Portfolio website critique

SamBerry

SamBerry

New Member
Hey guys,

I was wondering if you could give me some pointers on ways to improve my newly designed portfolio website.

Currently it's incomplete but I'm looking to tweak and touch up the design before I complete the functionality as it may be affected by the design.

edit: I'm currently fixing the sliders so they open up a little easier.

Sam Berry | Graphic Designer

See what you think!
Thanks,
Sam.
 
It looks alright. Really simple which is a good thing, not too confusing. Some of the coding might need sorting out as when you hover on some links, it seems to make things jump around a little bit?

Also, I don't like that "tags" bit at the top, unless the bits in purple are going to link somewhere (I tried to click them) then I'd see it as more of a hinderance and distraction.

On the whole though, looks good so far. Keep us informed of your progress.
 
Thanks for your feedback!

Do you mean the links over the navigation? If so, they are meant to do that; I may think about changing them to something different but I liked the simplicity of the effect.

As for the tags, It's kind of a "dig" if you will at the people who sit there tagging a million things to their posts/photography. It's just another way of describing myself without having the cliché "I'M A CREATIVE PERSON" in huge capital letters plastered across the top. I guess it could use some explanation.

Cheers.
 
Honestly, I don't like the way your work is hidden and I have to mouse-over the thumbnails to see it. Your work should be the main focus so don't hide it away. Not really a fan of the tags either. They confused me a bit until you explained what they were.

Other than that I like it :)
 
Cheers for the feedback,

As for the tags; I'm fairly torn on what to do with them. I think it's a reasonable "idea", maybe it could be executed differently for less confusion; or even a sentence explaining it. Hmm.

My thought process on "covering" my pieces of work was just so I could provide a consistent theme on the website itself, in the past I've found they often break up the flow/consistency of the design.
 
Great start. Really nice design, somewhat simple, but effective and it gets the point across just fine.

But just a few gripes with the usability. When I arrived at the website, I thought it was incomplete because there were six gaps where I expected to see portfolio work thumbnails; which almost instantly tore me away from the surrounding design elements. I think a better approach would be something along the lines of Dribbble's thumbnail hover (Dribbble - Show and tell for designers), as the user then has the opportunity to take in the design, and on hover will receive a pleasant surprise when a short synopsis is present. They can then click through and learn more, or highlight the next to find out more.

Also; totally a personal preference, but all the links on the top nav lead to the same anchor position on the page, which is understandable as they're all in columns. I might suggest working a little CSS3 magic for those using advanced browsers for it to scroll, as the jump is somewhat jarring to me. I'm not actually going that far beyond the fold as I might expect, and a casual scroll would help me understand that.

Hope that helps!
 
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