New website layout...feedback??

I've been updating my portfolio website, and I'm hoping to get some feedback. Please let me know what you think! The layout isn't very fancy, but I prefer an overall clean and simple look:

Jenna Sheffler.net

As far as the portfolio content goes, it's still a work in progress. Once I finish a few of my latest projects, I'll swap those for a few of my older/weaker designs.

Looking forward to people's comments/suggestions. Thanks!

I really like that you're attempting to create a simple, clean website. I see a lot of people these days who think anything done with a lot of Photoshop effects is design. It's great that you've decided to go with minimalism.

Even though I like what you're trying to achieve, you aren't quite there yet I think. I'm a huge fan of minimal design, but it also has to be interesting. I feel the current design is a little boring and if I was a potential client, I might look elsewhere after landing on the index page. When I visit your site, I feel like I'm back in the 1990s. There's a lot more you can do with a simple design using just HTML and CSS, make it communicate who you are, what are your strengths. Give people a reason to hire you. Use typography, color, form, backgrounds, textures, grids, layout design to your advantage. It is very possible to use some or all of these elements in a successful minimal design. Have a look at the following links for some brilliant designs of this nature:
minimalsites | minimal design website gallery
25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs | Vandelay Design Blog
25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs: Part 3 | Vandelay Design Blog
25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs - Part 4 | Vandelay Design Blog
16 Best Web Design Galleries for Inspiration
Kwerk Design Minimal.ca on Smashing Magazine


Keep at it, you can surely come up with something more engaging, something that makes people go, "Hey, now that's a great designer" as soon as they land on your website.

Edited by Deathdart, 15 June 2009 - 02:45 AM.

Just a question about the images. They seem to lag and take a while to load. I know users (including myself) get impatient waiting for images to load and usually skip to something else. Have they all been optimized for web? If they haven't, that may resolve this issue. I'm all for minimal design and I like the simplicity of the navigation on your site.

Deathdart, thanks for the advice and links. I want a website that is clean and minimal but definitely not boring or 1990's-esque (unless I threw in some Saved by the Bell references,then it might be just cheesy enough to work! ).

I'm going to play around with some new design elements - especially big, bold typography.

smack, thanks for reminding me about optimizing my images! That's what I get for updating my site on 3 hours of sleep (gotta love insomnia). I optimized the layout images, but still need to filter through and fix some of the logos.

@Jenna: Great, looking forward to an updated version All the best!

smack, thanks for reminding me about optimizing my images! That's what I get for updating my site on 3 hours of sleep (gotta love insomnia). I optimized the layout images, but still need to filter through and fix some of the logos.

Much better Jenna

It still takes a second to load, but it's so much quicker. I would still try to find a way to have it so there is no lag and no jpeg icon before the image appears.

Much better Jenna

It still takes a second to load, but it's so much quicker. I would still try to find a way to have it so there is no lag and no jpeg icon before the image appears.

Hmm, what browser and operating system are you using? I've checked my site on a few different browsers and haven't seen any jpeg icons, even when the images took a few extra seconds to load.

Hi Jenna,

I'm Running Mac OS X 10.5.7

I normally use Firefox as most people visiting your site will be using that browser - see http://www.w3schools...wsers_stats.asp

I tried it with Safari as well and though it doesn't show the icon, it still takes a second and I don't think it needs to for images this size. My site images are about the same size and don't seem to load. When you optimized the images did you resize them? ( say to 500px x 500px ) I know sometimes even though they are optimized and viewing correctly on screen, the actual image size is much larger and this could be what is causing the load time.
just a thought.

( I don't mean to be picky, but these are the little things that drive me crazy about my site )

Hi Jenna,

I'm Running Mac OS X 10.5.7

I normally use Firefox as most people visiting your site will be using that browser - see Browser Statistics

I tried it with Safari as well and though it doesn't show the icon, it still takes a second and I don't think it needs to for images this size. My site images are about the same size and don't seem to load. When you optimized the images did you resize them? ( say to 500px x 500px ) I know sometimes even though they are optimized and viewing correctly on screen, the actual image size is much larger and this could be what is causing the load time.
just a thought.

( I don't mean to be picky, but these are the little things that drive me crazy about my site )

I use Firefox too, but I have a PC w/Vista. I resized the images when I saved them for the web. I'm actually working on a new layout so hopefully this one will be less trouble

I appreciate the feedback on the little things, after all, we are designers - we're all about the details!

I love the bright bold style you are capturing, and I believe is reminiscent of the work of Pop Comic artist Roy Lichtenstein (Roy Lichtenstein Prints and Posters at Art.com). One thing I noticed about your illustration is that the lines are all the same width. You might create more depth and more of a hand-inked look by outlining your path and varying the widths of your outlines.

