ThrowDown Portfolio Design

That's a great start. I think a few minor tweaks here and there, and you'll be in great shape.

In no particular order:

Your typesetting is a little sloppy. The heading "Web site design & creative innovations" should have a return after "design", so that the bottom line reads "& Creative Innovation". You should always try to avoid hyphens in headlines. You need to increase the kerning in the phrases "Photo Manipulation" and "Photo Retouching", as they are jammed together way too tight. In that same area, the copy has too much kerning. In the Photo Retouching copy, there's no reason that copy can't fit into two lines.

I'm not sure what the black sidebar is doing with that wrap-around look...

I think the menu would be a better fit to the right of the logo, instead of just above the main headline.

I agree with Sean about moving the navigation to the right of the menu. I know that this is quite common in websites but as it is, the headline is grabbing my attention away from the navigation. Navigation is one of the more important elements of web design so make it stand out!

I like the wrap around but the black is doesn't fit well with the rest of your theme. I would add a bit more wrap around elements so that that there's a bit more unity. The color could also be changed to go along with the other colors. Right now, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

You're using so many different typefaces in this design. Let's see you have 1) Handwritten font (logo) 2) Another handwritten font (navigation and other elements) 3) Narrow sans-serif (headings) 4) Another sans-serif (body copy) 5) Yet another sans-serif? (under service descriptions) 6) Serif font in the wrap around element

Try to narrow your font choices down to 2 or 3. You probably don't need a serif font and you only need one sans-serif font. IF you want to use two different sans-serif fonts, make sure they're similar. I would also choose one of the handwritten fonts.

Okay, this is getting to be too long so my last suggestion would be to use a grid system like blueprint or 960. There are some alignment issues that could be avoided using the grid.

i think the elements on this design ened spacing out more, it looks really cramped.

also some nice calls to action would be cool and dont forget to have your phone number etc at the top right!!!!!

the design is nice but i feel the things are very much tightly place (bit clumsy)..lack of breathing space..

rest is fine!!

I like this design so far but I think it still needs some work. Your trying to pull the persons attention to too many place. My eye gets pulled from the header, to the background, to the black box and then to all your headers.I think you need to pick a few target areas and then really make them stand out. The background, while fun and interesting, definitely needs to be toned down in color and excitement. When the background is the second place someone looks, you know there is something wrong with the hierarchy. Your columns are also all off. The bottom two don't match the top two or middle two and vice versa. Make sure you are work off of a grid system to design this.

Good start though, I like where you are headed. Keep designing and see what you can come up with.

I like the start of it. You are clearly not afraid of color. One thing I might try is to create some depth between the background and foreground since you are using the same color set. Perhaps adding a bit of shadowing or alpha filter.

Also, the menu items are hidden. I would use a sans typeface there and break the items out into clearer menu/button items.

Also, your action buttons are the most muted items on the page. It's not clear in a thumbnail what you are driving me towards.

Otherwise, great start/