another portfolio website~!

Showcase portfolios
1

Hello Friends,

I just finished my portfolio website, and would love for it to get me some work! What do you all think??


www.aaronstreetdesign.com


any feedback, negative or positive is greatly appreciated.

thanks! :smiley:

2

Hey-

checked out your site. . . .

  1. I would reconsider your homepage and logo. The font chosen and how you are lining things up. Furthermore the colour palette. I find the grey and the yellow/green are not the best choice for showing off your content (which is the cool part!)

  2. I would create more hierarchy with your projects. Give more of an indication of what you want people to view first.

  3. In your projects I don’t see a lot of how and why you generated the ideas that you did. Where is the market? User? Use of product/system/experience etc?
    Furthermore, all your sexy drawings and form development are a bit hidden- I find I have to go through too many steps to get to the good stuff.

  4. I would on the homepage have some kind of greetings/tag line of saying who you are as a designer. Or even just something attention grabbing. A first impression if people only had 5 seconds on your site.

What is the “Aaron brand experience?”

  • impression so far…someone who I know to go to for a sexy rendering…is that all that makes up your “brand?” If so then really, really push that as your design super power. Otherwise if you are saying “no” right now- then you have to show more.

  1. Your resume doesn’t match you at all and is in consistent with everything else.

  2. Wonderful drawing! You are totally making me want to sketch out shoes! Going to do some tomorrow I think. . .


    Overall your work seems like it has personality (which is awesome!)- but that is hard to make out because of the way you are laying it out and the colour palette contrasting your work. I would really just go with a white background and have those sketches really pop out. Unless you like that colour palette and font are your “brand”.

Good luck! I hope that was useful. . .

3

Thankyou so much for the feedback! You left a lot of helpful information. The hierarchy thing is huge, I need a better organization. I certainly don’t want to market myself as someone who can just do the “s3x” drawings, but just someone who uses drawing as a tool to visualize ideas, among other things. I do however focus on the visual aspect of what is being designed, how a product is going to look and why is much more important to me than any ability to do market research which is why everything is light on research and user.

As for “branding” myself or my website, I don’t feel that’s very important. I pretty much want the website to be ignored, and the work to be focused on and judged for what it is.

I’m confused how the resume doesn’t match me? From my perspective it’s everything i’ve done that’s made me the designer I am, which sort of makes me think it matches up perfectly!

I’ll be doing some more design work on it soon and these comments will be very useful. :slight_smile:

4

Hey Aaron-

Glad you are finding it useful. Just to clarify a few points…

Sorry for the confusion about the resume- when I meant ‘match you’ I meant the look of it doesn’t reflect your talent in understanding visual language and aesthetics (which is very strong).

The content and experiences of course do ‘match you’!

I know there is a bit of a resume debate, on whether it should be another ‘designed’ component or just a word document. I think its good to have both (a resume that has a bit more of a personality- a little logo/watermark/colour etc.- but still very simple and then the other option of a straight up times new roman bullet point layout for when your applying online some where).

Maybe see the resume in a sense as an extension of your business card? Just with a lot more info.

Overall from just having redone my stuff (still iterating!) the feedback I have gotten (from pros, students, non designers), is making sure you are very aware that whatever you submit and show you will be judged for it.

So for you to say that you want the website to be ignored- that is a tough one to control. The website is a presentation platform that shows your ability to design and curate your projects so they will be presented in the best light. Its also shows pride in your work (as you know). As well a chance to make yourself stand out and have something be a little bit different from the rest. . .

For marketing yourself as someone who doesn’t just do nice drawings- I would try to team up with friends, who are designers that are strong in that kind of people research. So you can give some context to then why you chose the aesthetic and form that you did. Or alternatively do a persona of any of your friends and sketch what shoes you think they would wear. Just shows more intention and that you are making thoughtful decisions maybe?

Furthermore, have visual criteria (like a mood board). That shows where that visual inspiration came from.

I think just getting more of a sense of your decision making in general so you aren’t pegged as someone who only can do sweet, good lookin’ drawings.

I am super excited to see your website portfolio revamped! Repost the link when your ready. You have so much great content to work with and it will be awesome to see it shine through!

cheers,
R