Looks great!

Ok, in more detail:

1: I think there is a really nice balance in type of work - rendering/modeling, sketch, details, line drawings, etc. It really shows a variety of skill sets that I think most schools and/or employers would be happy to see.

2: Organization of content on pages is both a pro and con. Pro is that the pages are all pretty well organized on their own. Con is that as a book, the pages all look roughly the same. Without really paying attention you don't notice when one project changes to another. You might want to consider a number of strategies to mitigate this:

a: larger font for project title on first page of project; eliminate project titles from following pages of same project
b: changing location of the light gray band/bar on first project spread to be different from following project spreads.
c: reconsideration of image/text hierarchy
d: page background color

You might have to play around with these and see which looks best.

3: Over do it with a text? Yeah, just a bit. It's balanced nice with the images and probably does help to explain needed information but I think you might want to go through and decide what is the most critical and see if you can either eliminate or at a minimum bullet point the rest. Again, font size hierarchy could help here. It seems like titles and body text are always the same size. Maybe bump up main project descriptions a few point sizes so your readers feel like they have an option to just read the big idea and move on or get into all the detailed text at a smaller point size.

4: While your doing that, make sure you are consistently using the same settings on your bodies of text. Looking through I see some are left justified, some are justified both sides, some are right justified (which you really shouldn't do), some have hyphens and some don't, etc.

5: Obvious but sometimes forgotten point is to make sure you run a test print well before you need to actually print. Things like 50% gray text look great on screen but rarely print well, White type on dark backgrounds tends to disappear at small point size. Just make sure you have time to review it printed so you can make changes if needed.

6: Related to that, print and verify that you have enough center margin space. A few spreads looked like they might be in danger of having material fall into the crease but it's hard to tell without printing first.

Overall I think you will be in good shape no matter what school you apply for. Keep up the good work!

wow jk3hl, looks great!

out of curiosity, where are you planning on applying?

It looks great to me, how I wish I could work this good!! I like your portfolio..good luck! I am pretty sure you will do just fine.

Great portfolio, super clean, and the work is interesting. Maybe to much text? I’m not sure, I didn’t read any of it. The images are what held m attention.

Great work.

@ .._. .._ _._. _._

Thanks for your crit! I definitely see where you're coming from regarding the organization of my projects. I most likely will just eliminate the large title text from all but the first pages of each project.

And yea... I suspected I'd have to go back in and rarefy all the text. Shouldn't have any problems there!

As far as justification is concerned - is right-aligned text an absolute no-no? I feel like in some cases in the portfolio it looks much better graphically, simply because it creates a clean edge next to an image on the right side of the page, for example. Is there one spot in particular where it looks pretty awkward or out of place?

I'll definitely take your test printing advice to heart - I'm sure it will show me which spreads have problematic margins, etc.

Thanks again! :D


@Luke

Hi Luke, thanks! I plan on applying to University of Cincinnati (where I'm doing my undergrad), UCLA, Univ. of Michigan, Clemson, and then a random east coast ivy for kicks and giggles. Probably MIT, or something.

I don't know, I've been mulling over the age-old question of choosing expensive schools with a 'name', as opposed to affordable schools with solid programs. My mind definitely isn't made up - but considering how competitive admissions are this year, there's probably only a ghost of a chance of getting into an ivy.

I like it! Great graphics!

Great feedback so far, not much else to say. You could probably take UC MArch 2012 off of your resume if you are applying to other schools.

Since you're applying to Michigan, get to Larson early for a letter of rec.

Best of luck!

Portfolio looks great. Just one technical note. Before you send out to press, make sure your bleed settings are setup sufficiently. The text at the edge of the pages are too close to the margin as the non-binding edge will most likely be trimmed. How much, will depend on the thickness of the paper.

Nice job....
Hopefully there will be a job for you when you get out.

Nice job....
Hopefully there will be a job for you when you get out.

1. How do you feel about the number of projects? Bear in mind I'll most likely be including another 2-4 spreads showing my current studio project and some graphic design or drawing stuff.



You should have multiple versions of the same portfolio running simultaneously, depending on who your audience is. IE A university may be more interested in speculative investigations, and an office might want to see more 'realistic' things. Depending on the UNI/Office of course.

2. Do I show a good enough balance of process and finished product?

I'd say some layouts need more hierarchy in terms of image size and paper space. What is important to the project, what do you want the viewer to see first and to pay more attentino to? Right now everythign is of the same size.

Also, I'd say that you need more technical, but presentable, drawings.



3. Do you have any observations about my style or skillset in general, in regards to a particular school or program being a good fit for me?

