The Work Of .co.uk has just been relaunched - Tell me what you think.

Anagoge

Senior Member
I've been working on a redesign of my site for the last few weeks and after a very long struggle to get it finalised, I've just launched it. It's nothing stunning, but it serves its purpose well as a vehicle to display my artwork, rather than the site being a piece of art itself.

I'd love to know what you think of both the design and, more importantly, the work which is on there. I'd really appreciate your feedback.

Head on over to www.theworkof.co.uk and give me your thoughts.

Thanks!
 
lol don't worry it's not bad! It took a little getting used to for me. The first time I just shut it down because it was too dark and the navigation wasn't looking too inviting.

so those you may wanna reconsider.

the xmas theme looks good :) so well done with that.

otherwise, i think you need a few links in the portfolio and if you're offering your services a few contact forms. (or just one)
 
Fair comments.

You say I need a few links in the portfolio. What exactly would you like me to link to?

I do have a contact form. It's accessible via "get in touch" in the opening words as you come to the site and it's also accessible via the Email link in the footer.

Also, apart from the site itself, I'd love some comments on the work too. Is there anything you particularly like? Anything you hate?
 
Anagoge said:
I
I'd love to know what you think of both the design and, more importantly, the work which is on there. I'd really appreciate your feedback.

Hi,
some of the works is great. really nice..... but the site is fairly grim.
presentation of work is just if not more important than the work itself. You wouldn't go to an interview with your work in a paper bag, or just put the work on a clients table without selling it in.

The site needs designing to reflect your standard of work on display

" It's nothing stunning, but it serves its purpose well as a vehicle to display my artwork, rather than the site being a piece of art itself."

By admitting to the sites failure you have devalued your work and efforts. If your a print based designer then get a web designer to help you out. Don't show anyone your limitations publicly.
 
Well said 'Berry'.

I think that you do need a better showcase. something a bit more snazzy.

As for the contact form, apologies for not seeing it. I think it was because it's not entirely obvious. Try and enlarge the icons or something; whatever makes it so that people think you're accessible.
 
Hi Neil,

(Sorry for the delayed reply have been away for a few days)
I really like your work on the site, some of the print design examples are great! The Oxfam posters, Mind Annual Report and Course Promotion stand out for me, excellent work.

In terms of the site design I can understand why you've kept it simple (using Indexhibit?) as you don't have that interest in web design, but at the same time given the web design examples on your site and your clear talent with print and layouts it does seem a shame that the site doesn't shout about your work.

I know from personal experience how difficult your own site design is and with my current site opted for something that I thought was simple and accessible, looking at it 6 months on I find it disappointing and can't wait to get the time to create a new site from scratch as I know I can do better.

Having a quick read of your blog I found it interesting and wanted to keep reading, using this as a basis have you thought about getting a site built using Wordpress as a CMS, that way you could update your work/portfolio and the blog through the WP admin panel. There's also some great starting points with portfolio themes available that you could customise with some simple graphics and CSS knowlegde, it would also help your SEO side of things as the work and the blog would be on the main domain rather than being virtual URL's for the portfolio and a sub-domain of Wordpress for the blog.

Given your identity/branding, I think the site could potentially look excellent and really help to showcase your clear talents in print design. I hope that helps, and if you need any advice about going the Wordpress route feel free to give me a shout and I'll be happy to pass on some of my knowledge in this area :)

Thanks,
Greg
 
I like the idea with simple portfolio sites - ones that show off the work well.

For me - the text appears too small - doesn't have the impact that would make me want to click on, i'd look at increasing the size and maybe the typeface?

Have a look at SEA (SEA Design) they showcase their work in a similarish way - simple navigation menu - but use a more prominant typeface and sizing).
 
Ahh very very useful comments!

Berry - "some of the works is great. really nice..... but the site is fairly grim" - I'd have to agree with you and although it's up and running, I'm still not happy with it at all. It's finding the time to redesign it that's proving problematic.

"By admitting to the sites failure you have devalued your work and efforts" - I would disagree that it's a 'failure' as such. What I meant was that it doesn't have any bells or whistles attached. However, I do believe it may devalue my work.

tim-mater - "As for the contact form, apologies for not seeing it" - A fair comment and I'll certainly consider making it bigger and/or repositioning it at least until I redesign...again!

Greg - Oh believe me, Greg, Wordpress was very much my first choice. Just before my relaunch, the site was already using it. However, because I don't really dabble with php/mysql and indeed html/css to quite a large extent, Wordpress is fairly useless to me. I would happily hire someone to design me a great looking site, but of course it's getting the budget together to do so. I have a whole host of ideas for how the site (with an incorporated blog) would and SHOULD look. It's just that I don't have the knowledge to do it. I'm very much a print-based designer, rather than web.

Sadly, along with the lack of a budget, I also have a lack of time. I have x amount of other things to do now that the new year is fast approaching and I just don't have the time to work on it anymore. It frustrates me, but I have to force myself to leave it for a while, unfortunately.
 
Your main problem, well it's pretty huge TBH is your site uses frames.

Frames pretty much skrew your site.

SEO wise well most of the content wont be indexed unless you link to each frame from within the others.

Accessability is just thrown out of the window as well TBH.

I personally think the text is way too small, the bottom nav I missed altoghter it wasn't untill I viewed the source did I see it.

The bottom image I really love TBH but if I was looking for a graphic designer I would want the site to stand out, this to me doesn't accomplish this, there is no logo but more importantly a tag line telling me what the site is about.

Jaz
 
I disagree TBH.
Changing from a frame site is not difficult.

Move the whole page down put a logo, but the more important tag line to tell me straight away what it is about, increase the text size, give the body say 80% font size that way it will always display 80% of the browsers default font size, then style heading to say for a H1 ~ 1.7em that way it will change relative to the user set font size and TBH it would look hugly improved for mimimal work and effort.

I would also increase the size of the navigation say to 33% or 1 third of the design try it and see, but the more important issue is the link philimonic britanica or what ever it is it is not obvious that those 2 words are connected due to the default line height taking over they appear 2 seperate links.

This increases the precived amount of actions available by the user, which decreases interactivity.

If you cant get it on 1 line after you increase the font size place it in a span tag and set the style of the span tag to line-height:0.8em that way it will move closer toghter and look like 1 link thus decreasing precieved actions, thus increasing interactivity, thus increasing lead generation.

As you are also a lead generation bussiness I would suggest removing the contact us form and instead having it on every page that way you are adding lubrication to the information finding process, but more importantly you are decreasing the amount of actions/micro actions needed to contact you which is what you want.

It honestly does not need that many changes in my opinion to be a good site.

Jaz
 
Very useful comments, Jazajay. However, I haven't really had many positive comments about the site. That's not to say I'm taking it personally of course! But I do think that it isn't really showing off my work as best as it could be and perhaps it does need a complete rethink.

It's strange how I'm quite happy to design page after page in an annual report or spend time happily producing a logo, but as soon as it comes to designing my own website, it all falls apart. Very strange.
 
O no it isn't trust me I like to think my advice tends to pretty much hit the mark, but try to implament it into my own site and well......

But honestly I would just try the idea, little changes can honestly make or break a design.

For example if you have a bright pink background but a wkd design the site is still crap as you cant really see the site due to the over powering background, change the background to a more in line colour and the whole site then becomes amazing.

I honestly think the main issue is with the font size and the fact that it has no header TBH.

The bottom image I think is great I just think the top half breaks too many conventions thus as it is not what people expect is an automatic o it's crap.

Up to you but add a header and see IMO.
 
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