Can you please comment on my web design

Martin_Man

Martin_Man

Martin_Man

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Joined
2 Jun 2004
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Click here to view the design

I'm creating various web designs to build up an online portfolio.

This one I have shared with you has no meaning to it, it’s for display purpose only so all the texts mean nothing but mumble jumbo.

I would appreciate your comments you have so that I can make better improvements.

THANKS
 
Seems ok to me maybe a little dull in colour but its simple enough. Id be happy to use it for a website if i was looking for one.

Not sure if i would include it in a portfolio though. You need to think outside the box a bit.

Also im no code expert but the way you have the BG seems different to the way i have been taught. Instead of you BG being a 1700x1000 jpg is it not better to to take a few pixels from your gradient and then add the other images to divs?

Like i said im realy no expert so maybe the way you have done it is a better method?
 
The whole reason I’ll be adding this to my portfolio is so that I can prove I’m capable of becoming a web designer trainee. I want to become a graphics and web designer but with the career I’m currently in, whenever I enquire for a job to become a web designer they think I have no IT experience what so ever. They ask me to build a portfolio and get back to them. So that’s what I am doing.

I have seen methods before when people have created a large bg and centre it and for this design, I thought it would have been suitable. When you say it looks dull in colour, what can I improve?
 
It's nice.

Although to be honest it's a hard thing to do. I've not seen any portfolios of made up design work, I've only seen portfolios of commissioned work.

In my opinion, It might be a better idea to give the website more of a purpose. At the minute it's nice, but you can't really judge your web design skills, because there's not much design gone on.

I'm not affiliated with the profession at all, but If I were an employer assessing portfolios, I would be interested in seeing what people design based upon certain criteria.

I'm not saying your work is bad at all, I'm sure you can create some nice stuff. Maybe though, you could create a mock request and a design specifically for that. Showing your initiative to be able to design around a client's needs.

As for this design itself... Only 2 things I thought. Firstly the navigation menu could maybe be aligned differently, it looks to segregated at the minute and too attached to the top. Maybe it could be on the same line as the site title.

Also, the site title itself maybe could be indented more or taken back enough to align with the vertical margin of "Latest".

But yeah, other than that, and considering what I first said, I do like what you've done. The roll overs are a nice subtle touch.
 
It's nice.

Although to be honest it's a hard thing to do. I've not seen any portfolios of made up design work, I've only seen portfolios of commissioned work.

In my opinion, It might be a better idea to give the website more of a purpose. At the minute it's nice, but you can't really judge your web design skills, because there's not much design gone on.

I'm not affiliated with the profession at all, but If I were an employer assessing portfolios, I would be interested in seeing what people design based upon certain criteria.

I'm not saying your work is bad at all, I'm sure you can create some nice stuff. Maybe though, you could create a mock request and a design specifically for that. Showing your initiative to be able to design around a client's needs.

As for this design itself... Only 2 things I thought. Firstly the navigation menu could maybe be aligned differently, it looks to segregated at the minute and too attached to the top. Maybe it could be on the same line as the site title.

Also, the site title itself maybe could be indented more or taken back enough to align with the vertical margin of "Latest".

But yeah, other than that, and considering what I first said, I do like what you've done. The roll overs are a nice subtle touch.
Click to expand...

Thanks:- i have moved the navigation bar in level with the logo and moved the logo slightly to the left in level with the 'Latest' to alight up

I really want to try hard to become a web designer this year and with no advice i thought this would have been a perfect way showing my creativy and what i currently know. When you mention "i could create for mock requests and a design specifically for that ." what do you mean by this?

Dont bother going into a career for it. I do it and its not well payed in the slightest. Stay freelance
Click to expand...

Specify? As i'm sure if you looked, there may be something better out there for yourself which pays more.
 
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Looks better now. Maybe center the text in the buttons :D

By creating a mock request, I mean, pretend a client has asked you to make a website about X and has to provide X functionality for X purpose. Then design around that. Then an employer can see you have the skill and intuition to work to criteria, rather than just put stuff on a web page.

