Another Portfolio Critique Request!

[sdunham]

Hello All!
I’ve been working on a personal portfolio for a few design and development projects I’ve done recently, and was wondering if anyone would be willing to take a look. This is my first from-scratch web design project, so I’m interested in what you all think so far and if there’s anywhere I could/should make improvements.

There’s still work to be done, but once the design is finished I plan on converting it to a wordpress theme and making it live. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Scott

[TheDoc]

How many fonts do I see there? Try to pick two fonts, maybe a max of three.

Space out those elements a bit more. Especially in the footer, you’ll notice that the text bumps up against the top of the container. Use padding to space that out a bit.

[snillor]

As noted, needs some color – especially on the home page. And I feel that if you have a neutral background, colors that are purer than what you have on other pages pop more.

RESUME: I thought it was not advisable to list graduation dates. You’re giving people a pretty good idea of how young you are – probably not a good idea in most cases.

CONTACT: My guess is that the song lyrics and footnotes are meant to be quirky and humorous. To me they’re out of place and don’t do anything to support the message that you’re a designer someone should hire.

PORTFOLIO: The text in the paragraphs below the Rotary Advent Calendar heading could use some breathing room – it’s pretty close to the This Calendar image.

STUFF I LIKE: I don’t have a problem with the short descriptions on the right. I do think that most of the items under Fun Stuff” might be sending the wrong message: they tend to portray you as more of a fun-loving geek than a serious designer

GENERAL:
> Overall it’s visually quite attractive, and supports your love of minimalism.
> I do like the neutral background, and the use of texture.
> “a proponent of … elegant typography” – To my eye the font you’ve chosen is more hard to read than it is elegant.
> I like the subtle hover effect (a soft white shadow?) you used in several places. That does kinda say “elegant” to me.

[chrisburton]

Yeah, although I don’t agree with having only a limited number of fonts on a site (unless it noticeably effects page load), at least try to have them compliment each other. You can try within the same family (italic, bold). In this case, I think the brush script complements nothing. I would try different combinations. I also think the color palette could be improved as well as the textured background. Might look better with a gradient or a solid color.

@Snillor I agree. Brush script is more wild and artistic, not conservative or formal.

[sdunham]

First of all, thanks to everyone for your feedback. I should have some time to work on the items you suggested this weekend, so I’ll check back after then to see what you think.

There were a couple of common themes, so I’ll address those quickly:

1. Font Choice: I’ve changed my fonts quite a bit as I’ve been designing, and I’ve never been too happy with them. I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t just me, though. I’ll be combing typekit for some new combinations that will do a better job of complimenting each other.
2. Color Scheme: I realize that the site in general is fairly gray. My hope was that using neutral colors for the background and nav/footer would make some of the more colorful content elements (i.e. images, lists of projects and “stuff I like”) stand out a bit more. Since it was a common note though, I’ll definitely play around with adding some more color and/or gradients to make it look less drab.

Thanks again, I really do appreciate it!
Scott

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