwise to me. I think it would try to emphasize it a little less in favor of other content and shorten the entire thing a bit. I also wish there was a little more technicality in some of the design projects, not necessarily as much as is on the ToC page, but in that direction.
Thanks for the feedback natematt!
I'll rework the ToC page to try to make it less confusing and move things away from page edges.
As far as the rendered stuff goes, do you think I should reduce it down to 1-2 renders per project? Maybe change the Extroverted Industry rendered sections to line drawings like the rest of the projects? Are the section and plan drawings in the last project more of what I should shoot for with the others?
Well there are lots of different ways you can render things, which might serve some of the projects well. I do like the direction you are going with the drawings in the last project, but I think they could use a little bit more detail and some finessing with the lightweights and whatnot.
Although your computer generated models are all pleasing to the eye with well thought out plans, they also reek of someone who leans a little too heavily on programs like Cad, Revit, and Rhino as it is a little too obvious that you never went through the physical model stage of developing the models. Also, try to include other techniques you've learned on the computer other than the extrude button. As it stands now, although your portfolio clearly shows your ability to grasp the bigger picture, it also unfortunately shows a lack of experience as well as imagination and attention to detail.
Cheers natematt. I'll rework some of the other drawings and try to finesse the line weights a bit more. I never did any technical courses so that's about as detailed as I can knowledgeably get at this point.
Redjester, thanks for the reply! You're right, the physical model stage was always secondary in my projects unfortunately. Towards the end I started to use that form of design more often. I don't have much experience as I've never done any design work outside of school projects. If I refine some of the things natematt pointed out do you think I stand a chance of getting employment?
If anyone else wants to chime in I'm all ears!
Hi all, I have updated my portfolio a bit and would like feedback! Getting ready to get it printed in the next few days! Any and all comments appreciated!
http://issuu.com/tomchy/docs/blurbissuu_ec837f0127b80c
EDIT: It seems as if some of my images lost a great deal of quality during the PDF export. Any clue how to fix that?
Well PDFCreator was making the image quality crap but the Adobe PDF creator works fine. Here's an updated link!
http://issuu.com/tomchy/docs/blurbissuu_2.0
Quick crit...
Just going to talk about pg 3.
The T in your name on top is actually really hard to read so I am not really digging the way it looks.
I understand that page is a resume of sorts, but it feels very sparse, like a lightweight resume, which I am not fond of. Either don't do it as a resume or do a heavier resume. That is just my opinion.
I would probably make comments on the rest except I don't have your old resume to compare.
Thanks natematt! My girlfriend said the same thing about the T, I'll revisit it.
In my applications I send a much heavier resume with my cover letter in another PDF. If I'm doing this should I just get rid of the resume in my portfolio all together?
I don't know why the old link doesn't work, here's the first iteration of my portfolio.
http://issuu.com/tomchy/docs/andrewtomchyshynportfolio
If you are sending this with a separate resume I would say you shouldn't have the one in the portfolio.
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