Regarding the website, I'm not sure I'd open it with a bio page, but I know that one-page websites have been the rage for awhile, which would naturally incorporate bio and contact and portfolio information all together. I know that Smashing Magazine recently did a piece on this and had lots of examples.

I love the bright bold style you are capturing, and I believe is reminiscent of the work of Pop Comic artist Roy Lichtenstein (Roy Lichtenstein Prints and Posters at Art.com). One thing I noticed about your illustration is that the lines are all the same width. You might create more depth and more of a hand-inked look by outlining your path and varying the widths of your outlines.

Regarding the website, I'm not sure I'd open it with a bio page, but I know that one-page websites have been the rage for awhile, which would naturally incorporate bio and contact and portfolio information all together. I know that Smashing Magazine recently did a piece on this and had lots of examples.

Thanks for the feedback.

I definitely want something else for the landing page, possibly a blog and/or twitter feed or a showcase of my most recent designs, but haven't gotten around to it yet. For the time being, I changed the iframe so that it lands on my portfolio.

I like when some websites use a one-page layout, but I think it better suits larger websites.

Like your site, by the way. The layout is the perfect mix of elegant yet approachable. I like your advice in the Blog and Learn sections, too!

nice colors.

make the lightbox go fullscreen and split the portfolio or make it scrollable

You might want to put your email address and/or your phone number on the upper right for quick access. Maybe even your yahoo messenger id. I'd skip the bio as well, concentrate on presenting your portfolio =)

Nice work by the way.

I am not going to critique the overall look of the site, as I respect each artist's decision on how they want to portray their profile.

However! I can offer some advice on how to make your page a bit more modern and cut down on load time, etc.

1. I-Frames are bad for a variety of reason I won't go into. You can achieve the same results for your portfolio images by using a fixed height/width div and setting overflow to scroll or auto. If you REALLY want to keep the arrows and no scroll bar, you can use AJAX or something but I don't think you want to get that advanced. Alternatively, you can leave the arrow graphic on the bg image and use the overflow:scroll option and the user should get the picture.

2. I would split your page into divs and absolute position the items. For example: make the main container block one div, your name title another, the menu another and just position them all accordinly. If you'd like, I can make a barebones template or write out some code for you so you can see how it would look.

3. Get yourself some keywords/meta tags, etc!

That's really it. You have a unique page and it looks great, but I am always preaching for people to use CSS over tables and I see lots of potential for making your site much more cross-browser compatible and search engine friendly

Edit: Regarding adding your email...do so at your own risk. I support contact forms over just throwing out your email for spam mail purposes.

Edited by tsmith, 03 September 2009 - 04:38 AM.

I am not going to critique the overall look of the site, as I respect each artist's decision on how they want to portray their profile.

However! I can offer some advice on how to make your page a bit more modern and cut down on load time, etc.

1. I-Frames are bad for a variety of reason I won't go into. You can achieve the same results for your portfolio images by using a fixed height/width div and setting overflow to scroll or auto. If you REALLY want to keep the arrows and no scroll bar, you can use AJAX or something but I don't think you want to get that advanced. Alternatively, you can leave the arrow graphic on the bg image and use the overflow:scroll option and the user should get the picture.

2. I would split your page into divs and absolute position the items. For example: make the main container block one div, your name title another, the menu another and just position them all accordinly. If you'd like, I can make a barebones template or write out some code for you so you can see how it would look.

3. Get yourself some keywords/meta tags, etc!

That's really it. You have a unique page and it looks great, but I am always preaching for people to use CSS over tables and I see lots of potential for making your site much more cross-browser compatible and search engine friendly

Edit: Regarding adding your email...do so at your own risk. I support contact forms over just throwing out your email for spam mail purposes.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm definitely going to give the div layout a try. I need to tweak the overall design anyway.

I got into the bad habit of using tables containing iframes years ago. I still think it can work for small sites, but now I see that it's not necessarily the smartest approach for a portfolio.

And yes, I think I'll stick with the contact form since I get enough spam e-mail as is.

Is this your first portfolio?

As you have a lot of great advices to work on I will only tell you that I really like your paintings, they have a little of a van Gogh look!

Also here is a great tutorial on how you can work your illustration lines.
http://www.gomediazi...r-illustration/

Bye

Great tips on that site bunker, thanks for sharing.

@bunker: glad you like my paintings! Van Gogh is definitely an inspiration to me. Thanks for the illustration tips, I'll need to work on that.

I recently changed the layout and scrapped the table & iframes in favor of a div layout. It looks fine on my computer (VISTA w/Firefox), but I'd love to get other people's feedback on the overall layout and how it looks/loads in different browsers & operating systems.