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Why won't anyone give me a better job
bearandkitten
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It's been a year since I graduated so it seems like a good time to update my portfolio... I'm working as a graphic designer now but am trying to find something better.
I know it's frowned upon to link to a website here, but I was kind of hoping to get feedback on the site itself. Is that ok? It's here: http://www.south20th.com/avanleeuwen. If it's not ok just ignore that, here's some work:
Advice or feedback on anything would be awesome. Thank you!
I know it's frowned upon to link to a website here, but I was kind of hoping to get feedback on the site itself. Is that ok? It's here: http://www.south20th.com/avanleeuwen. If it's not ok just ignore that, here's some work:
Advice or feedback on anything would be awesome. Thank you!
bearandkitten on
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The Mace one is pretty funny though. The angle it is skewed at is a bit extreme though.
btw my ass is in need of tenants, if you haven't noticed.
So um, bigger images might help then.
My only criticism: I'm a huge Ben Folds fan, and I know as much as there is to know about piano, and I had no idea those were piano wires until you said it... maybe if I would have looked longer I would have figured it out, but it definitely didn't strike me at first. I thought it was a pretty random design. Now that you explain the wires, though, and I understand it, I think it's a fanstatic composition.
I imagine the geometry at work there is intentional? I'm a fan of the skew because it makes the model the hypotenuse of a right triangle formed by the banner at the bottom.
Agreed. Many of the photographs leave a lot to be desired. Get someone who understands lighting to shoot your stuff and post new photos, and include some PDF links. I also agree with the comments about the splash page—a good design firm is not likely to hire someone whose portfolio opens with a device that is in every list of bad web design devices.
More importantly, your page is too heavy on trendy illustrative design and too light on original, conservative, corporate, and typographic work. Every kid right out of design school is doing the same stuff, so your portfolio does not stand out in a crowd. You need to mix in more original ideas to show that you can develop your own ideas, work with existing styles and follow trends.
Good luck, yeah I have at least 2 years of experience and now it seems the market dried up.
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
yep.
also, are you related to Troy Van Leeuwen?
no multiple pop up windows, the first page is a messy drawing then a link to another window..no thanks.
I love it when you drop by, NZ. Your level of constructive criticism is something we should all aspire to achieve.
I'm looking at some of your advertising art and it still needs a bit of a push to get that extra awesome.
This one for example. You have two copies, stick to one. Copy #1 is on the cloth,which I would have written, "The world is full of wolves". Copy #2 is below that one and is horribly illegible. If I'm reading it correctly, it says: Don't just wait to be rapped. With MACE the happy ending is n your hands. I would never write this because ppl don't want to hear that something horrible is going to happen to them. This is why Life Insurance ads don't say "When you die, give your relatives peace of mind."
Work your way around the potentially horrible situation that using this product might entail and tell ppl "Hey, no matter what happens, MACE is gonna back you up!" Follow that with a cool tag like "MACE backs you up!"
It's also a good idea to use a picture of the product so that ppl know what it looks like.
Use some better fonts and buy a typography book. Use some color, don't just slap some text on a photo.
Make a website that looks creative and interesting. It looks like you designed your site in Textedit or Notepad (which is what I do, but you know what I mean, right? Use some color! That pencil drawing on white background is boring!
Networking for a job is also important, it's the way I have gotten my last three jobs. Not from an ad in the paper, but from word of mouth. Tell people you know that you are looking for a job and what kind of job you are looking for. That is the way my wife and I both got our current jobs at completely unrelated companies.
Improve your work, try something new, challenge yourself. Then start looking for a new job.
eh, Id rather have a site with a blank slate to view the work on.
Ever hear of the blog linesandcolor? The guy over there has been doing an ongoing write up about artist website design.
its good stuff
http://www.linesandcolors.com/2007/05/31/how-not-to-display-your-artwork-on-the-web/
cause i was that bothered by the site.
just being honest, it wasn't a shot at bearandkitten's character or even trying to personally attack him. would you feel better if i just said "i'm sorry, your site seems to be of poor quality. i find it annoying to navigate and the image on the front page seems a bit sloppy, and not to the same standard of your little red riding hood image which i do like very much."
i'll make sure to do that next time. your level of stuffiness and air of arrogance is something we should aspire to reach.
get yourself a sense of humor! it's all good.
