Portfolio Website

[kiilljoy]

I've been working on assembling all this for a couple months now, and I would really like some feedback. I'm preparing this for grad school applications. I will be making a paper version both on presentation boards or URTAs and in a folder to carry around. My plan is to transfer the website to a mini cd to also hand out to the college reps if they want one.

I'm still missing some magic sheets and a plot on the show pages, but other than that, it's done. Thanks in advance!

Paul T. Arnold | Lighting Design | Home

 

[Footer]

Right now, your page looks a bit "bloggy". It looks like you are running on wordpress which is great, but wordpress can look less bloggy. I did some posts about how I use wordpress on my site awhile back, take a look at them.

What do you want to do at grad school? Right now, I can't tell if you want to act, stage manage, or be an LD. Its fine that you have many talents, especially when they all tie together, but with grad school you want to put your flag down as "This is what I am". Also, I would highly suggest you lead with some images first thing. Right now, I really don't have any reason to dig into your site. If I had some killer images that would make me want to dig, that might change. Also, your photo page could be better. I would suggest breaking each show onto its own page w/ paperwork. Link all of those pages on one page. No one is going to scroll through 15 screens of pictures. As far as what to give schools, I don't think you really need to drop them a CD. They can go to your website. Make up cards that have your name and site and hand those out like candy to anyone that will take them. Mini CD's should be avoided. Many computers, mac's mostly, won't take the mini-CD. You don't want a college rep to ruin his/her computer because of something you handed out.

 

[ship]

Missing a link to it in seeing what you are doing.

Me from a hiring standpoint, I would prefer a CD than a website. Something about the actual work done in I don't know but in some way your own website having the same, too polished and free lance in not staying long.

Often thought about when/if I get fired - not likely, finially went in for my raise and have a lot of job offerings in the cue should I jump. Still though if Graduate School is like when I last applied for a job - almost 12 years ago now... What I lacked in pesentation was that video presented in polish.

Brought with me polised and used lighting designs in ink from my portfolieo - the details of the hookup were assumed and not needed, and stuff to play with - my random strobe light by way of flourescent starters matched to the lamp in a wash strobe fixture. And stuff like that. Had I a CD of what I do to insert while I was doing my sales pitch... it would speak further ambitious but not free lance I think with website link.

Don't know in years since I applied and back than, inked hand drafted drawings were still something to show. But the presentation was all about the job in amongst many applicants, here was a polished person that came with toys and drawings. Your personal interview more makes you stand out I think as something to have in wow factor during the interview.


It's old info what I have and perhaps a website listed for your work would be good in a cover letter for interview to do should the person interviewing you have time to view it. Still though, I think have a disk ready to slip into their computer for the interview and have your presentation ready for what you present on the disc of work done - photos and plots. Leave the photos linger long enough that you can slip in a word or two during presentation, but not linger longer than say 20 min overall. overall. If you have not sold yourself by that time you won't. Perhaps a quick minute or two scrolled thru and a later lingering while you are discussing your ambition.

A disc of what you do but still having stuff to present I think important. Toys are always good as with you selling yourself. Disc good to presnt also, but do it in a way that it helps your personal sales pitch and don't distract from it. Website perhaps useful for the before the interview and after in further studying you, but more about the polished presentation. Bring a model and drawings to present. Details of productions are assumed and not unless amazing to present. One assumes you did your work.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Looks like you have a lot of good stuff but the navigation drives me crazy. I like the idea of everything being grouped by show. Don't mess that up by letting people get at your artist statements alone, or photos alone, keep each show as a package". The Sitemap page is also a little too 1998 webdesign for my taste.

I agree with footer about having a photo or two on the mainpage. Also loose "stage electrician" from your header if you want to go to grad school for design. Ditch the "welcome" section, but keep the bio, perhaps add a head shot of yourself to jog the memory of the people who met you in person?

Also you color choices raped my eyes.

//$0.02

 

[Esoteric]

Hey man, it is so odd to see someone from the same area as me (competing for some of the same jobs as me as well). Anyway, you need to lead with pics. That is your work product. Plots and paperwork and words are nice, but as a lighting designer your work is visual. You blow people away with your work, and THEN tell them what you are all about. I would look into Joomla if I were you. It is still very easy to use, but much more flexible and less "bloggy". Take a look at my site (still in progress):

Esoteric Visions

I think you might have been an intern when I designed at Theatre Three (Mack and Mabel). I have been fighting to get back in there, congrats, it is a great place to work.

Your resume looks a bit more like you are trying to get a job with a Community Theater than to apply to grad school. All the other stuff (acting and stage managing) is nice, but if you want to be a lighting designer, you need to narrow it down much better. If you plan on going to a large university where you will have to supervise electrics crews you need to get some more varied experience. I would suggest trying to get overhire work with the IATSE Local.

Your photos are very nice.

Good luck!

