Online portfolio

I can see where you're going, and the potential is there, however there are lots of changes that could help improve and help you on your way.

The font is the most obvious place to start. Try and avoid using Times New Roman, unless you can pull it off. It's one of those fonts that's great sometimes, but because it's used as the default font for everything, when it's used in situations like this it looks like it's a mistake. If you're going for a serif font similar to Times, try something like Georgia. If you want a Sans-Serif font, Arial/Verdana/Helvetica. I see from looking at the HTML version of the site that you're using CSS at least - good start - so using a font stack of nice fonts that will degrade across browsers/OS is easy.

I'd suggest removing the background box from the heading text at the top. It takes up far too much extra space. If you keep the colour similar to what it currently is, and change the font for a good bold heading font, it should cut through the black background without any trouble. Maybe consider rewording it too. You want your header text to be quick and punchy, something that would roll of the tongue if you said it out loud; 'Attention getting design for your personal or business needs' or similar would be quicker and more to the point.

I'm guessing that the empty space on the homepage is earmarked for something already? It looks the perfect spot for some featured/latest work, or perhaps a twitter feed.

I'm not keen on the way the page just stops at the bottom. It feels like it needs a footer, even if it's one that just says 'Copyright 2010 Lindsay Montgomery', just something that will round off and complete the bottom. The way it just stops at the moment looks like the site is unfinished or the page loading has stalled.

The portfolio page is unbalanced. On the top four sections you have that big gutter to the right hand side, yet the web section goes all the way across the page. Maybe consider a four column layout, with the top four sections side by side with 3 thumbnails per row. Also prioritise your portfolio by your speciality. The fact that you have taken time to write blurbs for your webdesign says to me that it is the area you are most interested in? In that case, stick Web at the top and have the other four underneath. Have a section at the top for a featured piece of work, something you're really proud of and want to show off.

The same applies to the contact page, it only takes up half the page and leaves that big empty space to the right. Perhaps a column on the right that explains a bit more about contacting you, whether you're currently taking on freelance work etc...

The portfolio page could also benefit from a bit of introductory text, and maybe some explanatory text too. Assume your visitor is somebody who has never heard of Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. What is the difference between them? Consider combining those three into one 'Design' section, then simply say what piece of software was used in the caption on the lightbox. As well as filling out the page and engaging the reader a bit more, more text is always good for search engine placement.

Definitely agree with one of the previous critiques that mentioned styling the form.

Good start, some potential, just needs a bit more attention to detail.

(Edit: Regarding my font comments, just noticed you're trying to use Georgia already. For some reason it's defaulting to TNR on my machine even with Georgia installed.)

Hi Lindsay

First things first, I think the background is quite nice and with some decent colour choices and transparent backgrounds could work really well. However as it is I find the layout messy and unstructured.

Some of the things I would change are:

• Make the whole header area smaller, the logo and the descriptive text. The tag line in particular is really in your face and pushes your actual content down quite low
• I would make the tab text real text and not an image, and increase the vertical padding to stop the buttons from looking a little stunted
• I'd work on the colours of the tabs. At the moment there's nothing to suggest what tab you are currently viewing. Perhaps making the currently selected tab colour match the main pink background colour would make that clearer
• The main content is too wide making it hard to scan. Either split the content into two columns (you could have a sidebar with testimonials or links to other areas of your site) or restructure the existing content slightly. For example on the portfolio template you could split things down the middle and then have 'photoshop', 'illustrator' and 'indesign' in one column, and the rest in a second column.
• The homepage isn't very inviting. There should be more padding at the bottom and a bit more 'punch' to it. At the moment the footer area looks rather unfinished.
• Add some illustrations/ screenshots of your best work. Since it's your website perhaps you should add a photo of you to give it more personality.
• The fields on the contact form could do with some prettying up. Just changing the border-width to 1px makes a big difference and, like the homepage, you should add more padding to the bottom so that things don't just 'end'.
• Add a proper footer. At the least there should be a link to your homepage along with the website name, but I would probably add some sort of tag line, and maybe a tiny illustration or graphic.

Hi Lindsey,

I want these comment to help rather than offend so please take what you agree with and throw the rest out.

