Portfolio Surgery - Elmwood.

I recently took part in a second portfolio surgery this time with Steph from Elmwood. It was great to talk to another professional about my work and gain some helpful criticisms to help improve my portfolio. This crit was also individual which made the experience different from the previous time. Some points that I took from this were:

• Include an introduction board about my interests within design could incorporate some of my personal branding as a way of demonstrating my visual style.
• Champneys: Be sure to show clearly the examples of copy as it shows a deeper understanding of the audience on more than just a visual level.
• Galina London: show products in context so that less explaining would need to be done. For example labels on the products.
• Galina London: as the logo was initially the main part of the brief have that large scale to show where the project came from.
• Kubu: Strong project that relates to my current work, but because it is a second year piece and it isn's as developed as current work have it nearer the end.
• From looking through my portfolio it was clear to see that I am interested in doing projects for high end fashion and lifestyle etc.
• CV: include experience like working for real clients and entering live and competition briefs as it shows I can design for others and work from a brief.

Portfolio Surgery - Thompson.

The other day I visited design Studio Thompson for my first portfolio surgery. I was initially quite nervous as I was unsure what to expect but I was interested to hear what the feedback would be. When we arrived we were taken to a conference room and sat together around the table. The crit took place as a group and it was interesting to see what everyone else had put together. It also meant I could take more feedback on what could be improved upon. When this was over we had a quick tour around the building, which was quite small but was still really bright and airy and seemed a great place to work. The feedback I received from the experience was:

• Overall spread out boards rather than trying to squash everything over one or two pages.
• Champneys - The marbling print is a big aspect of the design so consider highlighting it by giving it a page to itself.
• Champneys - when showing apps put them real scale on the page so that the viewer can see exactly how it would be seen, in relation to image and type size.
• R.T Millinery - large scale image of business card is good and the logo is really successful.