Check this website out. It's a Graphic Design company, and this is their website design portfolio page. At a first glance some of the their work looks bland, or strange, but after you read about the clients, their wants and needs, the designs work perfectly for what's been asked.

http://www.acuitydesigns.net/portfolio/web-design/

Good site to look at for their other stuff aswell actually. A bit off topic, but check out their showcase Flash site from last year.

http://www.acuitydesigns.net/flash/
 
Martin_Man said:
The whole reason I’ll be adding this to my portfolio is so that I can prove I’m capable of becoming a web designer trainee. I want to become a graphics and web designer but with the career I’m currently in, whenever I enquire for a job to become a web designer they think I have no IT experience what so ever. They ask me to build a portfolio and get back to them. So that’s what I am doing.

I have seen methods before when people have created a large bg and centre it and for this design, I thought it would have been suitable. When you say it looks dull in colour, what can I improve?
Click to expand...

Nice layout but I think you'd benefit from something more logo wise at the top, next to the header text - maybe some sort of generic shape.

I agree with other comments about the colors being a bit dull/bland though.
 
Martin Man said:
Click here to view the design
Click to expand...

It's not bad... the main problem for me is the typography. All the body text is the same colour, the same font and the same size. It's also arguably too small, the line height makes it difficult to read, and it's ugly because it's not justified. It sits too close to the sub-headings, too.

Sort the text out and it would look a hell of a lot nicer :)

Dom_UK said:
http://www.acuitydesigns.net/flash/
Click to expand...

That is terrible. It's not rubbish because it's Flash; it's rubbish because it's rubbish. As a design agency, you'd think they'd want to present their content in a usable and accessible way. Instead, they've made something that you can't navigate because it's impossible to tell which page is which, with text that's too small, awkward to scroll and impossible to copy and paste. Also, it's a hideous beige colour and those eyes are really distracting. Form over function is one thing, but that doesn't even look impressive. And accessibility... forget about it.
 
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Nice layout but I think you'd benefit from something more logo wise at the top, next to the header text - maybe some sort of generic shape.

I agree with other comments about the colors being a bit dull/bland though.
Click to expand...

Ok i'll make a nice new logo for the top :)

It's not bad... the main problem for me is the typography. All the body text is the same colour, the same font and the same size. It's also arguably too small, the line height makes it difficult to read, and it's ugly because it's not justified. It sits too close to the sub-headings, too.

Sort the text out and it would look a hell of a lot nicer
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response, I understand what you mean. I will spread things out a bit more to make it more understandable.

If it was you, what texts would you change in size? All the <p> fonts are 10px which I guess is a bit small so I shall up the size to 12px. Also, whats the best fonts to use for a site like this? Because I’m currently using Verdana
 
Mattus said:
That is terrible. It's not rubbish because it's Flash; it's rubbish because it's rubbish. As a design agency, you'd think they'd want to present their content in a usable and accessible way. Instead, they've made something that you can't navigate because it's impossible to tell which page is which, with text that's too small, awkward to scroll and impossible to copy and paste. Also, it's a hideous beige colour and those eyes are really distracting. Form over function is one thing, but that doesn't even look impressive. And accessibility... forget about it.
Click to expand...

Dom_UK said:
Check this website out. It's a Graphic Design company, and this is their website design portfolio page. At a first glance some of the their work looks bland, or strange, but after you read about the clients, their wants and needs, the designs work perfectly for what's been asked.
Click to expand...


Hey guys.. thanks for mentioning our site Dom.. as for the flash site - at the time - it was created as simply a showcase of mine and y partners work. We were still in university in 2007 and it was more an experiment than a 'get clients / position ourselves as an agency' Furthermore, a slight note is that w e are primarily illustrators / graphic designers. We love that flash site! o=So did a lot of ppl on the web... was great for us at the time! Anywho - thanks for having a look and the mention!:)
 
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Hey guys, done some more work to the site today, i added information to the about and contact page

click here

please let me know what you think? after the site is complete i will then start to add my own text rather then crap which is there already, I'll also change the font sizes. For now though i just want to complete the structure.
 
I still think you should consider what I said, otherwise I think it's more or less pointless.

It shows what features you can put together not what you can design.
 
Dom_UK said:
I still think you should consider what I said, otherwise I think it's more or less pointless.

It shows what features you can put together not what you can design.
Click to expand...

I shall, Once i completed the structure and give things a little touch, i'll then turn it into a project as if its an actual company.

at least that is what you mean?
 
You might want to have your menu so you can click anywhere in those boxes/buttons, not just on the text.

I've just started learning css but I think you just move the stuff about the background image for the menu from the li into

#nav li a and #nav li a:hover
 
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