duanenason_1_home.jpg
duanenason_2_about.jpg
duanenason_3_services.jpg
duanenason_4_portfolio.jpg
duanenason_5_kudos.jpg
4 Reviews0 Votes0 Favorites346 Views
Concept Images
Concept Reviews
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Hi Duane
It's no doubt to me that you are an experienced developer, and entrepreneur (as this is constantly stated through out your site…)
I find that your design is a little dull, to be honest… it's just plain, it does serve it's purpose, but if I was looking to hire, I wouldn't necessarily pick up the phone and call you, because your site doesn't really catch my eye in anyway…
That being said I do like some of your jQuery effects, the home page one is nice, portfolio sorter / categorizer could be done better like this: http://www.terabyte.co.nz/our-work.aspx
I like the fact that you are able to change things quickly as you say, it' all in CSS (how else would it be?)…
I hope this is making sense what I am saying, I also not 100% sure why you have a photo of yourself in the area that's generally meant for a logo, or is that your logo?
There's no footer and therefore no general call to action, I am struggling, with the overall color scheme as well...
Some of the pages are just too content heavy, especially the kudos page, I have sen a lot of weird pages on the web, but that kudos page, is like a bragging post about you…
Ok I think I have said it all, I hope that you find something useful in this review, all the best!
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Generally well designed page, that would be improved with very few tweaks. Quite fit for purpose, even if it seems very familiar when seen alongside other web developers sites.
Some of the pages feel far too full, especially the kudos page which is a real downer on the rest of the site- be proud, but be careful not to sound arrogant.
Notes Added to Images View
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1Slideshow
Does a good job of showing off your work, although could perhaps be given more screen real-estate, since this is really what you're trying to sell yourself with
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2Heading colour
Nicely worded and a good size, but could do with being slightly lighter to help it jump out a bit. Right now, it looks a bit 'sunk' and quite detached from the colouring of the navigation
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3Logo
Nice to have a picture, but perhaps could do with being a little larger- it looks 'stashed away' in the corner and very seperate from the rest of the content because of the right-align of the navigation
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4List usage
Nice use of a list to get short points across but the icons don't fit well within the page- mainly as the style of them clashes with the heading font cause of the 'sharp' edging
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5Small heading font
The font you've used here seems very 'sharp' against the much more rounded headings elsewhere on the page (the curse of cufon)
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6Footer
This should be a lighter gray, as it seems to grab attention too much- a footer shouldn't be obvious unless you're wanting to see it
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Conceptguy Guy commented:Hi Chris. Thanks for the detailed comments. You seemed to call-out some of the issues that were in the back of my mind as well.
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Hi Guy, I think you have all the good elements necessary for a good personal portfolio site. I like your font choice, footer and slideshow area of different works. Can you tell me what plugin you used for that :)? Now, here is what I think will make it look better:
Home Page
Loose the "Hi my name is" tagline. None of your potential clients really don't care about you, all they care about is how working with you will best benefit them. I recently had to learn this lesson too. You should change it to how working with your best benefits your clients.
Too much content. Don't mean to be harsh, but who do you honestly expect to read all of that info under your tagline? If you want to put a little bit of your bio there keep it to a minimal and add a link to your full bio on your about page.
Add White Space!!!!! This is your main problem throughout your site. The different sections of your site are too close together. Adding space will make them easier for any type of visitor to read and more engaging.
Like the footer :). Just wanted to throw that in.
About Page
Is all that necessary? You seem to have the tendency to talk about yourself a lot. It is good to be proud of who you are and what you have done, but nobody wants to know it all. There are a few sections I would take out that I will make a note of for you.
Your pictures and info to the left seem to close. Add some space between them.
Tagline. This is the area where your tagline should be about you personally, not so much professional. Also, add a little more space between it and the rest of the page.
Services Page
Technical Skills on wrong page. It would better be served on the about page because the skill set you have is about you. Your services page is only devoted to what you can provided to clients.
- What I've Done section. This could just be me, but this area seems to be addressed in your portfolio.
The rest of your page seems cool just work on your spacing. Also, try to find a better color scheme. Color Scheme Designer, http://colorschemedesigner.com/, is a great source for finding a good color scheme. Hope my comments help!
Notes Added to Images View
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Conceptguy Guy commented:
Hi Jamal. Thanks for the in-depth feedback. Great call-outs. The slider is jQuery Nivo Slider, http://nivo.dev7studios.com. It's a pretty nifty slider, and has quite a few transitions to choose from.
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Hi Duane
Warning. Harsh words coming. But intended to correct a fault I see a lot.
You need to get it straight in your own mind exactly what you want to achieve with this. Which means (to quote Curly) just ONE thing. Not two things. You can't have it both ways. You either want this to be a resume so you can get a job with someone else, or you want it to attract business people who will hire you on a professional basis. Sounds similar, but actually completely different.
Aside from the overall layout of the site, which isn't inspirational, the strategy needs to grounded. I need to know in a nanosecond what you can do FOR ME. Assuming you want freelance work, you need to address MY concerns, not boast about yourself. It's not that I don't believe you, I just DON'T CARE.
Give me more of a feel for your style, your approach, your insights into how your work will make my business better. That's what initially attracts me to you, not what you've done in the past. What's coming across in this site is a giant inferiority issue, as if you need to constantly remind the audience of your capability. Don't tell me, show me.
Anyway, that's enough of my rant. Duane, your work is good. Just try to walk a mile in your audience' shoes. Try changing the word I, to the word You, throughout the site. See where that leads.
Figure out who your customer is, what he/she wants to see/know and then address their needs.
Simple to say, not so easy to do. But if it's too easy, where's the fun?
Hope this helps.
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Conceptguy Guy commented:
Thanks Steve. Good - straight to the point - comments.
"You can't have it both ways" - yeah, this was one of the things I was struggling with too. I was trying to find a balance, but I guess it didn't fly too well.
I'm going to rehash some of the areas and give it another shot.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Hi Aaran. Thanks for the insights. Sounds like I might have to trim down the Kudos page.