Senior ID Student

Showcase portfolios
1

Hi, I’m a ID senior and am looking for any feedback on my current website. I’m looking at buying my own domain name so I know that it’s a small thing but I think it would help. I’m really not sure if I showed enough work on my site or on my coroflot. I wanted to give a sample of my work, just enough to get people interested. any help would be great and all options are welcome. thanks

http://www.wix.com/jasonburnell/Home
coroflot: Jason Burnell, Product Designer & Developer in Minneapolis, MN

2

I despise flash websites (and many others out there do, too.), but if you’re going to use one, use something that’s actually good. The wix template design is awful, and doesn’t showcase your work the best that you should. Some good ones are carbonmade, inn…something I forgot.

Regarding your work: is that all? I think you should put more. It’s not a portfolio teaser, it’s your website. You have unlimited virtual space to show off, take advantage of it!

3

tarngerine, thanks for the input and just so you know, I made the entire thing from a blank not from a template already made. I’ll def think about using the site you mentioned and think about making it a nonflash site. As far as the amount of content, I was unsure how much to show. I was nervous about showing to much work on my site and not having anything new to show at a possible job interview. In general I think your right I should have more content to showcase me as a designer overall. thanks for the feedback. :smiley:

4

Having a personal web site is a good idea, but honestly, I find yours a bit cumbersome and unfriendly. Sorry.


I’m impatient. Don’t make me wait.

  • Some animation is okay. Well used subtle fading/sliding to direct attention to the important parts is okay. A good movie /slideshow might be fine. Sliding boxes … not so much. I timed the sliding animation - it takes about 10 seconds before any work is shown. You just flunked the initial impression.
  • Don’t try to animate everything. If you must, fade in the whole page (quickly, 0.5sec or so, otherwise doing it multiple times gets infuriating). Don’t have every element coming in from different directions. Goes for sub pages as well. Not a fan of the fading out on mouseover.

I’m there to look at your work, don’t distract me.

  • The way the layout is set up, I looked at your design work LAST. Why is that, If you label yourself an Industrial designer? Chances are I arrived at your personal site because I was interested in your industrial design - shove some in my face the instant I arrive. That’s what I’m there for.
  • Again, don’t animate everything. Don’t steal my attention with less important stuff.

I’m there for the scenery, so don’t put me on the obstacle course.

  • The navigation is not consistent. Clicking on an image takes me to design work, which is good. There the zoom-in effect encourages activity - clicking, which doesn’t work. Lost momentum there.
  • The navigation bar - it took me too long to find it. My initial response, trying to navigate back from a design project to the rest of your work, was to try click the design project thumbnail in upper left corner. More lost momentum.
  • Btw, browser back and forward buttons don’t work. Shame on you flash (You can tell I’m no fan of flash websites - never been.)
  • Make images all the same size. As is, the navigation buttons jump all over the place, and the images cover navigation menus etc once in a while.


    I hope you can take the critique, turned out rather harsh though I intended it to be constructive. On a more positive side, I really like your “Jason Burnell / Industrial designer” branding. Simple and works well.

//n

5

Hiower, All feedback is welcome no matter how harsh it might be. I thank you for taking the time to not only look at my site but to respond to my posting and give me great pointers. This was extremely helpful and I can’t thank you enough for writing out in detail your thoughts and experience with my site. Im rather new to making a site( if it’s not already obvious lol). I think I might have gotten ahead of myself and used to much of the flash elements. People that go to my site want to see my work not how “cool” I can make a website look. I have to agree with a lot of your feedback and I plan on making changes accordingly. thanks for the honesty and tips, it means a lot.

6

You should study up on some of the more effective portfolios. Smashing Magazine has a few articles where they feature a bunch of portfolios (both Flash and non-Flash). Do a google search for Smashing Magazine and portfolio. Keep in mind these are mostly Graphic/Interaction/Web designer portfolios, but those guys are tops at making websites. Don’t be afraid to take some (a lot) of inspiration. I strongly encourage a non-Flash website. Just for viewability on portable devices (read: iPhone+iPad).

7

Keep in mind unless you’re looking for jobs as a web designer, no one will be judging a simple site unless it goes overboard. A simple HTML page with a very clean layout, and some basic links back and forth to your content and your resume (I would personally ditch photography since most people probably aren’t hiring you for that even though they might be nice pictures).

The flip side is when you get something really unusable, it does make a stance about your design.

8

Good job that you learned flash. It can come in handy when prototyping user interfaces.

Now, install wordpress and post your work. Version 3.0 with the default theme, “2010” would be just fine for you. K, thanks.

see it: Image Alignment and Styles | Twenty Ten

9

I agree on the site feedback, I didn’t get past the intro, but I went back and clicked your coroflot. The footwear project is quit nice, I’d like to see the rest of your work rise to that level.