Mike

 

[kiilljoy]

So many posts in so short a time, thanks. I'm actually not running on Wordpress, it's a template that I've modified a bit and built the rest of the pages from. My intial goal was to transplant the website directly onto a CD, which meant that I couldn't use any server-side code to make the website work, and I don't know any Java. But if the collective opinion is that the CD is not worth the trouble...

I've always resisted pigeonholing myself, but I know you have to a bit, so I see the wisdom in focusing the website a bit more to Lighting Design. Also:

Right now, I really don't have any reason to dig into your site.

That's a really nice bit of criticism, and not something I was really thinking about when building the page. Remembering the bit about focusing the whole portfolio on the production photos instead of the paperwork is probably a good idea too. Making the website more visual-based than word-based.

As for separating all the shows I have photos for and giving them all paperwork, the problem is I don't really have any paperwork for them. I can talk concepts for them, and I have notebooks full of patch info, but not a whole lot else. The focus of the website and of the paper portfolio is meant to be the four shows on the left-hand side with all the paperwork. Should I have less of them? Are they too distracting from everything else on the page?

The website, at this point, is intended almost entirely to be a supplement for a college rep, after seeing my paper portfolio and interviewing me, to go back and be able to look at parts of my portfolio for details we might not have been able to cover, or to clarify something without having to wait for me to email or phone back. My idea with the CD was to make that process even easier than going on the web (maybe they have a slow connection or no connection or whatever). Lot of work for a very narrow audience, I know, but that's what I'm going for right now.

@esoteric - Mack and Mabel was indeed my year, but I started late, so by the time I got there Mack and Mabel had been up for a couple weeks already.

@ship - thanks for properly classifying the thread.

@pie4weebl - What about the navigation is bothering you? Is it too divided? Is it confusing?

 

[derekleffew]

Might I suggest a self-contained, auto-playing, PowerPoint-type presentation for the CD? (Someone other than I will have to help you with implementation, though.) You could even go so far as to add narration on the CD, talking about the show as you display the pictures. "Since Willy Loman is a troubled soul, I used R99 and R88 from severe angles to highlight him, reinforcing his obsolescence..."

I really like that you've included Lighting Concept/Lighting Statement s along with the pictures. I'd also include Light Plot, Magic Sheet, Channel Hookup, etc. for just one or two shows, preferably the largest/most impressive. As has been said elsewhere, all Vectorworks plots look the same, as do all Lightwright documents, but a grad school or employer will want to know that you know how to generate and use all the related documents. Yes, "producers prefer pretty photographs," but those in the business also want to see more. For scenic/prop/costume portfolios, I suggest starting with the concept drawing/sketches, then construction drawings/renderings, and ending with photographs of the piece. Same idea, but put a photo up front so the viewer is intrigued enough to continue.

One word about your light plot: lineweights!

 

[Esoteric]

I certainly agree that for educational purposes you need paperwork, but my point is to put the emphasis on your photos, that is what will get you "through the door" so to speak.

Also hand drawn stuff is nice, but all the programs I looked at didn't really care. In fact in my graduate classes at UT I only hand drew 1 plot out of 12. I am not even sure I could hand draw a plot anymore.

But having a show or two from concept and research through photos is a must.

Sorry I missed you there. I loved my ALD for Mack and Mabel. She was really good. Jac is a great guy too.

Good luck!

Mike

 

[Grog12]

I certainly agree that for educational purposes you need paperwork, but my point is to put the emphasis on your photos, that is what will get you "through the door" so to speak.

While this holds true for jobs, the OP is looking for grad schools. Good paperwork is a must when applying to grad schools.

Also always start strong: Why is there no picture on your homepage? You always want to wow them up front, and wow them at the end to leave a lasting impression on the person doing the evaluation.

 

[Esoteric]

I don't know, I led with pictures for my grad school interviews and got pretty good responses. I had 5 shows worth of material and only had paperwork on 2 of them. You just need enough to show them that you are able to produce the needed paperwork.

Also, keep in mind these people are not expecting you to be a polished designer yet. Sometimes they will even take a chance on a person with a high ceiling who has not had a lot of formal training. The best way to show off your ceiling is with your eye.

Heck one guy I went to school with only had 1 hand drawn (and not very well at that) plot in his presentation. But the actual work product was beautiful. Our profs said, "we can teach you do produce a light plot, we can't teach an eye like that."

But that was just my experience I suppose. YMMV

One thing we can all agree on is lead with pictures, no matter how much paperwork you have.

Mike

 

[metti]

Thoughts coming from a background as a freelance web designer and someone who has read more than a few resumes from theatre designers:

Definitely add tons of photos to the front page. Maybe as a rotating slideshow.

Change the colors of the site. Green, green, and more green, is not conducive to preventing ocular hemorrhaging.

I like the idea that someone mentioned of grouping all of the info for each show onto a single page. Do that and include an index page for them with the name, venue, and thumbnail picture which links to the full page.

Venue/company names shouldn't be all lowercase. Especially as someone who is applying to grad school, this just looks immature and bad. I know this has become a bit of a trend in graphic design and it has its places but your website is not one of them.

