My 1st portfolio, what do you think guys?

Radavies95

Member
Hey everyone!

Just thought I'd share my portfolio with you all, I would love any feedback or thoughts!

Just an overview of my background.... studied film and photography at college for 3 years then a few years later I realised it was graphic design I wanted to go into. So I independently studied Graphic Design for a year. I have gotten to the point where I would like to learn on the job, so I have been lucky enough to win over some work placements!

I am pretty proud of my portfolio, I have come a long way and have worked hard, but I know I have so much more to learn, so any advise, tips or critiques will help me become an improved designer :D

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qoLqOXarzAEgIr96ODoxJsj-q5KFlz_hcS9hDP0XQ0c/edit?usp=sharing
 
It would really help if it wasn't Google docs. Ideally you need to have BIG high quality images that people can scroll through. If this can be on your own website so much the better. When I zoomed in to look at the detail it all went a bit blurry. And the Phlashworx card logo is slightly different to the logo on the website. Not much be enough to make you look twice.

The things you are doing look OK to me. Nothing special but nothing wrong with them either
 
I'm not sure if you want critique of the work or the actual portfolio/presentation so I'll just focus on the portfolio itself. Ditch Google docs. You're a designer, you should be designing everything you do.

A landscape PDF (under 5mb in size) you can email to someone is generally the preferred format, even over a website. A PDF forces you to just focus on the work at hand and lets someone just see what you're capable of. The version I send out on request just has a page for each project, and maybe a second page explaining some context/thinking/rationale behind the idea if it's needed. Generally a designer/director isn't going to read through your explanation of the work, they should know what it is just from looking at it. As a designer you should be communicating without words as much as possible.

Your brochure for the Plastic Bank would benefit from not just being a flat layout but rather displayed in context via a mock-up like your book. I see a lot of students/graduates just exporting their artwork and sticking it in a portfolio and it's not a great way of presenting work. Make it obvious what we're looking at or show something being used in context (a logo on a sign or wherever it's going to be used).

I'd also break up the pages with a heading or something. Currently it feels like it reads on as a single document but you want to break the sections up so we know it's a new project. Again, see my point about designing what you do.

What is the before/after bit at the end about? I can't see any difference between the panda imagery aside from it being black and white and has the levels adjusted. It's padding and doesn't demonstrate critical thinking or an eye for design so remove it.

Focus on the work you want to get hired to do. I see a lot of students worry they don't have enough work and so they pad their portfolio with things like photography. Whilst it's a useful skill for a designer to have, it's unlikely you'll be hired because of it. Most studios will work with a professional already, so just focus on the type of design work they do. Produce some fun projects for yourself, pick a name for a business or an app or something and produce some branding and marketing material for this fictional company.

Or do more promotional stuff for the WWF. You want to work for them, are you approaching them already? Do they produce work in–house or is it handled by an external studio? Find out and get pestering them for a placement right now.
 
I'm not sure if you want critique of the work or the actual portfolio/presentation so I'll just focus on the portfolio itself. Ditch Google docs. You're a designer, you should be designing everything you do.

A landscape PDF (under 5mb in size) you can email to someone is generally the preferred format, even over a website. A PDF forces you to just focus on the work at hand and lets someone just see what you're capable of. The version I send out on request just has a page for each project, and maybe a second page explaining some context/thinking/rationale behind the idea if it's needed. Generally a designer/director isn't going to read through your explanation of the work, they should know what it is just from looking at it. As a designer you should be communicating without words as much as possible.

Your brochure for the Plastic Bank would benefit from not just being a flat layout but rather displayed in context via a mock-up like your book. I see a lot of students/graduates just exporting their artwork and sticking it in a portfolio and it's not a great way of presenting work. Make it obvious what we're looking at or show something being used in context (a logo on a sign or wherever it's going to be used).

I'd also break up the pages with a heading or something. Currently it feels like it reads on as a single document but you want to break the sections up so we know it's a new project. Again, see my point about designing what you do.

What is the before/after bit at the end about? I can't see any difference between the panda imagery aside from it being black and white and has the levels adjusted. It's padding and doesn't demonstrate critical thinking or an eye for design so remove it.

Focus on the work you want to get hired to do. I see a lot of students worry they don't have enough work and so they pad their portfolio with things like photography. Whilst it's a useful skill for a designer to have, it's unlikely you'll be hired because of it. Most studios will work with a professional already, so just focus on the type of design work they do. Produce some fun projects for yourself, pick a name for a business or an app or something and produce some branding and marketing material for this fictional company.

Or do more promotional stuff for the WWF. You want to work for them, are you approaching them already? Do they produce work in–house or is it handled by an external studio? Find out and get pestering them for a placement right now.


Thank you for your feedback! I will defiantly take it on board. The reason it's on google docs is that I wasn't about to share the PDF on here, it seemed too big of a file. I have designed everything myself.
When it comes to the WWF, I have contacted them about what I'm after and aiming for. There isn't anything available currently but I plan on pestering them. I am volunteering in China with pandas in April and I've also go work placement at a Safari. I have also found a branding company local to me who have done work for WWF, so I am currently trying to push for placement with them.
 
It would really help if it wasn't Google docs. Ideally you need to have BIG high quality images that people can scroll through. If this can be on your own website so much the better. When I zoomed in to look at the detail it all went a bit blurry. And the Phlashworx card logo is slightly different to the logo on the website. Not much be enough to make you look twice.

The things you are doing look OK to me. Nothing special but nothing wrong with them either


Thank you for your feedback, it's very helpful.
 
The reason it's on google docs is that I wasn't about to share the PDF on here, it seemed too big of a file. I have designed everything myself.
Flatten all the layers and reduce the size of the imported images and you can create a high quality PDF with a small file size.
 
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