Hi there! First post on the forums here, I’d like some crits on my portfolio! It’s currently still being worked on however, I’m looking for more clarity in terms of what to improve next. Also, to clarify, I’m looking for feedback on my body of work, not the website itself (I’m aware it’s janky, I’m still learning). My area of interest for GD is branding and maybe type, but I do fine art and 3D as well.
jheriot.xyz
I’m looking to get the following questions answered:
What is the strongest/weakest point of the entire body of work?
How can I better showcase my work when I have had a very limited number of clients?
How could I set up the site to better serve its purpose (which is to create more sales and sell assets)?
Does it make sense to have so many areas of interest? Is it overwhelming?
Your work is interesting from an artistic viewpoint, and I like much of it. Your talent and creativity are apparent.
However, most of your portfolio has little to do with graphic design. It’s primarily a collection of your art projects. Even with those pieces that I’d call graphic design, you’ve tended to approach them from the angle of how you can integrate your artistic preferences into the work.
There’s nothing wrong with an art portfolio, but you’re billing yourself as a graphic designer, and graphic design is not about your art.
Artistic ability and aesthetics play a significant role in graphic design. But rather than being the objective, they’re a means to an end. Graphic design is not about your artistic expression. Instead, it’s about using your design skills to communicate with target audiences to achieve client objectives.
In addition, your portfolio is more about you and less about how you can help clients or employers. For example, the first sentence on your first page is about your New Hampshire roots. Where you grew up is irrelevant to client and employer concerns when choosing a graphic designer. If you needed a plumber to fix a clogged drain, would you choose a plumber who focused on himself or a plumber who focused on how he could help you clean your drain? This you-centric approach runs throughout your portfolio, in both your text and the work. This would be appropriate for an art portfolio, but again, you’re billing yourself as a graphic designer.
If you want to be a creative and experimental fine artist, that’s great. However, if you’re going to become a graphic designer, you need to approach it as visual communication in the service of helping clients and employers engage their target audiences. Fine art and graphic design overlap in a few areas, but they’re very different things. An art-for-art’s-sake philosophy doesn’t cut it in the business world of graphic design.