[krazytim]

View website: enimak. | Portfolio of Tim Silva

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Hi there!

I have gone through many portfolio sites in the past 5 years, and as always,
I am always trying new things. This is my most recent portfolio, under a new
branding that is easier to remember and work with.

Please give me an honest critique, good or bad. I appreciate anyone who can
take the time to help me out with a good review. I will do my best to make
any changes that I can to improve the website overall (in terms of design or
coding). Just let me know what you think, and if the function of the website
works. Obviously, being a portfolio website, I am encouraging people to hire
me for design projects. So in all honesty, would seeing this one-page site do
it for you? Let me know.

Thanks in advanced,
-Tim

[tim710]

Header area is way too big. Also not liking the glossy thing. Footer is too big too. I like the content area, except that you're trying to change the color of my text selection.

[slippers]

Yeah the footer is probably twice as big as it needs to be. Really like the rollovers on work. overall its nice but judging by your portfolio its far from your best work.

[raz]

Yeah it's pretty nice, does the job. As the above posts pointed out the header and footer are way bigger than needed, and I'm not so sure about the green rectangle - maybe play with that a little.

You have some great work in your portfolio, though! GJ

[krazytim]

Thanks for your comments.

@Slipper - Portfolios are different from normal websites, they have completely different functions.

[krazytim]

Made some more updates to the design - I also made the background tan instead.

View it here:

[bslate]

Just a few usability notes:

1. In the contact form, the inputs and textarea are grey. Typically grey fields make the user think that they are "disabled". Food for thought.

2. The little arrows on the headings pointing down. Understandable what you mean with them, but I tried clicking on them thinking there would be a drop down/reveal of some sort.

3. On that note, also tried clicking on "Try me", since its a call to action of some sort. Was expecting something to happen.

4. The logo is a link to the homepage but only appears at the top of a 1 page site with no sub pages. Is that necessary?

5. I think you could take the words "for people" out of the first sentence. Unless you have clients that aren't "people"? Although we would all like to refer to some clients as anything but people...

[slippers]

I appreciate that. At the end of the day its to showcase your work. Your site does this. I like it. prefer the tanned background aswell.

[flyingwodka]

A simple design but you should split your references into more pages, I think you have too much to show all of them in only one page with such big preview images.

btw. I know you from years ago (gizmo's forum)

[krazytim]

Updated: enimak. | Tim Silva



@bslate - Thanks for all the suggestions! Some of those seemed quite obvious after you mentioned them. This is exactly why critiques are so important.

1.) I changed the colors to blue instead, at first, but then decided to stick with the same tan color as I have on the background.

2.) The arrows are just indicators. I had them pointing to the right at first, to direct to the label on the bars, but someone suggested that having them pointing downwards would make more sense. So neither of those two seem to be flawless. I suppose a bullet would work too, but I like the arrow shapes. Not sure about this yet.

3.) A few people from other places mentioned that about the "Try Me" box. I just added a functional link to it. It opens up the back window that the contact button does.

4.) Yes, it is a one page design, but it is just more logical, I feel, to have the logo clickable. It serves many good functions, and doesn't do any harm. So no, it isn't necessary for all viewers, but some, including myself, may find it useful for various reasons.

5.) I re-wrote the intro text and edited it probably over 100 times. I wanted to include "for people," because it allows for potential clients to know that I am great to work with, and that I can be trusted. It is a credibility cue, that I would argue makes me more approachable and welcoming. This is very important, since I am obviously encouraging people to get in contact with me. I could replace people with, "for businesses," "for myself," for _____, etc. I am trying to convey that I am a people-person.


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@flyingwodka - I appreciate the suggestion, but I am not a fan of multiple-page portfolios, at least not lately. The setup I have requires the least amount of clicking and "work" on the client's end. They can see a large body of my work within seconds, and not only does this happen quickly, it happens in a way that allows them to see the diversity of my work. If I had more than 2 types of genres in design offered on my site, then I would consider multiple pages. But I am only offering web design and interface design. That can definitely fit on one page.

I actually didn't go on gizmo's forums, I came around a little later. Unless you are talking about Cosmo's forums. I was a mod on that forum.