Graphic Design Portfolio Update.. help!

[lukedavies]

Hi guys, i've updated my portfolio online, i've also done a bit of work on a brief that was recommended to myself in an older thread (The Drunken Goose) so i might upload a few sketches of logos later on..

As the intervew is in a few weeks i've booked a photography course for myself to attend, which will hopefully be seen as a good thing when i attend the interview. During the course the tutor intends to introduce me to photography and i'll have a few extra bits to add into my portfolio that'll add a bit of variety to my work. Will this be seen as an added asset, or is photography not considered Graphic Design?

Last week i also re-visited my work experience company that specializes in Graphic Work just to check that i'm on the right track and they recommended that i read a magazine that's based on Graphic Design, and the changes in the field, typically i forgot the name of the magazine.. so any ideas haha? I'd also appreciate tips on how to present my portfolio to the university. The guys recommended that i either design a template in InDesign and export them as PDF's or present my work in a Powerpoint Presentation. Personally i think that making a sheet(s) in InDesign would be the best idea, but what do you think? A picture is on my portfolio page on how the design of the sheet(s) would look like, obviously with the different projects on different sheets. I was thinking of adding a brief text explanation beside each picture on every sheet briefly giving a short summary of each design. Is the design a bit boring?

My portfolio can be found here.. My Portfolio - Luke Davies Graphics

Many thanks, Luke!

 

[Jimlad]

Firstly, liking the fact that the "Love" and the "Apple with Zip" work is quite different to the other stuff you have, variety is the spice of... something or other. The latter is quite similar to bigdave's avatar on the forum, but your interviewees won't know that!

Im not sure what magazine you're after but when I was at uni my tutors always recommended Computer Arts, and it seems to be pretty widely read throughout the industry.

 

[Levi]

still completely missing any hand drawn work.....

As to how to present the work - well I took in a big old portfolio folder but it did have fine art etc in too. It has been a while now but I'd say nicely presented portfolio for the interview with maybe a leave behind cd with powerpoint/pdf on it. Remember you will likely not have access to a computer during your 'interview' and in all my uni interviews I literally just left my folder with a filled in form, the tutors looked at the work without us being there, then it was a call back and yes/no type bit.

As to the magazine -
computer arts, is the obvious one
2d design
wallpaper
layers

I'm sure there's another one which is pretty well known but I can't think of it...

 

[davewill]

Hi Luke, good to see you taking your work seriously, you obviously have a passion for design. I would recommend maybe displaying some of the work on your site as it would look in real life. So for the letterheads/business cards etc show them mocked up lying on a table/laid out on the floor etc to bring them to life (ive attached a few examples of bits Ive done in the past, these were pure photoshop mockups, no actually photography took place) At the moment the samples all look a bit samey.

As for photography, that is a great skill to have that will work alongside your graphic design work and prove very useful so its definitely worth progressing with.

Looking forward to seeing your Drunken Goose work. Why not show the whole process from initial sketches through to final work? Thatll give us a good idea of your work process and a wide range of skills.

 

[lukedavies]

Thanks for the comments Yeah i think it might have been Computer Arts, i'll have a look for it anyway aha. I'm going to upload images of my sketches later on, and post them on my webpage so that you can see my thoughts, ideas etc.

Also thank you Levi for the presentation tips, what i was thinking was to take my own laptop with me then open the PDF's during the interview and if they wanted to see anything in photoshop or any other software i'd be able to open them on my own laptop. I also like the idea of leaving a CD behind at the end of the interview, it seems professional.

If i had the time to get my stuff printed, business cards etc i would set them out as you have DaveWill, it looks nice but due to exams in the next 2 weeks and then the interview straight after i think i'll be forced to present everything in digital form, i haven't got much time .. thank-you for the tips though much appreciated!

 

[Levi]

Just had a thought, it might be worth just ringing/emailing the uni's you're looking at and asking how they prefer to have portfolio's presented, they may prefer paper over computer for example, it also shows that you are thinking about how they want things to be so it goes smoothly.

Tutor's like questions being asked, it can pay dividends as I found out on the first project of the second year on my course, we changed tutors and I was the only one (I think) who asked how 'they' like the work presented and ended up being used to show how they like work presented....

 

[davewill]

Hi Luke, just wanted to say that none of the stationery I showed you was ever printed. I used the artwork files to mock up an image in Photoshop to make it look like the stationery is real. If your Photoshop skills are up to it you can easily mock this up in an hour and it will really help the presentation of your designs.

 

[lukedavies]

ah right, sorry! I assumed they were printed cause of the quality of the images aha, my bad. Yeah i could have a shot at that, see how it goes thanks again!