First Proper Portfolio - Critique / help / advice please!

[Designer Dale]

Welcome Back, Luke.

Let me start with the cover page and contents.

The second cover is better than the first one with the oversized 09. The size and color detracts the eye from what it is. Your portfolio. I read 09 something or other. The font and sizing is OK for the second one, but I don't really care for the color choice. I realize you work in metal and probably chose that color for you font, but it doesn't work for me. The orange is fine for the date, but I would go with black for the first and third lines and an even gun metal grey for "Portfolio".

Just my taste.

If you are going to put links into the PDF so that clicking the image jumps to that section of the portfolio, a hybrid of your Table of Contents would work better. I'm not sure you can do this with images in Acrobat, though. What ever you do with this section, please take to heart the pounding we have given you over l e t t e r s p a c i n g ! ! You need to tighten up your kerning (spaces between pairs of characters). The page numbers look amateurish. Page designers in the forum have pointed that out to you on a number of occasions, but you seem to be very set in your ways. Stop it!

It's 10:30 over there. Go to bed, son.

Dale

 

[LeviG]

its still suffering from the same issue that you've had from the beginning. You are focusing too heavily on your cad and not enough on your development/concept generation skills, this is what tutors like to see when you start a course, not the fact you know how to use a computer program, this bit comes during your course.

I don't like the covers full stop, I think the effect (cut away) that you've tried to produce just looks patchy, its even worse on the smaller titles.

The biography just seems like a load of bloat and personally it isn't what I would class as a biography. Personally I would change your biography into a page detailing previous grades etc or similar with a small bit about your personal interests. It needs to be punchy and quick, no uni is going to spend time reading all the text you have, they have to look through a lot of portfolio's in a relatively short amount of time.

 

[Designer Dale]

One of my favorite instructors said that a bio should be short and to the point. He called it a "30 second commercial" based off this premise: "Who are You and What Do You Want?".

So...

Dale

 

[JonnyNumber5]

too complicated?

http://www.bibliothequedesign.com/#

keeping your all your text within grids can do wonders.
i like portfolios where the emphasis is on the images, supported by nicely placed type.

the above studio does that well, i really like em.
they did the layout for Adrian Shaughnessy's book 'How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul'

i only clicked on a few links, so if it looks radically different, sorry

also, I think everyone does the whole odd tracking thing at some point. you learn your lessons.