I have a co-op work term coming up and would like feedback on my portfolio that I plan to use for applying to jobs.
My school focuses on doing everything by hand for the first two semesters so being two semesters in, my most recent work is all hand drafting + a bit of CAD from my Tech course. I added an older project that I did for a competition that shows more computer skills (I know Rhino as well as Adobe Creative Suite).
Any critique welcome. Obviously a separate resume would accompany the portfolio.
Remove all that photography filler at the end. Everyone thinks of themselves as photographers and unless you've won awards or are published, this has no place in your portfolio. Same thing with the Ando pic on the front page. It's not your work, so don't include it.
Putting the obvious aside, you need to show some serious love for those hand drawings/sketches. They are way to small and you've not made the slightest effort to balance out the backgrounds and line work via photoshop. This shows poorly your thinking skills specially if you claim your school puts the focus up front on hand drawing.
Since you don't have much billable skill (from an office/employment point of view), you should focus on demonstrating your design flair and thinking process because that's all you have to offer. Adding a few good building section of wall detail will certainly help fill some gaps.
kenchiku
May 1, 19 2:07 pm
Cheers for the feedback! I purposely left trace paper texture on the sketches / working drawings to differentiate them from the actual drafted stuff. Does it just come across as sloppy? Maybe if I tidy up the pavilion project and get rid of the background on those drafted drawings it'd help make that difference more obvious.
Non Sequitur
May 1, 19 2:28 pm
It kinda does look too sloppy because it's not a consistent style across the folio. Besides, you may want to consider scaling the best ones up. If everything is the size of a quarter, then nothing will catch the viewer's attention. BTW, which Canadian school are these from?
kenchiku
May 1, 19 3:06 pm
Fair points! The plan is to get this printed 8x10 so scaling some stuff up and giving them more hierarchy is a good move. I'm at Dal
Flatfish
May 1, 19 2:26 pm
This portfolio looks very familiar. I'm sure I saw the "customizable shoe lounge" and that other cedar retail display on here before. Did you post this previously asking for feedback? Or are these standard projects in some architecture school?
I'd say the strongest work are the projects from "B1 Studio" - I'd put those more toward the front. I'm not a fan of that competition entry - it's not very visually or architecturally interesting, yet it's taking up a lot of prime real estate in the middle of your portfolio, and looks like an attempt to stretch a fairly simple concept into an overly drawn-out progression of your not-very-complicated-or-unique design process. The only thing it's got going for it is demonstrating some ability with graphic layout software - so I'd say demonstrate that skill a little more in the layout of your other projects, and scrap that project completely.
The "Other Projects" section toward the end is very cluttered. I'd suggest thinning that down to half the number of projects or less, and giving them their own page or half page each. The "shoe lounge" isn't great - or if there is something innovative about it that's just not really reading. It just comes across as do-it-yourself basic store fixtures - not really a design concept.
I don't entirely agree with getting rid of all of the photography - because I've known multiple people who got their early internships partly because of their photography interest and skill. Firms often have a backlog of stuff that they're meaning to get around to getting a photographer for. That said, you should probably pare it down to one or two photographs (and only keep even that many if you'd be ok with part of your co-op experience being getting sent to the firm's past projects to photograph them, taking pictures of models that you didn't work on, etc.)
Flatfish
May 1, 19 2:34 pm
Also do yourself a favor and don't "figure out" a cover. Just put your name on it. Just that. It's actually refreshing to see someone concentrating on the work first! There have been so many threads on here with people obsessing over the design of the cover of their portfolio. And, that one section with the big nothingness in the middle: clip a fragment of that and turn it into a wall section or detail or something. It's just an empty box - wasting a whole page. Pull the wall section off to one side, and put corresponding sketches with it, or something like that to show progression from idea to buildable.
kenchiku
May 1, 19 3:08 pm
Thanks so much for the thoughts and good memory! I used portions of this to apply to schools and posted it on here about two years ago for feedback.
I hear you on the competition entry. I feel I need to show somehow that I know Rhino (better than that project even shows). Perhaps I'll trim it down to a single spread and shuffle it elsewhere into the portfolio.
You aren't the first to mention the clutteredness in the Other Projects section. I think I'll scrap both bottom projects completely and give the other projects a lot more breathing space.
Will par down the photography section or scrap it all together. I do think I have strong photography...perhaps I just didn't select my strongest images. I'd absolutely love to photography built projects for a firm. I have experience with off-camera flash setups, using tilt-shift lenses, etc and would feel quite confident shooting architectural images for a firm's website.
Finally, good tip about the wall section. I'll play around with your idea!
Non Sequitur
May 1, 19 3:33 pm
after reading 5839's comments, I will add a footnote to my photography comment from earlier. When you have less work to show, having some personal work, ie pictures, can act as a good conversation starter if the person reviewing the work can relate to. Perhaps they've been to the same place or know the location? Maybe they have found memories of 35mm film, etc.