I really like the background image you have up there - It is the beginning of something special. Unfortunately the site somewhat dies after that and you need to breathe some life into your pages...

The transparency is good but I don't think it quite works with that colour choice. I can understand why you would want transparency, to show off the lovely background, however, I think this somewhat obfuscates the text.

There needs to be more content on the site as there is little explanation about what the site is for. You need to take advantage of your "Online Real Estate" and make the most of the space you have. Adding in some images on the home page along with your text may make the homepage stand out instead of just plain text. Maybe simplifying the design of the blocks and taking off the blue borders will look better than random border knocking around.

The buttons are very flat and do not make me want to press them to find out more. They also should probably indicate which page you are currently on with a permanent highlight.

You need to use padding and margins with some consistency as there is a lot of space above the text and none below the text. It feels like the page just stops and there is no flow out of the page, this is highlighted more by the fact that the homepage just stops halfway down the page. A footer would definitely hep with this issue (See more on footer below).

You have made a good start on the Portfolio page, however, there is some work still left to do here i feel. Jus the opposite to the homepage, on the portfolio page there is a lack of text describing what the user is looking at. Maybe removing the blue borders from all the images would assist in a cleaner design.

The contact page is bare and the input fields are way too big. I can see the need to fill the space but images and text would do that nicely rather than expanding the input fields across the page

There is no footer on any of these pages, a footer would be nice to close the page and also give you an opportunity to add links to other pages on your site and add links to Facebook and Twitter - Also somewhere to add your copyright statement.

Lastly, you may want to consider adding more blocks to your pages and a sidebar would be one way to get those extra blocks in.

Hi Lindsay,

Good start, I really like the abstract kind of feel your giving it, just the colors and details need some work. here is what i think you can do to improve your site.

1. Make your logo smaller, It should only take up 1/3rd of the width of yyour page MAX, I would go something like 1/5th.
2. Now with the logo smaller, you can put your navigation floating to the right of it!. I would also recommend re-doing the navigation and fonts, the shapes are weird and the font is kind of ugly :(
3. Take that "Attention getting, original, clean," and put that in the content, so that it goes all the way accross. and you have one-too many adjectives in there.
4. Add padding to the bottom of the text. since it looks REALLY too close.
5. You could put some of your recent work in a sidebar, or a small little "about me" blab.

PORTOFLIO PAGE.

1. make the thumbnails bigger, and drop the ugly blue border and do somethin cool. a site like yours has the potential to do a bunch of fades and cool effects, take advantage of that!
2. dont have different catagories like that, do something like, "web" "identity(logos)" "illustration" no normal people know what illustrator or InDesign are.

CONTACT PAGE.

1. customise those forms! give them backgrounds!
2. the font you have been using for heads is hidious.. I'm sorry, but you NEED to look for a new one.
3. On the side of your contact page, in the sidebar, put in some other contact details, Phone # P.O box.. Email.. ect..

Also, to me it looks like your background is a nebula with some gradients and color effects thrown in, there are stars that make it a more square-ish shape. get a soft edged brush and delete those, as it is easy to do, and might bug people (like me)

I also think you might want to re-think your colors, the pink and blue is a weird combo. Maybe do a darker color with low opacity, with a border in white, (1px) set to overlay, That would give it a cool effect!

Anyways rethink the fonts, also make sure to add line-height [css] p {line-height: 150%;} [/css]

Luke

I agree with @Luke concerning the design details that need a lot of work. In general, if I were looking for a designer and ended up at this page, I would probably run away in a few seconds. From designers you expect well designed websites that are elegant, original, etc. I do not get that "professional" impression from this concept.

I do like the simplicity of the navigation, structure and content, and the color scheme is quite original, although far from pleasant. My recommendation would be to study the portfolio sites of top designers and learn from them.

As for the actual content of your portfolio, I respect that you are new to field. But please do understand that this is what buys people into your service. Looking at some of the portfolio items my impression is that is barely rises above the level of the typical MySpace profile page. I know you are only just starting, but business is ruthless. I think you need to ramp up your skills very quickly if you are intending to make actual money.

I hope I do not come across as too negative, I just want to plant some honest advise here.

This design is difficult to create in html when it has to be browsercorss compatible.

It looks very female. So it wil not please man.