Professional Feedback: Portfolio

I sent my business card, CV, and portfolio in an email to a bunch of graphic design agencies nationwide in order to gain feedback on the quality of my work. Describing the project and the ideas behind each design, I wanted to hear their honest opinion on whether they would see something like this in industry. From the 14 emails to different companies I sent out, I only received 3 responses: http://oysterdesign.co.uk/, http://designamite.co.uk/ and
http://110percent.co.uk/

This part focuses on my online portfolio:

• They all liked the clean style the website had adopted.
• Try to keep the colour scheme consistent throughout, even tiny details such as text colour.
• Feedback on the masthead, updating sizes and placement to work better.
• There were also comments praising the standard of work on the website.
• Keep updating with new projects, potentially remove older ones as more go on.

Professional Feedback: CV

I sent my business card, CV, and portfolio in an email to a bunch of graphic design agencies nationwide in order to gain feedback on the quality of my work. Describing the project and the ideas behind each design, I wanted to hear their honest opinion on whether they would see something like this in industry. From the 14 emails to different companies I sent out, I only received 3 responses: http://oysterdesign.co.uk/, http://designamite.co.uk/ and
http://110percent.co.uk/

This part looks into the feedback received for my CV:

• They really liked the folded leaflet concept. It was described as a narrative, going through it in stages. Also referring to it as fresh and different, meaning people are more likely to pick it up.
• I was told the ‘About me’ section wasn’t up-to-scratch, and told it would be wise to change it so it sells myself better.
• A few blank spaces to fill up. (Except the area where the business card goes, but that was explained to them.)
• Liked how it worked well with the business card.
• They all liked the overall design, describing it as very neat and effective, gets all of the relevant information across in a unique style.

Professional Feedback: Business Card

I sent my business card, CV, and portfolio in an email to a bunch of graphic design agencies nationwide in order to gain feedback on the quality of my work. Describing the project and the ideas behind each design, I wanted to hear their honest opinion on whether they would see something like this in industry. From the 14 emails to different companies I sent out, I only received 3 responses: http://oysterdesign.co.uk/, http://designamite.co.uk/ and http://110percent.co.uk/

This part describes the responses I got for the feedback on my business card designs.

• Overall, the feedback was good. They where all impressed with the design, liking the simplicity and style. They said it definitely catches the attention of the eye with the bright orange, but isn’t to sharp.
• I was informed to change the text colour from a light grey to a darker grey, keeping consistent throughout. This was mainly for printing reasons, as they stated it would print better.

Professional Feedback: Logo

I produced my logo as the first piece of work as that is the connector of everything, the logo will be used on the CV, business card, and portfolio so I needed to get this right before engaging in anything else. I developed my original idea and sent out a few emails asking for feedback on it, I only received 1 email back from http://www.brandglue.co.uk/.

• They liked the design itself but recommended moving away from the very static DS, instead producing a more abstract, unrecognisable design that could be used as a better icon.
• They also recommended adopting a more vibrant colour scheme, still creating black & white variations of the new one, but using colour in the logo allows the remaining products to include colour.

With this feedback I went back to the drawing board and redesigned a logo which is the current iteration I’m using now.

Once I had converted logo, I resent a similar email to the same companies asking for the same feedback, before continuing with the other components. Once again I only received 1 reply from the same company…

• They much preferred this design, liking the instantly unrecognisable DS but not so un-obvious that it doesn’t make sense.
• They liked the orange, and how it worked against the grey.
• They said for the logo that includes my name, to reduce the size of the logo above it and re-evaluate the text, although they liked the font.

I am happy I asked for a professional opinion as I think the outcome has really improved my logo design. I like the current one much more than the previous, however, wouldn’t have changed without prompting. Even the little details that helped, like changing the text has really improved the look of it.