My fairly comprehensive portfolio is here:
Built with iWeb. Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions…
nice layout and serviceable UI (though I find the reloading of the entire page annoying between projects/images, that could be done with just reloading a frame with the content).
What i don’t see is any real process or get an idea of what you actually did.
I could be totally off base, but i get the feeling that most of the projects are things you did while doing other jobs/internships/school (as indicated by the credits below most projects attributing them to other consultancies, or “with…”), and now you have either started your own firm or looking for a job. This plus the overly grand title “Jones Industries”, gives me the feeling you are really inexperienced and trying to look larger/more accomplished than you are.
Showing some real process would help this, as it stands I feel a bit like you are trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes being something you are not.
Again, if I’m wrong, please correct me, just giving you an honest first impression.
a CV or history could also help with this if indeed you are well experienced.
aside from all the above though, nice comprehensive site, good layout and nice clear project descriptions.
R
Richard-
Thanks for the helpful comments. Yes, I agree, the page reloading is annoying. I don’t think I can set it up differently in iWeb unfortunately. If someone out there knows otherwise, please let me know.
Here’s a little more background so that you can understand the context of the work a little better. I graduated from university in 1994, and since that time have been employed by 2 very small consultancies (in both cases, myself and another designer). Peter and I worked together for 7 years until the dot-com crash pretty much killed our business and I was laid off. Then I worked with Wayne until he got a VP of R&D job in another city.
I’m currently a project manager/designer for an architectural signage company and Wayne and I continue to do ID work together on a freelance basis on the side. Since I see design as very much a collaborative effort, I added their names to the project descriptions on my site. (If you’d recommend removing them, I could do so.)
Every project presented there, I was intimately involved in from concept generation through to manufacturing. When I was laid off I no longer had access to the sketches, mockups, etc so I don’t have much of that to show. For more recent projects I could add some sketches, but truthfully we were under such tight time constraints that there’s not much there to show. We would do some really loose scribbles and go into CAD straight from there.
I’m not actively looking for a job right now, but if I see an interesting opportunity I’m ready to pursue it. The plan would be to send a prospective employer a “teaser” pdf with a few projects and my CV included, and then direct them to the website to view more work. I do have a small folio with some sketches, physical models, CAD models, etc. that I could show in an interview.
“Jones Industries” does sound lofty but it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek. The name also encompasses my other interests outside of ID such as graphic design, photography, and music that are present within the site. There’s also an easter egg page that shows some of the bands and books that I like as well. Sorry for the rambling, I hope this helps you understand better where I’m coming from and if you have any further comments please add them.
Regards,
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the further info and explanation. As mentioned, I hope you didn’t take my critique too personally. I didn’t mean to question your position, but rather was just giving my impression.
Based on your comments, I can see where you are coming from. It’s difficult to show stuff not having access to the sketches/dev work, so I can appreciate that. Perhaps you could create some process work after the fact just for show, or do something similar for a new project to show process… Keeping the credits as you have them are not necessarily a bad idea.
Also, the name, i don’t mind and figured that your “tongue-in-cheek” approach was was you were going for…just not sure. I do like that you have music, photos, etc. on your site.
Only thing I would perhaps suggest in light of all this, is to perhaps add more of yourself in personality to the site. I think the content and tone may come across better if it has your name, CV, or even a pic or statement from you. This would swing it to you as an individual rather than a quasi-firm type feel. A brief explanation of the work shown such as you’ve told here may also help. Not as much detail is needed, but even just mentioning the other firms and your history would put it all into context, perhaps.
overall though, as i mentioned before, good stuff.
R
Richard-
No offense at all. I appreciate you taking the time to look at my stuff. It would be an easy thing to add an additional page with a resume, picture of me and a statement, so I’ll go ahead and do that. Thanks again for the advice. I’ve also been reading the “What do the Professionals look for?” thread and I’m finding lots of good suggestions there as well…
Best Regards,
Jeff
Jeff,
I took a quick look and I’d second the reload on all the pages. Paging through each (tiny) product image is tedious and I don’t have that much time. It also gives it a dated “designed for dial-up” feeling. Your target audience will have broadband.
The photography page didn’t load in my browser (FF3.0.3 mac) I tried safari and it loaded. I don’t know if the slideshow (javascript?) you are using is something you did yourself but it felt a little clunky.
I like these, as it’s something similar, but flash based and much zippier.
Otherwise, I like the clean mature look. Now, where’s the blog? 
Benny-
Thanks for the comments. I agree about the page loading. The site was set up using Apple’s iWeb and I think that’s the best the app can do. Although it is clunky, iWeb makes it so easy to revise and repost pages onto my .mac account that I prefer to just live with its deficiencies. I didn’t realize the photo page wasn’t loading in Firefox (again, it’s a slideshow page from iWeb) so I’ll look into linking to an Airtight page. Thanks for the suggestions…
-Jeff