Not really, to be honest, the projects don't seem to have a cohesive style, to me. I think there are way more impotant factors in considering a uni then the style of what you've done in the past. That's probably the least important thing.

4. Did I overdo it with text?

Not the amount, but the size of the font and the colour. Are the layouts more about the text or about the images?




In general, I think it's not bad at all. I'm just offering criticism on how to improve it.

Also, get rid of the illustrator blend shape on the cover. Nevermind that it's dated, it doesnt say anything about you or your work or interests. It's generic. Real estate in a portfolio is so precious, there shouldnt be anything in it that is superfluous.

james, coming from a fellow '10 applicant: wow, looks good. you are light years ahead of me right now. I have most of the massing of my past studio projects touched up...but im really worried about pulling it all together.

when i look at a portfolio like yours I get nervous that mine doesn't/wont have enough info/diagrams to accompany. I'm concerned with a comment above about a lack of more technical drawings. I saw some pretty detailed drawings there, and I will have none of that....unless I include details from my office (which I dont think professors want to see).

sigh.

and I agree with the advice to take that graphic off the front. it's just not appealing.

unless its a diagram/inspiration to a project inside, at which point i'd use a caption or something to explain.

@jplourde

Yes, I'm with you on your first point - I'd have to modify this for job hunting.

I'm not so sure on the technical drawing front, though. Most of the advice I've been given has been to steer away from purely technical documentation in grad-school-app portfolios. I could see it becoming much more important in portfolios I submit to employers, though.

As far as text/layout goes - I'm definitely guilty of emphasizing the type. I strove to make it informative, as well as a graphic element in my portfolio. I'm not quite convinced that's a bad thing, though - I'm hoping my designed layout and use of graphics/text will set me apart from the herd.

Yea, I understand where you're coming from about the cover graphic. I tried to steer clear of the more cliche alternatives, like a b/w photo of a model I've built, or images of a project, etc. etc. I was going for something pretty stark and simple. I'll begin to rethink it, though - I'll admit it's really nothing but a pretty pattern.


@TheVillan

I totally understand your anxiety! I was in the same boat several months ago. I sort of worked myself up to a climax of stress and decided to just put my head down and work on it every night over the summer. Just search for inspiration online, look for precedents, and then go to it!

Sabbo, the model I produced for speed architecture was drawn in roughly 3 hours, and is the same model I later used for the renderings shown in my portfolio, etc. %0

@Sabbo

Yes, the model I produced for speed architecture was drawn in roughly 3 hours, and is the same model I later used for the renderings shown in my portfolio, etc.

I'd been thinking and sketching about the project alot prior to actually modeling the structure in that thread - the topic finally gave me the motivation to begin visualizing those thoughts. I've stated in my portfolio that the project is personal and self-initiated.

Np, sabbo! =)

I would drop the gradients, black bar, and black lines. Just all your info in the white space would be fresh.

Hi everyone,

jk3hl, I'm sorry to hijack your thread. Here's my portfolio and I'd really appreciate it if anyone could give me the brick-bats/crit because I don't expect any bouquets for it. link

Sorry for that link, hope this one works

"C:\Documents and Settings\naveed\Desktop.com"

Hey, naveed... if you're going to post a virus, at least try to host it somewhere that isn't your computer!

Also, ps ... you have a virus.

Uhh, what, Orochi?

He posted a link to a file on his desktop that has a .com extension (component object model.) COM files are more than likely viruses.

Naveed did? Where's the post? Was it deleted just now?

Parsecs first post to this thread (12:08) has a black bolded hyperlink at the end of his post... if your right-mouse click it, copy link location and past it-- you get "http://www.C:\Documents and Settings\naveed\Desktop.com."

PROTIP: W32/VB-DRN is the virus you should have Parsec.

Sorry Orochi, I didn't post a virus intentionally, I didn't even know that link had a virus coming with it, sorry again, I'm not that compute-savvy.

*r

I've gotten feedback from my profs, was just hoping to get some international perspective on my portfolio too. Well, I'm taking off my portfolio pics from Flickr, so my other link might show naught too. Thanks, anyway.

That first image (Copengagen Harbor Bath) is ridiculously badass. I am glad you're not applying to the same schools I'm applying to. Excellent job!

Yeah, J3 is hella talented. (Oh, look archinect, I can say nice things!)

Still has not ponged me back on our competition.

[Which was kind of a joke and I included in a few recent portfolio/job applications... which was the only thing I was genuinely complimented on.]

Anyways, I should have my portfolio up on archinect sometime within a week!