Just Another Portfolio Website

Gephoria · 28-08-2008, 02:17 PM

BrentJorgenson.com - Portfolio

Let me know what you think needs improving C&C Welcomed and appreciated.

tl154 · 28-08-2008, 04:02 PM

There's are lots of deceiving areas that I thought were buttons. The banner contains texts that I though was buttons that I use to navigate through. The portfolio section have tabs that are just there. Maybe you could incorporate it in to function instead of re-scrolling through the portfolio button. Nice layout and content however.

samgriffiths · 29-08-2008, 12:03 PM

I really found the site hard on the eyes and wanted to get off it - the Blue links on the orange background really made me feel bad and dislike it.

I think the colour is too bright and makes the white titles hard to read.

I do think you should change it to cooler colours like light blues etc

Just my opinion!

Gephoria · 02-09-2008, 02:56 PM

thank you tl154, good critique, i changed it up, and made a hotspotimagemap so the tabs on the portfolio shouldn't confuze as much any more. thanks for the feedback

@samgriffiths: i'll take your advice into consideration and actually you reminded me to change up my CSS sheets so that the links don't go against my overall color scheme. the way i originally made the site layout was a psd, then click+drag that into fireworks and split it up from there 2 dreamweaver, so an entire layout revision, well would be tough for me to perform after pouring my time into this one (not to mention this was the one of 3 that my teacher approved of) thanks for the advice

Talon · 02-09-2008, 03:36 PM

Site-wise;

The layout of the folio isn't too bad. Things are grouped together well enough although the presentation jumps around a bit. It's best to keep as consistent as you can with how you show off models and textures and with the information you give about them - that way people can be more sure about exactly what they're looking at.

I don't mean to be harsh but no one will care about the text on the front page of your site, not even Randy's motivational quote. It's only in the way of people wanting to look at your work (and that is really the sole purpose of a portfolio site). The first page people see should be your digital portfolio index, not the latest news.

Design-wise;
Only have one set of menu buttons. You have the same set of menu items repeated twice, but the smaller (and therefore less important/significant) text-based ones are the actual links. This is confusing and hard to navigate. Pick one and ditch the other.

Pick 2 fonts or 2 font styles (one for headers, one for menu buttons). And another generic one for actual text. If you start to comebine loads of different fonts and styles like you have, then there's no clear hierarchy of importance on the page and no theme and things quickly look chaotic and hard to navigate. Especially true for the buttons on your portfolio page.

Simplify the background/frame or just remove it. Don't have busy backgrounds with text on top - it makes the text hard to read and the site look confusing. Personally, I'd remove the bevel/emboss, too - it looks obvious and a bit tacky. It also takes ages to download, too.

As for the text, serifed fonts are hard to read at that size. I advise you pick something simple and sans-serif like Arial or Verdana which are easier to read at smaller sizes.

Gephoria · 02-09-2008, 06:07 PM

samgriffiths thanks, i toned down the text a bit, i accepted a what i thought was a bad critique and executed it to up my grade i guess, i wanted the letters faded back in my topwards banner but my instructor said outline them, luckily i passed his class and learned to backup and changed it just now, thank you for the reminder, i think this thread will benefit my site and it will continue to grow from there.

@Talon: it will take me a while to revise all the things you've said to look over. i'll let you know when i've finished and send you a response.

ty for the crits everybody

Gephoria · 25-09-2008, 01:12 PM

Alright Talon, i addressed some of the issues, after receiving feedback form instructors prior to graduation i also changed my logo on the site as nobody liked it, and the font on that looked too childlike/photoshp liquified. I cleaned up the sections of the website that had confusing fonts, i'm pretty stuck to the layout as just because i like the color scheme and how it came together, i'll change it someday but no time soon. i changed around the front page still tweaking some of the flash elements i put up there (have yet to make the white transparent and the animations to loop)

Thank you for the critique again talon, it's hard to get good critiques. Yours was excellent.

28-08-2008, 02:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
Gephoria Frequenter 146 - 12	Just Another Portfolio Website BrentJorgenson.com - Portfolio Let me know what you think needs improving C&C Welcomed and appreciated.

