I've recently been reworking my portfolio for another round of job applications, this time focusing solely on an email-able version, under 5 mb, and not worrying about printing for now. With this approach I was able to think a little more rationally about the layout, and as a result I drastically simplified it from previous versions, and stuck to one font and a basic grid layout.
I'm curious what people think of the work, obviously, but at this point I'm more concerned with the layout and presentation strategy. Is 5mb a reasonable size pdf to send with an unsolicited application? Is it better/worse to send a pdf, or a link to your website or to a flickr slideshow?
My instinct is that an emailed PDF is the way to go for job applications, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities of a personal website or social-network sites like LinkedIn, Carbonmade, etc.
Aside from fishing for comments on my portfolio content and layout, I'd like to hear some opinions on the use and abuse of the internet in the job hunt... assuming potential employers will be googling you anyway, is it best to point them directly to the results? Would having a portfolio hosted alongside a blog come across as amateur, or would it show that you're engaged in the discourse? Does anyone *actually* use LinkedIn? Should we all be de-tagging our facebook photos and carefully constructing our 'personal brands'?
Evan,
Graphically, you have one of the best portfolios I have seen on this site. It's really really good. Clean, conciser, fantastic use of the grid, especially the use of a small gutter to creates dynamism in the spreads, great photography and use of imagery. So having said that, the following are just such minor details to consider which you are completely okay to disregard.
_Contents page consider not having sub headings ie 1.(CON)TEMPORARY LIBRARY in caps. At the moment, there is little text hierarchy
_ Consider increasing the page heading pt size...1/3 or even 1/2 depending on how it looks. it's getting a little lost on some of the pages..especially the image heavy ones.
_If you increase pt size of page heading, maybe consider making sub headings 'Software,' 'Material' caps.
_image grid cuts very very close to the page heading on pages where it's image only. okay on pages where there is a text intro as there is more white space. maybe align the image to the top baseline of body text.
_instead of the justify text alignment, maybe left align it. i know it leaves a ragged right edge, but it is a more 'natural' text alignment
_look at hyphen usage...i noticed in some instances where it needed a hyphen there wasn't one. Or better still, don't use them at all.
_look at body text alignment consistency. it changes from justified to left aligned in the House of Arts & Culture project
Other than that, again, really good.
In terms of format, it was great to get a quick overview of how the portfolio looked as a whole via your website...that was the version i was using to compile the above comments. At the same time, I also liked the way flickr presents the slideshow. I would think a downloadable PDF with the full screen option would fulfill both requirements and maybe a link to the flickr site so it can be accessed anywhere?
Oh by the way, I also very much liked your old portfolio. Graphically, I thought that was even better.
If you're trying to get your portfolio under 5MB, something alot of people don't think about is simplying reducing the image dimensions.
So, my portfolio at 150 dpi and 8.5x11 is around 14 MB, whereas my portfolio at 150dpi at 5.5x4.25 is only 4MB. It's a good way to present your .pdf to an employer via email or the screen without sacrificing any image quality.
(yes, I know maximum screen resolution is 72 dpi, but if someone viewing your portfolio zooms in farther than 100% [which they inevitably will] you get nasty pixels. Also, .pdfs simply look better at 100% with more dpi, too.)
But yea, you always want to attach your portfolio to your email. A person reviewing it will have a harder time resisting clicking that enticing icon at the bottom of your message. I still include a link to my online portfolio, though, in case they want a high-res printable version.
Oh, and about social networking - I'm including links to my LinkedIn and blog in my resume and portfolio. I think it's a good idea to show people you're connected and interested in networking.
haven't had any blogs come in yet. not sure if i would look at them unless the portfolio was seriously brilliant.
yours is very good evan. very impressive work and nicely presented. i would be surprised if you don't find work.
my preference, for what it is worth is under 10 mb pdf file. 5 is nicer, but not a big deal. i definitely hate internet based portfolios. simply because i have to wait for pages to load and zooming and so on is a pain in the ass.
with pdfs it is easy. also makes it easy to pass on to my partner when something good comes along and to print out if we have chance to take things further.
i don't want facebook or linked-in connections. i really really do not want to see any of that stuff. i know it is theoretically possible to put cool stuff up with linked in and so on, but it is just not worth my time and i will ignore it. save that for when we are friends. i know it is not nice to say, so please forgive my bluntness, but i am not interested in who you are friends with and i don't care if you are interested in networking.
keep things simple. my day is full and the more you send the more i will resent you making me work to find all the goods.
