My Webfolio

[Schmitty]

http://www.schmittyart.com

Ive been working on it for around 2 weeks now. Still have some more images in all sections to add. But thought I would share and see what everyone thought.

[urstwile]

Hmm, some nice work that you're showing, but the navigation is very cumbersome, having to hit the back button when you click on an image to get back to the main page. Not sure about the scroll bar/thumbnail interface as a way to show your work.

[1ooScreamingTrees]

I find it very awkward that your rollover navigation consists of the entire width of the page. You should make them equal sized boxes slightly larger than the text they encompass.

Also - a lot of people are not fond (and with very good reason) of the "cropped-section" portoflio presentation. People want to get an idea of the overall piece before they explore further - some of your croppings have nearly abstracted your work.

You should make an art print of your jazz on the beach poster without the type work. I bleepin' love the drawing of the musician.

[Schmitty]

Well almost all of the pieces are different sizes. So having a thumbnail of the entire image seemed to lack consistency in the thumbnails. Thats why I went with the cropped thumbs. You think its that big of a deal that the rollover is the entire width? Seems like it would catch someones attention if better.

Shitty thing is I produced that blues poster and it never went to print. bummer.
Thanks guys. Anyone else?

[1ooScreamingTrees]

You think its that big of a deal that the rollover is the entire width? Seems like it would catch someones attention if better.

Yeah, I do. When the user's mouse is nowhere near the navigation (the left or right far edge of the page) they are not expecting an interaction to occur. When it does occur, it will force the user into paying more attention than is neccessary.

It's a simple change that will make a much simpler feeling interface - although it won't look different until interacted with.

So having a thumbnail of the entire image seemed to lack consistency in the thumbnails.

This is an age-old problem of digital portfolios - some people have created great solutions to the problem - so surf around. If you are going to crop the piece, the user needs to know what it is before they click on it. I wouldn't crop them down to the point where they are abstracted, such as your bicycle charcoal drawing. Those drawings are great by the way.

*edit* actually now that I look at them - all of your drawing examples are cropped to the point of abstraction. Give people a hint at what they are looking at to aid in the interest-sparking process. Find balanc between abstraction and too much information...there's a happy medium in there somewhere.

[Schmitty]

*edit* actually now that I look at them - all of your drawing examples are cropped to the point of abstraction. Give people a hint at what they are looking at to aid in the interest-sparking process. Find balanc between abstraction and too much information...there's a happy medium in there somewhere.

What about the other pages. I feel they spark interest.

[tZ]

I would recommend having your thumbnails placed on the page without a scrollbar. You have all that space at the bottom so it seems akward to place them horizontally in a scroll over just placing them in rows on the page.

[undressedmonster]

A few things:

Get rid of the horizontal scrollbar. I'm not an expert, but I have heard from experts who say that they're a no-no.

Capitalize your 'I's in your intro paragraph.

Show only your super-stellar work in your portfolio. There are a couple projects I saw that I would have left out. Also, I wouldn't show more than one solution for the same project (ie the Annual Type Design Review posters). Pick your best solution and show only that one.

Finally, in the Photoshop section, maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure what skills you are showing in each project. Maybe it would be interesting to show the original photo along with the Photoshopped one. This would give the viewer a better understanding of your skills.