portfolio crit
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- 20 Responses
- beedee
Just completed the bulk of the work on my new portfolio site and would love to hear any and all comments... especially if anything acts buggy.
Some of the copy is missing or incomplete in a few areas. Aside from that, this is what i'm going to be sending out later today as i kickoff my nyc job hunt.
- paraselene0
one small glytch:
when you try to go to the photography section from the web section, your photography home flashes but then it takes you to the homepage.
- paraselene0
good luck, btw.
:)
- kev_charlton0
the layout and design are nice, but it takes too long to load in my opinion.
- honest0
could do with short descriptions of projects.
- miespaties0
nice work!
- navigation on top of page: have a look at it: sometimes the wrong buttons are highlighted
- for me, it's on the edge of being too slow.
good luck with the job hunting! planning to do the same in the near future. let us know how it goes!
- miespaties0
and since your site is a fixed height: maybe center vertically?
- beedee0
naturally i discovered several bugs immediatley after posting.
the nav quirks are fixed.
centered vertically.
project descriptions on the way.miespaties: what are you referring to when you say it's too slow? load time? animation speed? and in either case, which section is the biggest offender?
- Bottlerocket0
Nice site, but I get alot of errors on the site.
None of your web examples load. Safari reports a large number errors when trying to load the images: e.g.:
Stylistically, It would be better to try and craft the animations and transitions a bit more. When you move the navigation in and out, or move between sections..the animation seems really abrupt. Finessing those so the whole site runs well would add to the whole experience.
Personally, I also really detest nav that moves around the screen. Not sure why the nav is positioned in the middle of the screen when you enter and then jumps top left when you click on say 'web' for example. Why not just have it top left to start with?
HTH
- Crouwel0
Alternate HTML content should be placed here.This content requires the Macromedia Flash Player.Get Flash
- miespaties0
same as kev_charlton: load time is too long. i want to see content immediatly. in your case if i want to see your web-stuff i get 3 loading messages.
usually i first see the portfolio-stuff, then contact/about. so i would try to get the portfolio to load quicker.
- dlc0
small and elegant.
the only issues i have are type-related. the sans-serif you are using is kind of dull and your grid on the web section is a little off (the alignment of the word web is perceptually off from the projects below it).
- beedee0
the web section's fixed...
to those of you with the load time issues, what are your connection types? dsl? cable? dial-up?
i deliberately chose to preload all of the project's thumbnails and full-size images when the user selects it from the nav, but it sounds like some of you would prefer to only load the full screenshots if the thumbnail is clicked.
- poomoo0
im going to be honest. please dont take it as an attack.
-your use of fonts shows lack of thought
-your use of colour is poor/amature
-your use of 2 different top level menu systems is inconsistent
-there is no cohesion of sub menus throughout the site
-animation of site elements doesnt contribute to the site and in any case are too slow
-photograpnh buttons still too me to home page
- jpowell0
i agree with a lot of the comments above. especially regarding type treatment, grid, and navigation inconsistency.
did spot one "glitch" in the photography section. when you click on the image it closes... my expectation was for it to move to the next image.
good luck in your job search.
- beedee0
no worries, poomoo... i'm pretty thick skinned. and considering that i built this thing from scratch, concept through launch in less than 3 days, i'm pretty happy with it even as a starting off point.
most of your criticisms strike me more as your personal preferences, though, and most of them i do have a response to:
fonts
i actually did think about the font quite a bit. i wanted it to be simple but versatile; the 'bd' had to mirror well; and i wanted something round and evenly proportioned, to soften up the rectangular design.color:
personal preference2 top level systems? are you referring to the fact that the primary nav lives in the body block on the home page and then migrates to the top once you move inside? there's really no reason why that would be a usability issue.
submenu cohesion:
while i would agree with you if the site's content were more standardized, i don't believe that inconsistent positioning of the subnav is universally a usability or aesthetic drawback.the animation's quite minimal. with out the simple fades and pushes, the content would move a bit too abruptly for my taste.
your photograph buttons comment didn't quite make sense:
"photograpnh buttons still too me to home page"
- beedee0
i do also want to preface one other thing that might put my design choices in a different perspective, which is that i do not have any formal training in anything.
i don't hold that up as a badge of honor or a blanket justification. throughout my career i've been well aware of the fact that the design principles and practices that i am probably completely unaware of are legion.
because of this, i've aggressively pursued any opportunity to learn from the people i've worked with, either by interaction or observation. unfortunately, for the last 3 or so years of my career, i've had very little access to coworkers who i could aspire to emulate.
this was mostly due to the fact that none of the upper or middle management people who i worked under had ANY experience performing ANY part of design or development.
so i hope that in this context, my flaws and shortcomings as a designer might be judged appropriately, as i believe that i have strongly demonstrated my capacity to learn and develop despite the lack of formal training.
- poomoo0
--
fonts
i actually did think about the font quite a bit. i wanted it to be simple but versatile; the 'bd' had to mirror well; and i wanted something round and evenly proportioned, to soften up the rectangular design.
--
if your happy with the font - thats what matters.--
color:
personal preference
--your grey on the loading page is the worst and it is something you should look to change imo
--
2 top level systems? are you referring to the fact that the primary nav lives in the body block on the home page and then migrates to the top once you move inside? there's really no reason why that would be a usability issue.
--usability of a site is gained in part through familiarity and consistency. the fact that your menu moves makes the user question where the menu is, where it should be, where its going to move to and how they get back to the first menu. that is a usability issue.
--
submenu cohesion:
while i would agree with you if the site's content were more standardized, i don't believe that inconsistent positioning of the subnav is universally a usability or aesthetic drawback.
--
i feel it is both an aesthetic and a usability drawback. my comments from the question above also apply to this--
the animation's quite minimal. with out the simple fades and pushes, the content would move a bit too abruptly for my taste.
--there were comments made by someone else in the thread that addressed the animation. i would consider looking at it again however, and as i always say - if you are happy with it, thats whats important.
--
your photograph buttons comment didn't quite make sense:
"photograpnh buttons still too me to home page"
--typos. the photograph button in the top menu took me back to the home page.
hope that is of some help
beedee
(Jan 13 06, 07:20)
- gruntt0
your photography is wonderful.
vegas looks like a kick ass dog.
- Rand0
since the fullsized images are already loaded, how having them available on rollover for instant gratification? that would be great
- kelpie0
is this site for Flash 8? if so I can't run it, if not somethings up cos (like Crouwel I think) I just get a "get flash" message.