My new portfolio website - please have a look around!

I’m a junior product design major at Carnegie Mellon. Please let me know what you think of my work and my website!

http://maxplummer.com

Best,
Max

Hello Max,

I really like the simplicity of the website layout, which lets the projects take center stage. The real downside of this layout is I can’t see an overview/preview of your projects, but have to click through all of them to see what they are. If you’re sending your site to employers (for internship, etc), I believe most of them would want to get to your work right away, and this layout makes them work hard to get a sense of who you are quickly. I would also recommend changing out the animal drawing on the first page to perhaps a sketch of a product if you want it still be a drawing. It’s more appropriate for a fineart/illustration portfolio.

I enjoyed all your woodworking projects - maple seed tongs, five board stool, drafting table. They have beautiful forms and are well made. Some thoughts - I’m not sure the maple seed project can be called tongs since they are not joined at one end, more like salad servers/spoons. For the drafting table you mentioned it is collapsible, so I think you should have an image of it collapsed, since someone skimming would not read that detail. You also described how it collapses, but a short video/gif would help to illustrate that point quickly without the reader having to imagine and have questions. The final watering form is also a beautiful project. I think if you did a series of rendering with different colorways and materials, that could add to the project. I also think you could clean up and condense the sketches all into 2 pages, instead of just putting up uneditted scans.

One project I had quite some trouble with is project swish. Watching the video, I get that the idea is a fun thrash receptacle that is like a basketball hoop, but also only after 20s do I see what it is for. But just a glance at the project page I couldn’t get that right away, and it shouldn’t be so. The cover image could simply be someone throwing something at it. The process images were also confusing - what are those blocks in the layout?

These are all me looking for potential improvements as I’m looking through your website…hope these nitpickings are not unsolicited.

Keep at it!

Ying

Ying, thanks so much! That’s all really great advice. Every time you suggested something, I thought “oh, yeah, great idea.” Thanks for being so honest!

Max, what is your target type of employment?

Frankly, yo, I haven’t decided yet. I really enjoy product design, but I’d also love the opportunity to explore some more abstract fields like systems or environments design.

Max, I think that shows in the portfolio and so it makes the work hard to critique. Right now there is not enough product meat for a to be appealing for a strict product design position.

Thanks for the insight, I’ll work on fleshing that out. Perhaps a better explanation may be in order as well.

I’d make that first image equate to how you want to be perceived. Right now that sketch of whatever it is is not working for you. It made me not want to click further. Make sure that first image engages people, encourages them to explore more, and most importantly, clearly communicates the type of designer you are. Be specific and clear. People don’t have a lot of time so don’t assume they will spend more than 5 seconds before deciding to click deeper or close the browser window.