I have a co-op work term coming up and would like feedback on my portfolio that I plan to use for applying to jobs.
My school focuses on doing everything by hand for the first two semesters so being two semesters in, my most recent work is all hand drafting + a bit of CAD from my Tech course. I added an older project that I did for a competition that shows more computer skills (I know Rhino as well as Adobe Creative Suite).
Any critique welcome. Obviously a separate resume would accompany the portfolio.
https://issuu.com/tomchy/docs/portfolio_anon
Note: haven't figured out a cover yet.
Remove all that photography filler at the end. Everyone thinks of themselves as photographers and unless you've won awards or are published, this has no place in your portfolio. Same thing with the Ando pic on the front page. It's not your work, so don't include it.
Putting the obvious aside, you need to show some serious love for those hand drawings/sketches. They are way to small and you've not made the slightest effort to balance out the backgrounds and line work via photoshop. This shows poorly your thinking skills specially if you claim your school puts the focus up front on hand drawing.
Since you don't have much billable skill (from an office/employment point of view), you should focus on demonstrating your design flair and thinking process because that's all you have to offer. Adding a few good building section of wall detail will certainly help fill some gaps.
Cheers for the feedback! I purposely left trace paper texture on the sketches / working drawings to differentiate them from the actual drafted stuff. Does it just come across as sloppy? Maybe if I tidy up the pavilion project and get rid of the background on those drafted drawings it'd help make that difference more obvious.
It kinda does look too sloppy because it's not a consistent style across the folio. Besides, you may want to consider scaling the best ones up. If everything is the size of a quarter, then nothing will catch the viewer's attention. BTW, which Canadian school are these from?
Fair points! The plan is to get this printed 8x10 so scaling some stuff up and giving them more hierarchy is a good move. I'm at Dal
This portfolio looks very familiar. I'm sure I saw the "customizable shoe lounge" and that other cedar retail display on here before. Did you post this previously asking for feedback? Or are these standard projects in some architecture school?
I'd say the strongest work are the projects from "B1 Studio" - I'd put those more toward the front. I'm not a fan of that competition entry - it's not very visually or architecturally interesting, yet it's taking up a lot of prime real estate in the middle of your portfolio, and looks like an attempt to stretch a fairly simple concept into an overly drawn-out progression of your not-very-complicated-or-unique design process. The only thing it's got going for it is demonstrating some ability with graphic layout software - so I'd say demonstrate that skill a little more in the layout of your other projects, and scrap that project completely.
The "Other Projects" section toward the end is very cluttered. I'd suggest thinning that down to half the number of projects or less, and giving them their own page or half page each. The "shoe lounge" isn't great - or if there is something innovative about it that's just not really reading. It just comes across as do-it-yourself basic store fixtures - not really a design concept.
I don't entirely agree with getting rid of all of the photography - because I've known multiple people who got their early internships partly because of their photography interest and skill. Firms often have a backlog of stuff that they're meaning to get around to getting a photographer for. That said, you should probably pare it down to one or two photographs (and only keep even that many if you'd be ok with part of your co-op experience being getting sent to the firm's past projects to photograph them, taking pictures of models that you didn't work on, etc.)
Also do yourself a favor and don't "figure out" a cover. Just put your name on it. Just that. It's actually refreshing to see someone concentrating on the work first! There have been so many threads on here with people obsessing over the design of the cover of their portfolio.
And, that one section with the big nothingness in the middle: clip a fragment of that and turn it into a wall section or detail or something. It's just an empty box - wasting a whole page. Pull the wall section off to one side, and put corresponding sketches with it, or something like that to show progression from idea to buildable.
Thanks so much for the thoughts and good memory! I used portions of this to apply to schools and posted it on here about two years ago for feedback.
I hear you on the competition entry. I feel I need to show somehow that I know Rhino (better than that project even shows). Perhaps I'll trim it down to a single spread and shuffle it elsewhere into the portfolio.
You aren't the first to mention the clutteredness in the Other Projects section. I think I'll scrap both bottom projects completely and give the other projects a lot more breathing space.
Will par down the photography section or scrap it all together. I do think I have strong photography...perhaps I just didn't select my strongest images. I'd absolutely love to photography built projects for a firm. I have experience with off-camera flash setups, using tilt-shift lenses, etc and would feel quite confident shooting architectural images for a firm's website.
Finally, good tip about the wall section. I'll play around with your idea!
after reading 5839's comments, I will add a footnote to my photography comment from earlier. When you have less work to show, having some personal work, ie pictures, can act as a good conversation starter if the person reviewing the work can relate to. Perhaps they've been to the same place or know the location? Maybe they have found memories of 35mm film, etc.