Branding & Conceptual Designer. would love some feedback.

[spring tulip]

@hollow escarp

[spring tulip]

@hexed pecan @autumn spoke would love your input

[opaque nacelle]

Can you share a little more about what you want to achieve, what agencies are you aiming for? That would probably creates a better anchor for feedbacks.

[hollow escarp]

Could you also quickly summarize what changes you made since the last time we had provided you feedback? Just so we don’t end up repeating something on accident

[spring tulip]

I want to land an internship at a branding design agency such as Bulletproof, Wildish & co. I also like to dabble in conceptual design too

[spring tulip]

I worked on the craft for the most part, ensured that there’s a sense of cohesion throughout every project. Tightened up the colour palette, typography so if looks more harmonious & essentially shows off my design skills

I want to ensure it’s less of an advertising portfolio, though when I had a portfolio review with somebody at bulletproof , they insisted it looks like a branding folio, so I hope it’s come a long way since

If something is lacking would love specific advice, I.e change X or reconsider X so I know exactly where to work on

[opaque nacelle]

If I were to be frank, as a hiring manager, I would not consider the current portfolio, be it for an entry-level position or an internship.

1. As of now, most of the case studies do not present depth in thinking nor logic behind each design decision. The thing that makes branding unique is the field is less about being creative and more about persuasion. As you work on branding projects, more than often, you will have to present your proposals in front of C-suite people, and risk-averse as they are, they will not accept any of your proposals without proper reasonings or testing. As a result, hiring managers at branding agencies usually look to see if an applicant has the ability to explain her design and her consideration for brand applications, and your case study need to demonstrate this.

2. The execution of the case studies, at the moment, are very poor. The quality of the mock ups, the image usage, the way you bring everything together is very sloppy. Again, when creating case studies, think of how you are going to present it in front of very high up people. Would they accept your proposals if they think that what you are presenting is cheap and couldn't present their business properly? Absolutely no. Take a look at Wolff Olins (https://wolffolins.com/) and learn from the way they present their work then think again on how you could present your case studies better.

3. Since you mentioned Bulletproof, one of the reputable agencies in the CPG/FMCG niche, I specifically looked at your packaging designs and it showed another issue: you lack the basic understanding of what packaging is and what is required when designing packaging for a product. Your design failed to shows the requirements of various regulations and that act as the constraints for packaging. Some concepts are interesting, but for someone with experience, they can immediately tell you how those concepts are not going to work. If you are interested in learning about packaging, it's best to start researching around to see what regulations are there that packaging designers have to pay attention to when designing, and how you can incorporate those understanding into your work. Packaging for beverages will have a different requirement from skincare products, home appliances, etc.

4. Additionally, I would also think of refining the current website more. Personal branding is fine, but don't let it makes you look unprofessional. Instead of using... I guess this avatar-like? Think of how you could present yourself more like someone who C-suite people will want to talk to. That doesn't mean that you have to give up on talking about going to the gym or loving fashion, it's just choosing the right visual style, the right way to convey them and inspire confidence. Trust is very important in branding, and the best way to build trust is to have a very good first impression, online or not.

There are a few nitpicks that I could point out, like how brands don't need to look "sexier," or how you should not confuse people since the New Blood Awards from D&AD is judged very differently from the rigorous actual pencils for professional works. However, I think that these points are not what you should focus on, but rather, you need to absolutely focus on refining your case studies to improve your chance at landing a job at your dream agencies.

[spring tulip]

Can you go in to more detail about which parts are ‘sloppy’ and bad specifically? When showing people from bulletproof & other branding agencies they considered my portfolio to be very strong so I’m surprised (especially with the changes I made from last time).

I appreciate my work isn’t perfect but other designers were really impressed when going for portfolio reviews and insisted my work is solid. Especially the ideas behind them

[opaque nacelle]

Let's take a look at a few examples:

1. In the Logo/Color Palette/Typography slide, there are already multiple problems: First, the logo. At the end of the day, is the brand named OOOOMAMI or OOMAMI or...what? If I look at the logo, I would expect it to be OOOOMAMI, but... "at 30,000 feet, OOMAMI..." (and then you say OOOOMAMI in the next explanation for the motif) but maybe that's an honest mistake. So let's assume that the brand's name is OOOOMAMI and this is the logo, it seems to apply fine on a can's label, but what about other applications such as corporate documents? Website? Application? How is the logo adapted for places where a vertical lockup can be limited? And you say that the logo is 3D... so when printed in monotone (black/white only), and on a regular office printer, is the logo visible? How is it printed? How does it look?

The graphic motif's explanation also makes little sense. Also, 30,000 ft is height, not speed. Let's say I'm someone who look at this guideline for the first time, how do I know how much blur, and what blur direction should I apply to achieve the same effect? Where is the guideline for that?

The color palette is also confusing. If I need to color match that for printed applications (absolutely vital for packaging), how do I ensure that I'm printing the right color? What's its matching code? Which matching system? And "earthy tones" are usually referred to the "brown" family.

So already, I identified multiple issues with the most basic elements in an identity system.

2. In this photo, where should my eyes focus on? What is it are you trying to convey? The overall tones of entire photo is overwhelming the main focus on the photo, and it's really hard to understand what's the focus. Also, the products' colors are also overwhelmed, and that's usually something we want to avoid as much as possible when presenting ideas. Contrast that to Coca-Cola's event (our agency's work), can you see the difference?

For this one, you may want to rework on your kernings. The spacing between the characters in the copy is so out of place. Take a look at the space between E and A in GREAT, between S and T in TASTE, and so on. These are all very fundamental errors

and so on. I don't want to go in and pick out too many errors as I believe these alone are enough to clarify my point of view.

I just want to mention that if your front case study is already like this, a hiring manager will more than likely to pass over your application instead of exploring more, and that's why you will want to take the time to perfect your work more and ensure that all case studies are presented error-free and to the highest standards.

This is the reason why I mentioned Wolff Olins as they are very meticulous in the visual aspect, something that both agencies and designers could learn from.