Seems like you thought about it for a bit though, so would it hurt to post some ideas or concepts related on how maybe to solidify his liquid feces? Or you can just rattle on and derail the thread.
srsly tho, i wasn't a big fan of the first page myself, didn't seem necesary if you get my meaning. i would toss it, its an extra click to get to your portfolio that isn't needed. as far as presentation goes, i'd recommend thumbnails, the text links don't rly tell me what im looking at until i click it. its a portfolio page, show your work to the viewer in a manner that is simple and easy and straightforward.
I agree that it should be more legible, though.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
You have some nice stuff, like the Phoenix wallpaper and the Mossy Mountain disc
To a photography teacher, who is also well known in here, a rotated picture is a wrong picture, so maybe that has something to do.
Also, in that same ad, the text looks a little bit happy, same for the colors, and well, I'm not entirely convinced that it fits with the theme. To be honest, it looks like a skateboarders ad, grungy but not "fairytaleish"...
Your site:
1.- A splash page? Big no, that's so nineties...
2.- You don't have a lot of work, and one has to click a lot to see some of it, you could put it all together in one big page.
3.- No contact information ?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!
4.- No about
5.- feels awkward. The navigation seems to change, text moves, distracts.
About not finding a better job:
Do you have previous work experience? That's very important for any workplace
Do you have the right mindset? I mean, can you work in a team?
This makes a lot more sense than rapped! Thanks, Lyrium.
Anyone can say a design is bad and point out some flaws, however constructive criticism happens when you go beyond this and help the guy buy suggesting creative solutions. My problem is not that you did it on this thread, its that you do it on all the threads! I've rarely seen you offer anyone something that goes beyond saying "your page page looks like liquid shit".
I agree, the art should be the focal point, but there is no art on that page. It's the first thing the viewer sees and it looks like there is nothing on the site.
To the OP, did you go to school for art? Specifically for graphic design?
Now I feel like a jerk for making a pop up window. Heh!
NibCrom, yes I went to school for design, and thank you for the good advice.
XAL, Not that I know of! You'd be suprised how many of us there are.
Organichu, Ben Folds actually signed that poster for me, and then drew a piano on it. So I guess you aren't the only one.
And thank you to everyone else for the feedback.
"It's also a good idea to use a picture of the product so that ppl know what it looks like."
That is extremely important for an ad. I can think of three important reasons: If you showed the ad to the advertiser, they would be pissed that a picture of their product was not on there. People who read the ad need to have the image of the product in their mind so that when they go to the store they can recognize it. And if someone doesn't take the time to read what the ad is about, there is no chance to remember the product. Think about someone flipping through a magazine. Hopefully they will stop and read your ad because you have created something intriguing, but if it doesn't catch their eye, they can at least catch a glimpse of your product.
A quick fix for the mace ad could consist of just slapping a big white bar on the bottom with the word MACE in big black bold letters (I don't know if they have a logo or not, is that even an actual brand? if the ad was just for practice, that is fine, not trying to put you down for that, anyways...) and then put a picture of the mace dispenser or sprayer or whatever it is called so that it connects the white space and the photo. It will pop out pretty well. That's just a real quick fix and it's not perfect, but hopefully that will give you some ideas on how to improve your art. Think about the goal of your commercial art! What is the purpose? That will help guide you.
Also, on your portfolio. There is a lot of stuff that probably wouldn't apply to any job. Like that picture you have of the coffee cup. It's kind of cool that you painted over it, but is any employer going to want you to cover up a square section of a photo and then repaint it? No! So get some real purposeful ads (or whatever kind of art you are trying to get into) and it will increase your chances of standing out from the crowd. Interviews and job hunting is all about selling yourself, and the first rule about selling is kicking your own ass. So hunker down, work hard and over time you can improve.