Great layout; nice use of white space. The Table of Contents does not match the the rest of the portfolio; too cluttered. The font doesn't seem to match either; a little too bold. You may have paired down too much? Surface Fabrication, Ritual Barge and Warhol Expansion can really really use more process/development and final images. "I wish there was more" was a common thought. A some of the images on the left-hand side may be too small. Great start.

it's definitely a good start... add some "money shots" to really get things grooving. i.e. renderings, two pager images, etc

overall its very very nice.
I like the more "quiet" portfolios, but a little more images/projects may be be needed. Maybe even a page thats dense with visual information

For some reason I want to rotate the cover page, cause it makes me turn my head a little. Also the table of contents doesnt seem to match. Maybe it could be reorganized like how the text is in page 6, but with larger font.

I like that everything you're showing looks really clean. I can easily discern your concepts. Beautiful renderings.

I agree with the other posters about needing a bit more meat for some of the projects. Maybe pick one or two of them (I like Warhol Expansion and Structure Experience) and really show how they are going together.

I don't think it would hurt to have a couple of the more complex projects as six-page spreads instead of four, since each page is so clean and easy to flip through.

I also agree on the table of contents; it doesn't seem to match the rest of the portfolio. You mention size and program elements but I can't often see how those parameters are considered in your design.

i agree with everything said so far...

it seems very sparse for an m.arch 2 portfolio. it looks nice, but the work you show lacks the complexity necessary to offset your layout's simplicity. one physical model? one project per page? no one is going to read all that text. you need to advertise your work a little better and not try to make up for it with good graphic design. some of your better images should take up an entire page or two, full bleed, and break from the monotonous grid/layout you've made for yourself.

thanks for all the responses, lots of solid advice, especially in areas where I have been struggling with what to do

most importantly i agree with a lot of the comments saying some projects show more info/process, have larger images, and in some cases more evidence of the work done on the project. I think when laying out the pages, I over-valued consistency, and the original template became too limiting for longer projects completed more recently. I'm now working on developing a less rigid system with more flexible rules that still maintains the clarity of the current layout

also, point taken on the table of contents, it was one of the last things I did for the portfolio and i guess its shows haha

since in this case I'm specifically tailoring the portfolio for academia, I've been wondering what should the text focus on explaining without being too much to read?

finally @ fade to blackoe, very good instincts on the cover image, in its original form it was rotated 90 CCW but was changed to fit the template, probably a poor decision for the cover if it causes confusion at first glance

going forward hopefully I'll have something drafted up in a month or so for review, in the mean time thanks again for proving archinect an excellent resource and more comments would be greatly appreciated

I usually find that when rules are set up for a layout 1) they can be broken and 2)when you break them make those moments sexy.

I like what you have so far. Definitely is a contrast to mine.

do not justify your text

I don't really see a problem with the justified text. The line length is not too long and there doesn't seem to be any big rivers running though it so I think it's fine. It works well with the format.

Just going to reiterate that some moments that break away from the grid/format would really help the portfolio be more attention grabbing. Right now you have the benefit that it's short so you might not lose too many people, but seeing the same format page after page people tend to lose interest really quick. There is some great images in here that could easily full-bleed one page. Fulling out some projects more than others will also help to create a little more rhythm and diversity.

I do like that it is clean and simple. Too often people go ape-shit in photoshop and that works if your trying to get into the skate industry. Architects may talk up graphic design this and that but my experience is all they want to see is a sans-serif font and a hot rendering.