Portfolio site check
Out of context: Reply #9
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- rsinclair0
Thanks for the feedback so far.
I've designed the site the way I have for specific reasons, but to address some of the comments:
* I intentionally didn't want to "over-do" the design of the site/interface. Overdesigned sites bug me when content is supposed to be what people come for. If it looks "corporate" or "ordinary", that's purposeful. I'm not selling myself as a website designer per se, and I don't want the site to overshadow the work. In other words, I'm perfectly fine if the site feels a little "boring".
* My online portfolio is probably the only place in the world where I'm entitled to be a LITTLE self-serving. I mean, come on :) While the content may be considered self-serving depending on your perspective, I think heavy-handed animations and loud soundtracks proclaiming the company to be the future of design a lot more guilty. I wanted to establish up front and quickly that I have A) I've been doing this for awhile, and I've worked with clients people might recognize and respect, and B) I've worked with people who vouch for my approach and results. These points are made immediately and you're past them once you click to the portfolio.
* This site is primarily designed as an online resume for Creative Directors to review, for the purpose of gaining employment, not one-off freelance projects, hence the up-front "horn-blowing" text and quotes/references.
* The dropdown menu is provided to choose 1 of 3 ways to browse the portfolio (by Project, Client or Industry.) I expect most people to use it once during a visit and that's it, depending on how they want to see the work.
* Not sure what one poster meant by the site being "all over the place." Seemed pretty straightforward to me. Some up front info, then the rest is organized portfolio.
* I did it in Flash instead of pure HTML (valid or not) because I'm not an HTML coder (whether this site would be simple for YOU to program or not) and Flash was the tool that I knew, and could use to put together what I wanted. I didn't want to fumble through code or Dreamweaver to put together something passable, knowing I would have to make compromises.
* I agree that the PDFs and pulldown menu should be switched in visual priority, but that's the way it turned out in the design. To help draw the eye to the pulldown on first visit I used a quick visual glint to draw attention to the area, and positioned it in the top/left of the page where the eye begins reading.. I considered removing the PDFs entirely and replacing that section with a randomly selected "Featured Project", which I'll continue to consider if feedback tends toward that, but right now I just wanted to get something online.
* One response alluded to removing the "dated stuff." Can you be more specific? I know some projects have dates mentioned if you look really, really close, but otherwise are there some pieces that just stand out as being really old for some reason?
* I don't expect much time to be spent on the homepage. And aside from that content the entire rest of the site (the other 90%) is all portfolio, so once people click past the homepage, all the rest is nothing but the visual work. This, again, was purposeful.. so I don't have extra pages of other stuff like a separate area for Contact or my "process". Anything you'd ever have to read is on the home page, once you're past that it's all portfolio stuff.
Thanks again for your review, would love to hear more (even, you know, something positive :) )
-RS