02-09-2008, 03:36 PM	#5 (permalink)
Talon Industry Artist 3,798 - 1,396	Site-wise; The layout of the folio isn't too bad. Things are grouped together well enough although the presentation jumps around a bit. It's best to keep as consistent as you can with how you show off models and textures and with the information you give about them - that way people can be more sure about exactly what they're looking at. I don't mean to be harsh but no one will care about the text on the front page of your site, not even Randy's motivational quote. It's only in the way of people wanting to look at your work (and that is really the sole purpose of a portfolio site). The first page people see should be your digital portfolio index, not the latest news. Design-wise; Only have one set of menu buttons. You have the same set of menu items repeated twice, but the smaller (and therefore less important/significant) text-based ones are the actual links. This is confusing and hard to navigate. Pick one and ditch the other. Pick 2 fonts or 2 font styles (one for headers, one for menu buttons). And another generic one for actual text. If you start to comebine loads of different fonts and styles like you have, then there's no clear hierarchy of importance on the page and no theme and things quickly look chaotic and hard to navigate. Especially true for the buttons on your portfolio page. Simplify the background/frame or just remove it. Don't have busy backgrounds with text on top - it makes the text hard to read and the site look confusing. Personally, I'd remove the bevel/emboss, too - it looks obvious and a bit tacky. It also takes ages to download, too. As for the text, serifed fonts are hard to read at that size. I advise you pick something simple and sans-serif like Arial or Verdana which are easier to read at smaller sizes. __________________ > My Portfolio > Supporter of good crits.

Bookmarks
Digg	del.icio.us	StumbleUpon	Google

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

28-08-2008, 04:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
tl154 New Member 3 - 1	There's are lots of deceiving areas that I thought were buttons. The banner contains texts that I though was buttons that I use to navigate through. The portfolio section have tabs that are just there. Maybe you could incorporate it in to function instead of re-scrolling through the portfolio button. Nice layout and content however.

29-08-2008, 12:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
samgriffiths Banned 378 - 111	I really found the site hard on the eyes and wanted to get off it - the Blue links on the orange background really made me feel bad and dislike it. I think the colour is too bright and makes the white titles hard to read. I do think you should change it to cooler colours like light blues etc Just my opinion!

02-09-2008, 02:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
Gephoria Frequenter 146 - 12	thank you tl154, good critique, i changed it up, and made a hotspotimagemap so the tabs on the portfolio shouldn't confuze as much any more. thanks for the feedback @samgriffiths: i'll take your advice into consideration and actually you reminded me to change up my CSS sheets so that the links don't go against my overall color scheme. the way i originally made the site layout was a psd, then click+drag that into fireworks and split it up from there 2 dreamweaver, so an entire layout revision, well would be tough for me to perform after pouring my time into this one (not to mention this was the one of 3 that my teacher approved of) thanks for the advice

02-09-2008, 06:07 PM	#6 (permalink)
Gephoria Frequenter 146 - 12	samgriffiths thanks, i toned down the text a bit, i accepted a what i thought was a bad critique and executed it to up my grade i guess, i wanted the letters faded back in my topwards banner but my instructor said outline them, luckily i passed his class and learned to backup and changed it just now, thank you for the reminder, i think this thread will benefit my site and it will continue to grow from there. @Talon: it will take me a while to revise all the things you've said to look over. i'll let you know when i've finished and send you a response. ty for the crits everybody

25-09-2008, 01:12 PM	#7 (permalink)
Gephoria Frequenter 146 - 12	Alright Talon, i addressed some of the issues, after receiving feedback form instructors prior to graduation i also changed my logo on the site as nobody liked it, and the font on that looked too childlike/photoshp liquified. I cleaned up the sections of the website that had confusing fonts, i'm pretty stuck to the layout as just because i like the color scheme and how it came together, i'll change it someday but no time soon. i changed around the front page still tweaking some of the flash elements i put up there (have yet to make the white transparent and the animations to loop) Thank you for the critique again talon, it's hard to get good critiques. Yours was excellent.