Aaron Powers Portfolio Thread

Showcase portfolios
8

My 0.2$ worth-

  1. Potential employers look at your portfolio to see how you think, your process and what you can do, not really what you have done. As such, showing skills, process and thinking is more important than final result.

  2. I think the project you got rid of, the Merrel boot project is actually your strongest. Shows good range of exploration, good solid sketches, and nice looking final design. A bit weak on technical and construction, but realize it was a quick project.

  3. Band shoe doesn’t do much for me, even with the new render. Final design not that exciting, exploration not as strong as the other footwear project. Unless you really are familiar with Band shoes, you wouldn’t get the spats inspired look. Looks a bit like a kids velcro shoe.

  4. Oil rig bot project you can get rid of. I don’t get the design and it looks like a bunch of random features.

  5. Google car project I like as it’s one of the very few that shoes clear thinking about use scenarios, functions, etc. Sketches can be stronger and I think I recall you had some nice renderings in your sketch thread. Show those features you are designing better. Forget the UI stuff. Make the really tiny use cartoon a full page and much stronger to explain the what and the why.

  6. Music project. Obviously your big feature project.
    A. You need to show your exploration and sketching a lot more. It just looks like a few doodles and isn’t clear how and why you got to your final solution. I can more about this than a fancy rendering.
    B. You need to explain the system more. I don’t understand why there are 3 different grade products and if they have anything to do with each other.
    C. Renderings in use are not that strong. Visually there is no love to them. I wouldn’t do much more than skim.
    D. Mockups. I want to see more.
    E. Where is the final product beauty shot? Any details? Overall feels a bit unfinished and unresolved, like a first pass at preliminary CAD, not a final design full resolved.

Biggest thing just on first 10 sec glance is that your sketches from the sketch thread are really great and I’m not seeing any of that here. Just 3 pages of sketches from that thread would be more overall impressive than the entire portfolio you have here, to me, at least.

I think you are better than your portfolio shows. Which, in a way, is better than the reverse when your portfolio is only as good as you are and is still weak.

Hope this helps.

R