Hello,
Please could you take a look at my portfolio and let me know what you think?
Here is the link: http://kcdesign.ie
Thanks!
Simple, clean, easy to navigate.
I think you could use a stronger identifier in the upper left corner. You have the KC logo with the boxes, but it doesnāt say a whole lot. Iād like to see something like āKeith Conneely, Senior Graphic Designer,ā āConneely Design,ā āConneely Creative,ā etc. in the upper left corner.
Perhaps you should state you goal on the about page. Are you looking for full time employment or looking for design clients? Or is this just a showcase of your work?
You have some nice projects, and I understand you want to show the range of your skills and show off your work; but I canāt help feeling youāre showing too much.
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Thanks Steve. Youāre right - I felt deep down that Iāve possibly included too much. Maybe I should do a bit of a cull. In terms of the individual pieces, do you think the work is of a decent standard in your opinion?
Hi again. Will anyone else please critique my work too?
I thought you were looking for feedback on the site more than the actual work. Yes, I think your work is of a decent standard. Good job.
Sorry Steve-O - I shouldāve made it clearer. Thank you very much for your feedback. I know it takes time to go through all of the work so I really do appreciate it. There doesnāt really seem to be any other forum of note for critiquing or review folios so this site is fantastic. Thanks again!
Happy to help. I hope to see you hanging around here.
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Definitely.
Itās a holiday weekend here in the US. You might get more response tomorrow when everyone is back at work. Iām just avoiding the kitchen cleanup at the moment.
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Haha thanks PrintDriver!
Hi again guys. Really sorry to bang on about this - I know Iām coming across as particularly needy! But could you please take a look at my portfolio and let me know if you think the work is of an āemploymentā rating based on current graphic design standards?
Thanks!
I donāt have time to go over your entire portfolio, but I will give you my initial impressions.
You have wayyyyy to many examples of your work and not enough context of how the overall design process. There are 20 pieces alone on your homepage, and even more pieces within those pieces (for example your hot of the press piece). Honestly, if I was a hiring manager I would be skeptical about how much of this work is 100% yours. Not trying to accuse you, just giving you my unbiased opinion. With so many things to look at and hardly any context, I am left trying to figure out which parts of the project you contributed to.
Now please keep in mind this is only at first glance and I only spent a couple of minutes on your website. However, a hiring manager may spend even less time on your website, so you want to make sure to have a clear and concise message.
I would narrow down your projects to your top ten. Then I would narrow that down to your top six. If you donāt feel six is enough to reflect your message, then add two more projects. Make sure to explain the goal of your project, what decisions you made to achieve the goal, and what the result of those decisions were.
In all honesty I donāt think everyone reads all of the project explanations, but if you want to compete at industry standards then you need to include more information about your design process.
Please do not take my comments as being negative, Iām not the best at adding fluff or complimenting what I think works. I do think your designs showcase a level of a competence and experience, but I need to know more by looking at less.
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Thatās cool Calebninja - thanks so much for that evaluation for taking the time to look at my portfolio. I very much appreciate it!
I agree that thereās probably too much on display. Steve-O said the same. I probably donāt need to showcase all of the areas Iāve worked in and some of them are stronger than others, so I need to do a cull.
The work is all my own alright - Iāve had a weirdly diverse career thus far. However, Iāve always felt a bit of a āJack of Allā and a Master of None. I fear that this may be evident in my portfolio, hence why Iām here. The āHot Off The Pressā stuff is work Iāve created in the last month so Iāve clearly just put it onto the portfolio in a bit of a hurry. It might need more time and order.
Thatās a good idea to write more of an explanation for each piece too. Iāll work on that.
Once again, thank you so much for your critique. Itās a genuine help as Iām only recently back in ālooking for a jobā mode after 12 years of steady employment.
Yeahā¦Iāve been learning that no one really wants a jack of all trades type.
Iām the same as you. I work in-house (looks like you work more freelance?) which allows me to work on a multitude of projects. From designing websites, to trade show displays, to video production, I do it all. I am even working with a developer on building an app and I am shooting a 360 VR video in a couple of weeks.
Itās really a strange phenomenon though, that most companies prefer a designer to stay in one lane and do only that one thing, at least thatās been the case in my experience. I can understand why a much larger company would want a specific designer. Perhaps you have a full staff of different designers and developers, and you need each one to focus on their practice due to the demand. But Iāve seen ad agencies, who do not have large amounts of employees, spin the same narrative that they desire their specialty designers to only focus on their specialty.
Anyway, good luck to you in your search.
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