Hey guys!
Just looking to have some honest opinions on my portfolio, mostly branding & packaging design:
&
https://goodhoodstudio.cargo.site/
Thank you! 
You’ll have to post what you want to be critiqued here on the forum using the forum tools to showcase what you want to be reviewed.
You’re a designer and a qualified architect – or did you mean architectural illustrator?
You have some nice design and illustration work, though it needs some context. As surf says, it would help if you could ask for specific critiques and give some background to the projects.
Hope this helps.
sounds to me like they posted work (portfolio site)
and asked for a critique on their portfolio (I’m assuming the site overall and not the works.)
But that’s just an assumption and I gots 5min left of lunch so not even gonna look…
Hi there! I’m a licenced architect, yes, and a graphic designer. I’m currently employed in graphic design, but I also have another client on the side and some sporadic projects, but I’m looking to build a client base, mostly in branding for small-medium brands and packaging design.
Just want to have an opinion on the portfolio as a unit, whether it seems cohesive, the quality of the work - it seems to me there could be room for improvement but I don’t know exactly what is missing!
I think you need more samples of architecture, so when potential clients visit your portfolio they can decide if they want to hire you to design a logo or a building.
Hey there! I’m not looking for work in architecture, just graphic design
You have some nice work, but the overall presentation can be a bit much at times with the animations. I’d look for ways to simplify to make your work stand out more.
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Well I’m impressed. Becoming a qualified architect is no easy task. Can I ask why are you not interested in pursuing architectural work any longer?
If not, I would remove mention of it from the portfolio site. Although your illustration style is evidently influenced by your architectural past (I really like the style), there are no examples of architecture.
In reality, they don’t sit that well together anyway. I’d keep an entirely separate site for architecture anyway.
As to the site. It is OK. A bit template-like. Nothing out of the ordinary. Shows off the work, but, as I said, the work itself needs more background given to it.
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I’ve worked as an architect for 8 years and I’m completely burnt out. I find the turnaround rate of graphic design projects much more relaxing (I spent 4 years building one project, as opposed to 2-3 weeks for one graphic design project). I’m a self taught graphic designer, but many of the skills I’ve acquired are also due to my architecture background so I thought it was important to mention it - for the very least it explains why I’m 31 but I only have a handful of projects to show.
What do you mean about more background? More storytelling or more showing the process?
I was being sarcastical. You might mention architecture in a bio page or something and that could be impresssive, but I wouldn’t present as though it were an offering because it kind of muddies the offering and message.
The graphic design school I attended was in the same building as the university’s school of architecture. There was a fair amount of cross-pollination between the two. I agree that both fields have certain fundamentals in common.
I like your work, but there are inconsistencies that leave me puzzled.
For example, your personal care packaging is sensitive, clean, appropriate, and very nice. The innovative use of change and motion in the Arrabal logo is interesting. Your architectural sketches are wonderful.
However, the design of your cargo.site portfolio strikes me as strangely amateurish. Is the awkward typography and smiley face meant to mimic something out of the '90s that was produced in PageMill?
Similarly, the Taco & Burritos Los Angeles branding looks exactly like you lifted it off a street vendor’s taco cart in Tijuana. Maybe in Barcelona, the authentic look of a Mexican taco stand comes across as exotic. With me, though, it conjures up images of places to avoid out of concern for food poisoning.
I’m puzzled because you’ve produced work that I consider very good while also designing work that strikes me as less than professional. Since you’re obviously capable of good work, I’ve got to think that the other work was intentionally designed to be what it is, which leaves me baffled.
Why? What is going on?
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More context. The brief. What problem it was trying to solve.
Furthermore, the delivery of your website is far too complicated, initially, I hadn’t noticed the slideshow/animated delivery of each project. It irritated me so much, that I didn’t look at all of it. Far too distracting.
Finally, I did start to write a whole critique of your work, but then deleted it. Just-Bs response pretty much says it all.
Hey there, thank you so much for taking the time to answer!
Yes, I haven’t invested a lot in the website and it’s something that I put together on cargo in a day. I guess I’m not very handy with designing websites or branding myself, but it seems like it’s something I should push on with.
I think it’s funny that you mention the Los Angeles project as being ‘lifted off the streets of Tijuana’, because that was exactly what I was asked to create. The client couldn’t decide between two name, either birrieria dos coyotes (that is also on there) - or Los Angeles. Actually the company that I work at works with food trucks & street food. (it’s quite a ‘hip’ thing here in Barcelona)
Perhaps like sprout also said, I need to show more background, more story for each project, perhaps a page for each project & less animations, a better presented & more clearly branded website.
Thank you!!
One other criticism I meant to mention, but forgot to – (it was 2.30am! The name, Good Hood Studio? Is that a direct translation of something Spanish or Catalan? It doesn’t have a great feel in English?
Sorry, an aside I know, but I thought I should flag it up.
OK, that answers my questions and was what I was hoping would be the case. Thank you.
As I mentioned, branding like that in Los Angeles would be seen as just another iffy run-of-the-mill Mexican street food vendor. I can see how in Barcelona the connotations could be different. I think Sprout is correct in his observation about some of your work needing more context to explain what you’ve done and why.
As for the cargo website, the design of the site reflects poorly on your talent. Cargo templates seem deliberately designed to look awful, as in some sort of anti-art aesthetic, but that’s just my assumption. In any case, potential mainstream clients won’t see it that way — they’ll likely see a subpar website that creates doubt in their minds. If you were going after certain off-beat counter-culture clients that matched the overall look, it might be fine. However, your actual work suggests that’s not the client base you’re hoping to attract.
Yeah, that kind of ‘anti-art’ aesthetic is kind of the norm here,I’ve been struggling to understand it. But no, it definitely wasn’t what I was going for hahaha. I need to invest more time in the design of the website, I’ve seen nice websites done even in cargo, although it’s quite a shit platform.
Hi there!
I’m not sure if I’m too late to the party, but I’ve just signed up for the forum and am browsing around, and thought I’d offer a couple thoughts. I did a quick browse, so I may have missed some things.
My first thought is that you have posted two portfolios, in my mind I’m not sure why you’d split your effort between the two. Client acquisition is an active process not passive – you’ve probably already talked to/reached out to the people looking at your portfolio somewhere else.
My second thought is that the food photography for the Birrieria is a little unattractive, over exposed + saturated. Food should look as appetizing as possible regardless of any branding choices.
And my last thought is that your portfolio, while aesthetic, does not talk about design goals, strategy, campaigns, successes, failures, corrections, research, or especially process. If you are looking to sell yourself as an employee, showing potential employers how you reach your decisions is a must. (whether collaboratively with your clients, through research, trail and error, etc.)
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Alan