But god DAMN do I hate how flikr automatically does that slideshow bullshit once you open the page. If you can make it so it doesn't automatically play through the slideshow, it would do a lot of good. Seriously, it scrolls through like ever 2 seconds. I'm trying to read the text and it just keeps playing until I finally in dthe pause button.
thanks everyone for the comments & kind words --- hematophobia i'll definitely try your suggestions, it seems like a few minor changes could really tighten it up... and get me something solid that I won't feel the need to re-do in the next three months.
jk3hl, I think I've finally figured out the key to reducing file size...... rasterizing my dwgs... it's counter-intuitive, and means that I definitely need two separate versions for print and screen, but since i'm dealing with some pretty geometry-heavy dwgs originally printed at 24x36, the size of a reduced jpg is much less than a placed pdf...
I think now I'm at a point where I can think more about strategy.... I've already decided that the next big push will be email-only, keeping a few printed copies for possible in-person interviews... the idea behind a web-based portfolio is to cover my bases, and have something online in case a potential employer does decide to google me --- and that something should be consistent with what I've sent them.... but I think now it's clear that the first impression will be a pdf that I email directly.
If I could solicit a few more opinions.... in addition to what you see here, I have several projects that I can include: professional work I've done with well-known firms. It's material that I'm not comfortable posting publicly because the projects are still in progress, but I do feel that it's necessary to show at some point, since it represents over a year of experience outside of graduate school. I wonder if it's appropriate to include with an emailed application, or if I should save it for the print version and in-person interview. Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing?
Evan normally I don't care for the email or flickr portfolios, but I suspect it is because folks usually have them in the high res printed version. But I must say I was taken by yours (layout was simple, read well) and it viewed quiet easily. I'm sure having seen it you are likely to be called in so they could see more.
I've made some minor adjustments here, and I think I'm finally satisfied.... for now ;)
Thanks again for all your help, archinectors.... and if anyone's curious, I dug up my first attempt at a portfolio/advice thread from 3 years ago. I got a kick out of seeing my own progress (probably much less interesting for others).
So, unless I go back and rework any of these projects, I think this'll be it for my M.Arch portfolio... the next versions will all have professional work.
We should really have some kind of portfolio repository on this site so people can easily see a wide range of examples...
Nov 9, 09 8:19 am ·
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not again! another portfolio critique thread....
I've recently been reworking my portfolio for another round of job applications, this time focusing solely on an email-able version, under 5 mb, and not worrying about printing for now. With this approach I was able to think a little more rationally about the layout, and as a result I drastically simplified it from previous versions, and stuck to one font and a basic grid layout.
I'm curious what people think of the work, obviously, but at this point I'm more concerned with the layout and presentation strategy. Is 5mb a reasonable size pdf to send with an unsolicited application? Is it better/worse to send a pdf, or a link to your website or to a flickr slideshow?
My instinct is that an emailed PDF is the way to go for job applications, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities of a personal website or social-network sites like LinkedIn, Carbonmade, etc.
Aside from fishing for comments on my portfolio content and layout, I'd like to hear some opinions on the use and abuse of the internet in the job hunt... assuming potential employers will be googling you anyway, is it best to point them directly to the results? Would having a portfolio hosted alongside a blog come across as amateur, or would it show that you're engaged in the discourse? Does anyone *actually* use LinkedIn? Should we all be de-tagging our facebook photos and carefully constructing our 'personal brands'?
Evan,
Graphically, you have one of the best portfolios I have seen on this site. It's really really good. Clean, conciser, fantastic use of the grid, especially the use of a small gutter to creates dynamism in the spreads, great photography and use of imagery. So having said that, the following are just such minor details to consider which you are completely okay to disregard.
_Contents page consider not having sub headings ie 1.(CON)TEMPORARY LIBRARY in caps. At the moment, there is little text hierarchy
_ Consider increasing the page heading pt size...1/3 or even 1/2 depending on how it looks. it's getting a little lost on some of the pages..especially the image heavy ones.
_If you increase pt size of page heading, maybe consider making sub headings 'Software,' 'Material' caps.
_image grid cuts very very close to the page heading on pages where it's image only. okay on pages where there is a text intro as there is more white space. maybe align the image to the top baseline of body text.
_instead of the justify text alignment, maybe left align it. i know it leaves a ragged right edge, but it is a more 'natural' text alignment
_look at hyphen usage...i noticed in some instances where it needed a hyphen there wasn't one. Or better still, don't use them at all.
_look at body text alignment consistency. it changes from justified to left aligned in the House of Arts & Culture project
Other than that, again, really good.
In terms of format, it was great to get a quick overview of how the portfolio looked as a whole via your website...that was the version i was using to compile the above comments. At the same time, I also liked the way flickr presents the slideshow. I would think a downloadable PDF with the full screen option would fulfill both requirements and maybe a link to the flickr site so it can be accessed anywhere?