Include a headshot. Preferably on the front page. It will help those of us who aren't good with keeping faces and names straight.

Lose the Microsoft Publisher style split color circles that you have on the right side of the page. They may match your logo but when they are arranged like that they just look like the crappy template that Publisher has included for about a decade.

Fix the pixillation on your logo. This is one of those things that makes a huge difference in how professional and clean your site looks.

Put lighting designer/stage electrician under your name not to the right of it and capitalize them. Also capitalize your name.

I like that Mark Twain quote but is it really the one you want to present right off the bat to an admissions person at a school?

The copyright type stuff that you have in your Welcome section belongs at the bottom of the page, not in your welcome.

"He is received his B.F.A" is not proper grammar. Make sure you proof read several times and then get a couple other people to do it too so they will catch things that you missed.

About Me is first person but the actual text isn't. I feel that a personal website is inherently first person and any copy should be written as such.

"He is pretty sure that he has nothing to do with the fact that both companies no longer exist. " I know this is a joke but I'm not sure I would point out that they aren't around anymore.

You put a place for your GPA but it just says "x.xx"

ETC is not a skill. List specific products or lines (eg Eos, Obsession, etc). RGB LED is not a skill. Anyone can plug in an LED fixture. Don't list this. There is no such thing as a Martin Entour 250, it is called a Martin Mac250 Entour. Regardless, I don't really think that is a skill either. I would just say something like "Moving light programming". "Conventionals" is NOT a skill. The fact that you list some of these as an LD/ME would make me hesitate as someone reading your resume.

At this point I would assume that everyone knows how to use Windows and MS Word. I wouldn't list them and I judge people who do. OpenOffice.org is not a piece of software. I wouldn't list it anyway but if you are it should say, "Open Office Application Suite" or something to that effect.

Wiring is not a skill unless you mean that you know how to send money via a wire transfer. Do you mean electrical work? Do you mean that you can attach a 2P&G to a cable?

The Artist's Statement page has several grammar issues and typos but I don't feel like listing them all since they start in the second line. My earlier comment about proof reading applies to your whole site. Maybe even hire a friend who was an english major to clean up the copy.

Lose the sitemap. We are in 2010 for gods sake, not 1996.

Generally consider what, if any, quotes belong on your website. I generally try to leave cliche quotes for other peoples' Facebook status updates not my professional website.

Put an email address on your contact page in addition to the contact form. Maybe even a phone number too.

 

[Grog12]

I don't know, I led with pictures for my grad school interviews and got pretty good responses. I had 5 shows worth of material and only had paperwork on 2 of them. You just need enough to show them that you are able to produce the needed paperwork.

Also, keep in mind these people are not expecting you to be a polished designer yet. Sometimes they will even take a chance on a person with a high ceiling who has not had a lot of formal training. The best way to show off your ceiling is with your eye.

Heck one guy I went to school with only had 1 hand drawn (and not very well at that) plot in his presentation. But the actual work product was beautiful. Our profs said, "we can teach you do produce a light plot, we can't teach an eye like that."

But that was just my experience I suppose. YMMV

One thing we can all agree on is lead with pictures, no matter how much paperwork you have.

Mike

The school of thought on the matter that I've heard from various graduate design proffessors. A good majority of them want to know they aren't going to have to teach you the basics, hookups, drafting, sectioning, magic sheets ect. They are the "you go to grad school to learn how to design" folk. Generally they look down their nose at any designs you've done pre-grad school. Grad school is a place to hone your talents in design and if they have to reinvent the wheel...well you get the point.

Don't get me wrong, today post schooling you won't find a scrap of paperwork in my portfolio. There's still some pdf's of it on my website to prove I can do it. But every single other page on my website has a different photo on it. There's a happy medium there you have to find when putting out an online portfolio.

 

[kiilljoy]

Thanks Metti, that level of detail is unbelievably helpful, and I appreciate the time you took to do that. Sounding like I need to do a major rebuild of the site, which is fine. the hard part was getting all the information together. Seeing as it's already up, that's all done. Some of that resume stuff is nothing I've ever gotten any direction on, and not seeing many myself, hard to pick that up.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Not saying you should totally scrap your site, but if you opt to I suggest using wix.com to build one. It is what I use for mine and it's tools make it super easy to make a really great looking site.

 

[kiilljoy]

I'm not scraping the content, and that's what took so long to gather. I installed Joomla on the server, and I'm working with that to try and update the look. The template I'm using is still a bit bloggy but it is more modern looking. It's just a matter of pluging everything in and finding the right components for the galleries and such. As long as you understand I'm still building in the content, it's at Paul T Arnold | Lighting Design.

 

[Anvilx]

Pictures first please! If they are interesting then people will want to read about them, think of it as an extension of a title.

Sent from my HTC Liberty

 

[metti]

it's at Paul T Arnold | Lighting Design.

So much better already! I'm glad to see that my feedback was appreciated.