please critique
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- 26 Responses
- dsmith70
wow...I wake up this morning to find that people have given me great comments. I actually am not German but my wife is. My original name was Daniel Smith then when we got married last year we decided to be so Bohemian and combine our names to form a new surname. Its pretty cool because now you know that any Schutzsmith you ever hear of in the future actually started with me and my wife.
BTW, I'm only 24 years old. When I tell people I'm married they automatically think I'm like 40 or something!
- dsmith70
ooops...I forgot I wanted to say that I think seom of you were dead-on with the color in my portfolio section. I am gonna try and show the colors without the overlay and see what happens. I am really trying to lighten it up a great deal because soooo many people are having trouble reading the words. Thanks to everyone!
- jgjh1510
I think it looks very nice. I especially like the texture of some of the graphics. The old, worn texture. I have liked that and seenit a few times before, wondering how it is acheived. Is it a photoshop filter?
Anyway, looks nice.
- Rementer0
your portfolio gets a little repetitive. do have anything BESIDES websites to show? perhaps some photography or illustrations that you made to incorporate on your web stuff? you spent so much time on your 'website' your work seems like an afterthought.
also, you have a 'hand-drawn' feel to much of your site, but all of your work suggests nothing of the human touch.
- jox0
wow, that's some nifty shiz dsmith! I love the retro feel!
Although I think I'd look better with a serif font for the welcome text (to have everything in retro), and as it takes about 20 seconds for me on a fast cable to load each section maybe it's a bit too slow for dial-ups?
(bookmarked :)
- BonSeff0
tight. the portfolio images could be bigger, dont make us strain to read your text. I love the dirty typography it just kinda small. and its not too pink. sweet.
- BonSeff0
why not have some dirty old film lines moving over your portfolio images like an old movie, kinda give it a reel to reel effect...
- blend0
Really nice retro feel. Made me think of carnival posters or something along those lines.
Don't worry about the pink. Maybe put some carnival orange in it if you think you want to balance it out.
There maybe too much of black space around the content (?)
full screen? Is it really necessary. sorrry, you propably have good reason for this. It is my pet peeve....
The thing with portfolios is that you may be happy with it for a while, but then inevitably become discussed of it. If you wait long enough or never get around to making a new one you will feel happy about it again sooner or later. So do you wait or bust a new one to be discussed of?
- Prime760
I agree that the load times are too long. Your initial loader looks really cool but takes a while to just load itself.
Make the textures behind the text lighter. It is hard to read black on a black background. And that font you used for your drop down menu in the talents section is not very legeble. Needs to be bigger or a different font.
- dsmith70
thanks so much guys...this is some great stuff, I'm writing it all down. Anyone else care to take a stab at it?
- dsmith70
I have actually been getting some reactions about the inner shadow covering the inside content too much on Windows machines. Is anyone experiencing this??? I think I fixed it enough but I am not sure.
- morphinelips0
I think you nicely disprove that old myth about programmers who can't design. This is one of the nicest sites I have seen in a very long time.
I agree with earlier comments about the typography, and I'm not sure that you want your screenshots to be quite that dirty as you are obscuring your work a bit. Exceptional job overall though..
- dsmith70
good point Rementer. The hand drawing appeal of it is something that I have been thinking about. I was wondering if I should perhaps draw the portfolio examples as well to keep it with that feel. I don't have any paying experience with any other design other than websites so that is why there isn't anything else up there. I did do a couple of band posters so I guess I could throw those up there and I made some logos too.
- semiot0
dude, this site is trully nifty. couple of usability notes though:
- As already noted, the text is a bit of a struggle to read, use more screen real estate and make it bit larger.
- On your resume section: I almost missed the drop down list, which means I almost missed learning about your full range of skills. I think you either have to take it out of the shadows or bevel it a bit so that it can be more of an explicitly traditional nav element....
- dsmith70
great idea Bonsseff!! Morphine, I am really in aw from your compliment; that is exactly what I want the viewer to come away with - "he's a damn good designer for a developer!"
thanks to everyone so far. Great comments, I am making changes right now. Anyone else got any comments?
- jox0
maybe a "home" button? Just an idea...
:)
- Amphetamine0
Lose the fullscreen JavaScript command.
- dsmith70
thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm going out now with my lady for a long night of drinking. Feel free to still give me more feedback.
thanks again!
- CAJTBr0
the whole thing looks amazing. keep the pink.
i disagree with the 'old film lines' thing. i think that's clichéd and never looks right anyway.
i agree that you need to lighten up the dirt over the portfolio text.
agree about the serif font, and think you should also nudge the text down so that it's aligned to the to the w rather than the decoration.
i think you should rewrite that welcome text. it reminded me more of a pageant judge than a carnival barker. you also have this weird mix of first and third person going on through the site.
a couple of dev points rather than design:
downloading your resume takes you out of the whole site. new window?
to cut down on load time you could have the portfolio load each item separately rather than waiting till the whole lot's in to display the first? maybe you could even use some backend so that you could just drop your movies into a directory and have the thing set it all out automatically - that would make it less of a hassle to update too, though you'd have to leave some space for extra stars i guess. (what is it they say about designers being bad at development? - just kidding)
- obey_yoda0
pink is fine...I just find it a bit monotone. i found myself wanting to see the colors of your portfolio items, instead of the monotone color you overlayed. i think its important to see a designers color sense. you display your ability with texture/type/layout, why not color?
i really dig the aesthetic. its a decent mix of some of the 'design methods' you list. its this wierd sort of victorian, communist, and german sensibilities that are odd, but i think you could really push that in the next iteration of the site-if a redesign is where youre leaning. i'd like to see it kickin some more ass than it does now. that german looking type is ass-kickin type...make it kick some ass man!