Oh by the way, I also very much liked your old portfolio. Graphically, I thought that was even better.
Hope this helps.
Hiya, Evan!
If you're trying to get your portfolio under 5MB, something alot of people don't think about is simplying reducing the image dimensions.
So, my portfolio at 150 dpi and 8.5x11 is around 14 MB, whereas my portfolio at 150dpi at 5.5x4.25 is only 4MB. It's a good way to present your .pdf to an employer via email or the screen without sacrificing any image quality.
(yes, I know maximum screen resolution is 72 dpi, but if someone viewing your portfolio zooms in farther than 100% [which they inevitably will] you get nasty pixels. Also, .pdfs simply look better at 100% with more dpi, too.)
But yea, you always want to attach your portfolio to your email. A person reviewing it will have a harder time resisting clicking that enticing icon at the bottom of your message. I still include a link to my online portfolio, though, in case they want a high-res printable version.
Oh, and about social networking - I'm including links to my LinkedIn and blog in my resume and portfolio. I think it's a good idea to show people you're connected and interested in networking.
haven't had any blogs come in yet. not sure if i would look at them unless the portfolio was seriously brilliant.
yours is very good evan. very impressive work and nicely presented. i would be surprised if you don't find work.
my preference, for what it is worth is under 10 mb pdf file. 5 is nicer, but not a big deal. i definitely hate internet based portfolios. simply because i have to wait for pages to load and zooming and so on is a pain in the ass.
with pdfs it is easy. also makes it easy to pass on to my partner when something good comes along and to print out if we have chance to take things further.
i don't want facebook or linked-in connections. i really really do not want to see any of that stuff. i know it is theoretically possible to put cool stuff up with linked in and so on, but it is just not worth my time and i will ignore it. save that for when we are friends. i know it is not nice to say, so please forgive my bluntness, but i am not interested in who you are friends with and i don't care if you are interested in networking.
keep things simple. my day is full and the more you send the more i will resent you making me work to find all the goods.
I think it's an outsanding portfolio.
But god DAMN do I hate how flikr automatically does that slideshow bullshit once you open the page. If you can make it so it doesn't automatically play through the slideshow, it would do a lot of good. Seriously, it scrolls through like ever 2 seconds. I'm trying to read the text and it just keeps playing until I finally in dthe pause button.
It shouldn't be like that.
There are better portfolio hosting alternatives out there than flickr.
thanks everyone for the comments & kind words --- hematophobia i'll definitely try your suggestions, it seems like a few minor changes could really tighten it up... and get me something solid that I won't feel the need to re-do in the next three months.
jk3hl, I think I've finally figured out the key to reducing file size...... rasterizing my dwgs... it's counter-intuitive, and means that I definitely need two separate versions for print and screen, but since i'm dealing with some pretty geometry-heavy dwgs originally printed at 24x36, the size of a reduced jpg is much less than a placed pdf...
I think now I'm at a point where I can think more about strategy.... I've already decided that the next big push will be email-only, keeping a few printed copies for possible in-person interviews... the idea behind a web-based portfolio is to cover my bases, and have something online in case a potential employer does decide to google me --- and that something should be consistent with what I've sent them.... but I think now it's clear that the first impression will be a pdf that I email directly.
If I could solicit a few more opinions.... in addition to what you see here, I have several projects that I can include: professional work I've done with well-known firms. It's material that I'm not comfortable posting publicly because the projects are still in progress, but I do feel that it's necessary to show at some point, since it represents over a year of experience outside of graduate school. I wonder if it's appropriate to include with an emailed application, or if I should save it for the print version and in-person interview. Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing?
if its e-mailed then should be fine to send. if necessary write a note saying that the images are not for distribution. most firms should understand.
your blog version of portfolio is good enough for me as an online presence.
Evan normally I don't care for the email or flickr portfolios, but I suspect it is because folks usually have them in the high res printed version. But I must say I was taken by yours (layout was simple, read well) and it viewed quiet easily. I'm sure having seen it you are likely to be called in so they could see more.
I've made some minor adjustments here, and I think I'm finally satisfied.... for now ;)
Thanks again for all your help, archinectors.... and if anyone's curious, I dug up my first attempt at a portfolio/advice thread from 3 years ago. I got a kick out of seeing my own progress (probably much less interesting for others).
So, unless I go back and rework any of these projects, I think this'll be it for my M.Arch portfolio... the next versions will all have professional work.
We should really have some kind of portfolio repository on this site so people can easily see a wide range of examples...
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