Portfolio Review - Major Critique!

I knew when i asked for this review it was going to be harsh, but it is necessary. My brother is a recently graduated Graphic Designer with his own company, Jan Doe. It consists of Dan and his friend from university, Joe (so Jan Doe!). He makes music and graphics / animations to go along side his music - it's all very experimental and a bit hippie! I usually stay clear from my brother because he can be very opinionated and blunt, he will not beat around the bush, but when he came up this holiday i thought it would be a good idea to ask him his opinion on my reworked portfolio. After Alan's review I got round to making it (i had it for the LBFL interview too), because I definitely wasn't going to let him see my original one (i would have cried).

When I first showed him it, he seemed to flip through it really fast, silent but just nodding his head, I assumed because it was fast that he wasn't interested or something, but he said that he liked the general layout of the portfolio itself. He told me that the circle logo that i have for myself is a bit 'blasé' though, and i should come up with something more original. I can understand why he has said this, but my logo is very fashionable right now, and since most things are trend based it would do well, but I will try and re-work it into something less over produced. He also outlined that some of the layouts in the portfolio don't work, the ones with 2 images on the page need to be better thought out, placed together a bit more cleverly and suggested that i stick to keeping images with coloured backgrounds on one page and not both. I can see why he said this - I was actually having LOADS of trouble trying to make it look okay next to each other. Also, he commented on the fact that some of the pictures were pixelated and that it's really not acceptable for something like that at the stage I am at. I didn't really expect it to pixelate so much, it was a surprise for me when i printed it out, but I have to get to grips with technology a bit more, and learn how to do things like this which he said i will absolutely need to have, on a day to day basis. 

The next thing I asked about was his opinion of my work, and how he would see it commercially. He told me that he likes the general idea & style of my work, and that it's fairly unique, though not too far away from other similar styles. He thinks the ancient look and eastern culture has it's own separate market, but is moving on to more hippie type stuff, that he could see my work being in. The work also needs to be more professional, some of the pictures still haven't been photographed and I really need to get things put onto physical items (i.e the mugs), I know how many times i have been told this, but really right now i just want to get my FMP sorted out, it is my priority. Some of the pictures also don't look 'ready' yet and some lose ends could be tied off here and there. He noted that my work has a 'young & fresh' vibe to it, and i could easily work my way into doing children's novels because it looks innocent. I agree with this, i would looooove to do some book illustrations :) 

We talked for a while longer about projects and i told him about my current project and my ideas and what i've done so far. He said my work sounds quite 'fine art' and that I should think about something more commercial if i wanted to go that way, but he also knows I have plans to become a teacher so he sees the link. He told me it would be great if i had some experience in the real world so that when i go into teaching i would be more knowledgable about that to help students, but it might be best to just let them experiment at a high school stage.

All in all it went a lot smoother than I thought it would go, and i actually got a lot out of it in terms of future plans and it's reinforced what other viewings have had to say. I still have a ways to go, but I am much closer!

JAN DOE