Joe

Hi all,

www.joehoughton.co.uk

This is my first completed site since I taught myself basic Dreamweaver earlier this year. I'm applying for entry level design positions and this is my online portfolio so i'd like to hear what you guys think of it.

Any advice and/or constructive criticism you can think of would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

CYoung

Think the colours need to be toned down a little. The bright green doesn't look to good to me. Nothing wrong with having black and white, looks a bit more classy.

Joe

Thanks Curtis,

The reason I made them green was for clarity ( and I thought it looked funky ). Also some of the text on the freelance is white and with white links I thought it would confuse things as not all of the links are on the left hand side. Click here to see what I mean!

I guess I could change the colour of the body text where needed. I'll take it under advisement!

Joe

SparkCreative

I agree, there are way too many colours. And they look like primary colours straight out of the box - they're not bespoke to you. I'd stick with everything in grey or white and one highlight colour. If you like the green, make it that. Also, in some places, you've squashed the type to condense it. Never ever ever do this - use a proper condensed version or not at all. And I think you've got too many type sizes and styles going on - all caps, upper and lower different colours, some squashed, some not, and then another typeface on the right hand side when you click on the work. Simplify.

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Spark Creative - Graphic Design, Web Design, Photography, Advertising and all that malarkey.

JMCDesigner

Try and use text as much as you can, rather than graphics with text on. I know it's a bit more tricky but search engines can pick it up more easily. And good luck with your Design company hunt

Joe

I haven't squashed it, but I think I know where you mean and if it is then its the leading, glad you've drawn my attention to it though i'll get it sorted.

I take your point about the colours as well, curtis pointed out about the green and they are all primary (not in the technical sense but in the green, purple and yellow are all standards ). They are all considered though, I was aiming for a funky but minimilist vibe. Conflicting ideas representing the conflict of man with man and man with nature..... na just kidding

** thinking aloud** I suppose it comes priorities though. Funky or implied funk and minimilist flavours weighed up against a classy flavour or other options. All combined with the right balance of good aesthetics and function. Funk can look cheap when done wrong - its dangerous territory, but i'm like an sas chef. Possibly too much of a gamble for a entry level position folio, as I guess it can look like you haven't thought about it and reached an organic conclusion but just genetically modified the end of an idea and gone for a quick option. On that note I'll get on with a toned down version this weekend, I'd be daft not to try it. Cheers.

Philosophically though regarding the colours, what makes a colour bespoke? Just because you would pick your colours from another spot on the chart to me doesn't mean they're any more bespoke to you than the prime colours i've chosen are to me.

Fonts and typography are an area where I am focussing on improvement (spent bloody £50 on books the other day! ) . I really want to nail it as an art, so if anyone has any good links on anything from basic do's and don'ts, to the more advanced thinking or book titles i'd appreciate the heads up. I need to know everything

Mark are you saying to just use one font or font family for all text / link on the site? The thinking for the differents sizes was from a functionality stand point to draw the viewers attention through all of the information. Did it work? May have been over thinking it, I thought it worked but obviously i'm gonna be biased so let me know!

Any font recommendations for classy sans serifs? Preferably in a family.

Jason, thanks mate i'm looking forward to it. I know exactly what you're saying with the text, writing the blurb bits is something that's not natural to me so I think I have just put it off and convinced myself viewers will be able to read my mind with each piece. . Good point, well made, i'm on to it!

Right that was a long one, thanks again lads looks like i'll be busy. Take it easy .

socreative

don't like the colors really and also why is your navigation done with flash? they're just rollovers

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web :: flash :: print :: branding

Joe

I know they're rollovers, but tbh that was the least of my worries when I embarked on the project as I knew hardly anything about web design. My priorities were getting a functioning site. I've done that and now I want to improve it or learn how to make at better one. Pretty much that is why I'm asking for opinion, can you offer me a better option that I can research and potentially implement?

Thanks for the thoughts on the colours as well it's priority one.

socreative

having the navigation on your site in flash makes it useless for search engines. However, you can keep the menu you designed in flash but create another (duplicate) navigation in plain text in the footer of the website similar to what you see on pretty much every site nowadays

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www.socreative.tv
web :: flash :: print :: branding

Joe

Ah right nice one cheers, I've just checked out a few sites and can see what you mean. When you say useless for search engines, would you just clarify what you mean in a sentence or two. SEO is an area that again I would like to learn more about but for the forseeable future have other immediate deadlines to address. I will add the 2nd plain text navigation though, thanks for the heads up.