Folio review

MichaelHarvey

New Member
Hello

Im in my 2nd year of university studying Graphic Communication with Typography

I have made a temporary website to put some of my first year work on, some of it will look better in person though

Website: http://michaelharvey.webs.com/

please dont crit the website as it is not my own, its just to hold my work for now

cheers
 
Hi, first post for me!!

It all has a very samey feel to it from a brief glance. Lots and lots of white on everything, obviously nothing wrong with white space but personally I would be looking for a wider range of work if I was an employer (presuming that's your end goal).
 
You say don't crit the website but it's still the first thing people see. I'd look for somewhere else to host your work as it's not going to let your work stand out when it's surrounded by those horrible brown gradients and google ads.
 
definitely with Jim on this one. The first page of a web site gives potential clients an idea of what's ahead. Busy agencies or clients would see the page and close it straight away as there is nothing to grab there attention.

As for the portfolio, please don't take this the wrong way but it isn't very strong. I say this because you have some good work but then some not so good work. When showing a portfolio you must only show the best of what you can do, don't give people an excuse to not like your work.
 
Yup, I'd put the "less is more!" tagline into practice and trim the fat until only your best 10 or 15 pieces of work remain.
 
Can't see the ads although I do run an ad blocker.

As to the work, if I'm honest I can't see anything to make you stand out, this may sound harsh but it's a bit a-level in a lot of cases rather than year 2 of a uni degree in my opinion. I know from my own course (different field admittedly) that the difference in my work from a-level to 2nd year was huge, hell the difference in first and second year was pretty big too.

And as to the site - it needs to be sorted, you course is all about communication with typography and you give us a brown generic site. You could be better off using something like coroflot or carbonmade...
 
Thanks very much for the crits!

The work shown is from my first year, as I was just starting off, and wanted to see what first impressions were

I'll look into those portfolio sites, thanks Levi, also I had no real graphic design background until I went to uni, so maybe this is why my portfolio isn't very strong is some eyes? I dunno either way I shall pull my finger out and get on it

I shall recreate my portfolio on a better suited site and present the better pieces

Cheers guys
 
I saw those one time too. This time the first thing my eyes read was "1 Rule of a flat stomach: Cut down a bit of stomach fat every day by using this 1 weird old tip."

Seriously, there are better alternatives that are also free. Hell even a Deviant Art account would be better. I'd recommend Carbonmade, since it's free account (named "meh") will force you to whittle down your work to the best 30 peices, split into up to 5 projects I think. Not an advert or distracting "Sign in or Register" bit in sight!

As far as the work is concerned, if you're serious about using any online collection of your work to show a client or possible employer, get rid of the "Clouds made of Dingbats" thing, and any project like it. I understand experimentation is an important part of learning your craft, but it won't impress employers and I also wouldn't ever say in a description "Numerous effects were used to create this image" as it gives the impression that your only creative input on the piece was to press the filter button.

I apologise if this seems a tad negative, but it's important to show only your best work in the best way possible. If you went on a date you wouldn't start the conversation by listing your bad habits, would you? Be self critical and make lots of tough cuts. Only keep the work that does the best job of communicating what it's designed to communicate.

I do like the joke about why don't skeletons play music in church... because they got no organs. Lol.

Also, your "About me" page... remove every sentence where you state your limitations or anything like where you "hadn’t known what typography really meant until my tutor sat down with me to help me understand how it worked" - I understand that it's part of your story and how you arrived at where you are, but employers might not be impressed. Again, only show the positives about yourself! You could flip that around and describe how you learnt about and enjoyed typography from a young age and wanted to explore it more through university. It's all in the wording!
 
A website that is poor is a direct reflection of you and your work
If you can't have a good website to hold your work then just have a simple PDF.
I see a lot of students and designers overstretching themselves.
You are only as good as your weakest link.
Post a PDF of your work for us to comment on
 
Jimlad said:
I saw those one time too. This time the first thing my eyes read was "1 Rule of a flat stomach: Cut down a bit of stomach fat every day by using this 1 weird old tip."

Seriously, there are better alternatives that are also free. Hell even a Deviant Art account would be better. I'd recommend Carbonmade, since it's free account (named "meh") will force you to whittle down your work to the best 30 peices, split into up to 5 projects I think. Not an advert or distracting "Sign in or Register" bit in sight!

As far as the work is concerned, if you're serious about using any online collection of your work to show a client or possible employer, get rid of the "Clouds made of Dingbats" thing, and any project like it. I understand experimentation is an important part of learning your craft, but it won't impress employers and I also wouldn't ever say in a description "Numerous effects were used to create this image" as it gives the impression that your only creative input on the piece was to press the filter button.

I apologise if this seems a tad negative, but it's important to show only your best work in the best way possible. If you went on a date you wouldn't start the conversation by listing your bad habits, would you? Be self critical and make lots of tough cuts. Only keep the work that does the best job of communicating what it's designed to communicate.

I do like the joke about why don't skeletons play music in church... because they got no organs. Lol.

Also, your "About me" page... remove every sentence where you state your limitations or anything like where you "hadn’t known what typography really meant until my tutor sat down with me to help me understand how it worked" - I understand that it's part of your story and how you arrived at where you are, but employers might not be impressed. Again, only show the positives about yourself! You could flip that around and describe how you learnt about and enjoyed typography from a young age and wanted to explore it more through university. It's all in the wording!

Ill take the site down soonish as i am putting up my new portfolio today

I dont mind a negative crit, as long as its backed up, and yours is so thanks for the input and advice

Also, i dont really use filters ;) i find them... cheap in most cases
 
Nice one. Watch your consistency though, you've got the gallery settings different on the Identity section to what you have on the others. The mini pics along the bottom are there on one section but not the rest.

Nice choice of first pics out of what you have to serve as the project pic, but you can also create your own, specially for the purpose.

Overall a massive improvement on the presentation already.
 
Looking much better on Carbonmade Michael, makes a huge improvement to the overall aesthetics. With your editorial work, such as the book cover have you tried making a photoshop visual to give the appearance of the real item? Or even better getting it printed and mocking it up? Would look much stronger as a visual to see it in it's final form :)
 
Thanks for the replies :)

Most items have real visuals, but some images i have put up are the digital format

ill take an image of the book when i can find the lead to my camera, doh
 
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