Personal Portfolio Website

Hi Iliana

This is a concise and informative site that should help you in your quest for placement. It lacks sophistication, but I don't know how necessary that would be for a prospective employer. I like the simplicity – it has a solid, grounded kind of a feel.

I have a number of suggestions, but I must preface them with the comment that the current page layout is not conducive to easy reading. Whether you change the layout will depend on how important or necessary you feel it is that the site conform to a clearer communication style.

The typography is overall, uninspiring. It's too small to read comfortably and spread over the full width of the page it's too long a measure. The result is that I get eye strain before getting to the end of the second line. So while I quickly take in the impression that you're good at what you do, I can't be bothered reading thru the full text. For that reason, you could be doing yourself a disservice.

I don't have a suggested fix for that, as it would require completely re-designing the page. You may not want to do that just yet.

I suggest you utilise the vacant space above the nav bar and insert a succinct, pithy (possibly witty) summary of how valuable you're going to be to the firm that hires you. The idea is that even if I read nothing else in the site, I get an easily digestible word picture that will stay in my memory. You want me to be able to say: "Oh yes, Iliana is that XYZ girl".

I like the quote, but would do more with it. Maybe a more attractive (read elegant) font. And if you put a main heading in, you'll need to play the quote down. Not sure about the cartoon. It's whimsical, but you probably don't need it.

Lastly, I think you need to rewrite your case studies/descriptions in the third person. The continual "we did this" and "we did that" is wearing to read. I understand that much of the featured work was done in groups, but a prospective employer will want to know specifically what your individual role was in these projects.

In response to your question – is the website successful in selling your skills – the answer is no. But that can be quickly fixed with the above idea of putting yourself into the headline.

Hope this helps.

I think you're doing a good job on the individual pages, there's lots of details and the video is a nice touch. I think the homepage may need more work to really get visitors interested. At the moment, there is no clue as to what the site is about. Also, I don't see the value of having a quote in such a prominent place. This area would be better used for contact information for example. I would add a short statement about what you do on the home page, and maybe some text and buttons to draw visitors in and make them want to click through

I would use more contrast between items on the site to allow people to focus on items that are important. In this case your skills and achievements.

I have to say I like the idea of having this digital CV, allows you to easily show what you are capable and shows a sign of creativity from your side. Kind a like the guy how got an advertising job by buying Google Adwords keywords with the names of advertising executives.

Hi Iliana,

first of all, nice design :)

Frontpage I like the idea to give the visitor several channels to navigate on the site. The quote + graphic adds personality to the site which is good since you want to do self-marketing :) As mentioned by others the font seems a little out of place. Maybe something more clear, without serifs. I'd recommend to change the colors a bit and bring a touch of color to the white background. (Image attached)

Portfolio Page I like the portfolio page a lot. Through the graphics and side boxes the content is well structured. Again here I think the font is not the best choice. The letters are quite narrow and not as easy to read as one would wish. Either make wider spaces between the letters or choose a different font. I love the graphics on the second -intellihealth- portfolio page, the handwriting contributes to bringing a personal feeling across. The side boxes could be shorter, according to their content.

"About Me" Page You could emphasize the last line, it is where your conversions are supposed to happen. In general this page is not as light as the others. Because of the large image and the text block the page seems a little blocky and heavy.

In conclusion this is a nice design and solid website with well structured content. I know UX is not UI but I'd love to see more little interactive surprises.

Good luck :)

Hello Iliana,

You have done a great job, however, I have couple of suggestion which I think might help you.

• When I opened up your website I can't figure out the purpose of the website. I think you can use some punch like e.g. "UX Designer, Researcher and Usability Specialist".

• I think rather than writing a quote you should try using testimonial about your professional skills.

• Cartoon isn't appreciating this design... I think it will look better if you avoid the use of cartoon.

• I think if you may try colorful thumbnail, also, you to work on the presentation of thumbnail. Sharing the link of my website for thumbnail presentation idea: http://haiderali.me/portfolio.html

• You need to focus on typography...

• I think if you try to keep the edges of different elements consistent e.g. there is only button that have the round edge that is not appreciating the thumbnails because of the sharp corner.

• I think you may add twitter, linked etc.. if you have one to promote your skills.

• Mouse over interaction for thumbnail could be more nice... I like how the CF concept image show the details of each concept.

• On your portfolio page 2nd and 3rd column doesn't look connected. I did some quick changes in portfolio screen to depict my idea.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Haider-

Hello! Iliana, then I apologize if I use Google translator I have to say this to avoid any misunderstandings. I had a look at your work and in all honesty I must admit that graphics are not very attractive. In addition has validation errors, and has no index. As I wrote in numbered points, maybe you should create an index by inserting a clever slogan.

validator.w3.org check

Validation Output: 8 Errors

With : Microsoft Expression SuperPreview for EXPLORER 6

Here is the result of point 2

Good job Best Regards

The initial idea is going the right direction.

I would look into a grid. Just Google 12 Column Web Grid, or website grid generator and pick one of the options.

This will be helpful in setting up dimensions of elements and padding between the elements. The design just needs to breathe.

I would also try adding some depth and emotion to the design with possible gradients, textures or by adding hierarchy structure. Possibly making the green spot at the top much smaller and moving quote to footer.

On the interior, I would really just apply a hierarchy and some of the visual changes mentioned earlier.

Good start.

You design looks like a quick sketch by a great designer. What I mean is that it is plainly apparent that the minimalist design is brilliant but feels unfinished..or unpolished.

First idea: carry through the grid you create with the thumbnails throughout your site. in other words three columns illustrations as big as the thumbnails (that you click to get the full size.

second: get rid of the drop shadows. Just do it and see what happens.

third: pull the menu items off the edge so that the highlighted ones are not sitting right on it OR (difficult design trick to pull off) put the text right on the edge so that the bottoms bleed into the white. if you use big type it will look very cool .

fourth: notice the small details. For this minimalist approach to work it requires a lot of attention to detail. everything should be evenly and consistently spaced. for example: on about me you picture has more margin on the right than it does on top.

Font: consider something between an academic looking serif and a modern sans..like geoSlab

I think it'll be nicer if the thumbnails are smaller. It'll be easier for my eyes to view and move between those thumbnails too. Also, I think that there has to be a transition when the mouse moves in the thumbnails. Those texts ( like "the watercolor" or "the quad challege" ) appear too suddenly...

Hope it helps :)

I apprciate your first design Ileana. The header is killing more space. Why dont you put your name in the blank green space above the menu buttons? Just highlight there your name and your job title. Because the recruiters will just understand it in the first glance what you are.

The six images under in the main area do need some explanations. Do proper categorization or give a title for each image what it is: whether it is a website or a mobile interface or it is just me.

If I look at the innerpages with content they need a lot of improvement. I didnt feel like reading the text. The typography is bad. Give some vertical spacing to ease the reading use italics sparingly.

The hyperlinks are green and heading are also the same green. It is misleading user that they might mistake headings as links. Make the hyperlinks a darker green and try some different color for headings.

The left side menu navigation is cut on the left side.

Love the nice clean design here you have created.

I would say create a welcome page or put the about me page first instead of going straught to the portfolio page as the index.

The quote in the top right hand corner is a clever idea and I must say; It works well with your website.

Nice Job :)

• Peter