This is my website portfolio.. Samples of my work and my resume. Tell me what you think!
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Please critique!
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taylorantone
MIS
Are you joking? What happened to the URL?
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Too sloooooooowww!
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taylorantone
MIS
I'm blind!! Sorry.
I agree with cLFlaVA. It's like movie credits that come before anything else--you came for the movie, not the credits.
Black background sites are hard to pull off. It can work with a bit more styling, not just the menu links and a few small thumbnail images.
I agree with cLFlaVA. It's like movie credits that come before anything else--you came for the movie, not the credits.
Black background sites are hard to pull off. It can work with a bit more styling, not just the menu links and a few small thumbnail images.
I didn't hang around to watch the flash intro, but then it doesn't seem to work in Firefox anyway. That whole black-with-crosses-on look makes it look more like a gothic rock band site that a design one, though I have to admit the black background shows off the artwork well.
Im not sure what the target audience is for this site, presumably it's prospective employers. What I also don't know is the status of all the stuff you're showing. It says things like "these are some adverts I designed for this magazine", "here's some branding done for a local company" - but is any of this stuff real? Or are they pieces produced as part of your studies? I'm guessing it's the latter (for the most part, anyway) but you need to be more upfront about it.
According to your CV you've done some real design work for employers and non-profits. I don't see any of that work in your portfolio. If I were a potential employer, I'd be interested to see how you've dealt with the real constraints of real clients, rather than imaginary ones.
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
Im not sure what the target audience is for this site, presumably it's prospective employers. What I also don't know is the status of all the stuff you're showing. It says things like "these are some adverts I designed for this magazine", "here's some branding done for a local company" - but is any of this stuff real? Or are they pieces produced as part of your studies? I'm guessing it's the latter (for the most part, anyway) but you need to be more upfront about it.
According to your CV you've done some real design work for employers and non-profits. I don't see any of that work in your portfolio. If I were a potential employer, I'd be interested to see how you've dealt with the real constraints of real clients, rather than imaginary ones.
-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
Flash intro. I generally don't agree with them, but done well, they can impress a prospective employer enough to at least look at your portfolio. In this case, I don't think it's done well. Sorry to be harsh, but there's too much competition out there. As an employer myself, I wouldn't go any further.
General look & feel. My first impression is that you are probably very inexperienced, which is a shame because you are probably selling yourself short. A quick look through your portfolio shows that while you are clearly not a seasoned veteran, there is definitely potential. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to come through in the site. I think the black doesn't help, and it's worth keeping in mind that it's actually harder to read for any length of time.
I don't know if you have enough samples to justify breaking it up into the various categories. Thumbnails for all the pieces could probably work better on one single page called "Portfolio". Also, the thumbnails themselves are quite sloppy. Some designers get away with showing portions of a piece, but they generally understand how to work with grids to produce an solid, sometimes intriguing layout. Your layout feels a like you're working in the dark a little.
Sorry for being harsh, but from looking at your portfolio, I really think you could do better. Maybe you just need some inpiration from other designers. Here are a few sites to get you going:
Good luck!
General look & feel. My first impression is that you are probably very inexperienced, which is a shame because you are probably selling yourself short. A quick look through your portfolio shows that while you are clearly not a seasoned veteran, there is definitely potential. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to come through in the site. I think the black doesn't help, and it's worth keeping in mind that it's actually harder to read for any length of time.
I don't know if you have enough samples to justify breaking it up into the various categories. Thumbnails for all the pieces could probably work better on one single page called "Portfolio". Also, the thumbnails themselves are quite sloppy. Some designers get away with showing portions of a piece, but they generally understand how to work with grids to produce an solid, sometimes intriguing layout. Your layout feels a like you're working in the dark a little.
Sorry for being harsh, but from looking at your portfolio, I really think you could do better. Maybe you just need some inpiration from other designers. Here are a few sites to get you going:
Good luck!
TruthInSatire
Programmer
I was thinking the same as blueark, it was said well.
To make it short. I wouldn't use that website to use as a "look-what-I-can-do-please-hire-me" example. Sorry. It looks more like a "this is my personal website so i can do whatever I want" With that said I have room to talk. I'm a server side programmer with luke warm design skills (translation: I can make stuff look OK if it's a shade of blue or gray... but i can make it DO a lot)
It isn't a BAD design but not one i'd use to sell yourself. It shows different examples of what you can do, but doesn't say you can do anything amazing. You should want something that makes your hopefully soon to be boss say "Wow that's the kind of talent I want on my team" This site doesn't do that. This site will speak louder than any example you have, and forgive me for saying, it's a bad first impression.
The crosses look like they were edited badly to remove the background from an original image.
Your resume has irrelevant information in it. Very little will be said that you were a server from 98-99. What does that have to do with webdesign?
The flash examples show you know how to use flash, but just barely and can't do anything "Super Duper" with it.
I've seen some work from here
the website is very neat, clean, consistant, easy to navigate, and says "I can do quality work" That's what you're aiming for!
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)
To make it short. I wouldn't use that website to use as a "look-what-I-can-do-please-hire-me" example. Sorry. It looks more like a "this is my personal website so i can do whatever I want" With that said I have room to talk. I'm a server side programmer with luke warm design skills (translation: I can make stuff look OK if it's a shade of blue or gray... but i can make it DO a lot)
It isn't a BAD design but not one i'd use to sell yourself. It shows different examples of what you can do, but doesn't say you can do anything amazing. You should want something that makes your hopefully soon to be boss say "Wow that's the kind of talent I want on my team" This site doesn't do that. This site will speak louder than any example you have, and forgive me for saying, it's a bad first impression.
The crosses look like they were edited badly to remove the background from an original image.
Your resume has irrelevant information in it. Very little will be said that you were a server from 98-99. What does that have to do with webdesign?
The flash examples show you know how to use flash, but just barely and can't do anything "Super Duper" with it.
I've seen some work from here
the website is very neat, clean, consistant, easy to navigate, and says "I can do quality work" That's what you're aiming for!
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)
I would agree to drop the gothic theme.
I would arrange my preview thumbnails on the right a little better, I would play up your photoshop skills in image retouching - it looks like that is your strength.
I would make the thumbnails more interesting. I was most impressed with the girl in the dress image, even though its simple to do it is elegant. I would have cropped that image in the thumbnail better so that the user is clicking on an interesting looking image not just a grey blur. And the director game is some ambiguous star lost in the dark, and the flash movies are just blocks of obnoxious colors. If youre going for a subdued look I would avoid teal and pink at all costs.
The Director game is pretty good, I played it up until neptune.
I would change the resume text to black and the bg white so that when it is (hopefully) printed people can read it.
The potential is there - warm up your page a little - the goth thing is scary.
I would arrange my preview thumbnails on the right a little better, I would play up your photoshop skills in image retouching - it looks like that is your strength.
I would make the thumbnails more interesting. I was most impressed with the girl in the dress image, even though its simple to do it is elegant. I would have cropped that image in the thumbnail better so that the user is clicking on an interesting looking image not just a grey blur. And the director game is some ambiguous star lost in the dark, and the flash movies are just blocks of obnoxious colors. If youre going for a subdued look I would avoid teal and pink at all costs.
The Director game is pretty good, I played it up until neptune.
I would change the resume text to black and the bg white so that when it is (hopefully) printed people can read it.
The potential is there - warm up your page a little - the goth thing is scary.
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