CAED Portfolios

Life Before GrC

Before majoring in Graphic Communication I surprisingly studied Architecture. For my first two years at Cal Poly I spent all my time in studio building models and doing abstract projects. Clearly I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did or else I wouldn’t have switched majors; however, I really enjoyed designing portfolios and showcasing the projects I worked on during the quarter. So I will be posting some of my favorite pieces of my portfolios and linking the full publication. At the end of each quarter we were required to print and bind the portfolios so we also got a taste of print design!

Fall 2014

My first quarter in Architecture studio was a lot of experimenting. First of all this was my first time using the Adobe Creative Cloud tools and working with Architecture tools so everything was just a lot of learning. My portfolio for the quarter shows that quite a bit as I experimented with many different layouts, design elements, and cross spread designs. It was super fun being able to freely design my portfolio with no stops. However looking back at it, it was a bit too much, but for my first time I’m still really happy with the result.

Winter 2015

Out of all the studios I’ve been in, Winter 2015 was my absolute favorite one. I had the best professor I could ever ask for, I learned so much about architectural design and graphic design. If I had a reason to stay in Architecture school, it would be because of this professor. Although it was my favorite, it had the hardest project for all first year students. I’ll talk about it a bit below, but it was a long and grueling project, but a super fun one.

As for my portfolio, I experimented with a different sized portfolio which changed the way I laid out my projects. I did a lot more image clipping because most of my projects required it after I took picture of them.

Parasite 2015

The project I mentioned earlier is a project most Architecture students at Cal Poly dread. Parasite is our final project of Winter Quarter where we are assigned a site on the architecture building and we are required to build a structure that would make sense in the space. We had to follow all safety guidelines and receive a permit for our proposed design. It was a long process, not to mention my team had one of the hardest sites. View our process book below!

Spring 2015

I would hate to say that this quarter of studio was my least favorite, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. The projects this quarter were more research based, less overall designing. My portfolio uses a more modular theme to layout all my projects and focused a lot more on photography than design elements.

Fall 2015 - My Last Studio

My second year of Architecture Studio was such a drastic change that I wasn’t prepared for. My first year focused a lot on abstract concepts and abstract designs, while my second year went straight into real world sites and materials. It made me realize that Architecture just wasn’t for me, I enjoyed designing the posters, portfolios, and print deliverables so ultimately at the end of the quarter I applied for a change in major.