Graphic Design Portfolio/Studio Critique

[Megalopolis]

Hi everyone! My name is Meagan and I'm new here seeking some friendly comments/criticisms about my website. I'm a sophomore student at the School of Visual Arts in NYC studying graphic design. I'm trying to start up a small design studio to help bring in some extra income during the school year and also as a way to increase my portfolio. I tend to be head over heels about my designs but lack creative input from outside sources, so for the first time I'm putting my designs out there and asking for some help and advice as to anything I can do to improve my website. I got alot of great feedback from allgraphicdesign.com, so I thought I'd give it a go here too.

So check out my new layout and let me know what you think:
http://meaganalix.com

[PrintDriver]

Having frames within frames is awkward. There was a moment in your portfolio where in order to get to the bottom of the frame, I had to scroll the outer bar down...

I wouldn't put the text, if you got here by mistake, see the rest of my site (paraphrased cuz my short term memory sux ;)) on every single piece so close to the blurb. Maybe keep it as a constant but not so close. Repetition gets annoying when it appears to be part of your blurb.

As for your art the only thing I have to say is so far you have been lucky to have free reign over style of content where you can use elements that please you. There will come a time when you have to deal with what is good for the client's business, which may mean something other than your own personal style. Are you prepared for that day?

A lot of your tag-style lettering is not legible. I gave up on one of them though I managed to figure out Stage Aid because you mentioned it in the blurb.

Other than some grid choices that might be a little awkward, and a style I find a little too, hmm...word...word...Barby-ish maybe?...the work is ok.

I'm glad your generation thinks vinyl records are good for something. Hopefully they weren't anything rare... :(

[pinoy_boy]

Needs work but it's getting there. First thing I would recommend is creating some hierarchy, because it is a litte busy and there is a lot going on. Next, I would work on the typograpy. I would suggest not to use all caps though. Third, your site needs contrast.

This might be overwhelming for you, but so far you are doing a good job.

[Megalopolis]

Thanks for your comments! Designing this site has been a real challenge for me, I've been designing personal websites for myself since I was about 14, so changing over to creating a proffesional website has been so hard! I've changed alot of the layout, got rid of the ads on top, changed the logo and gotten rid of the thumbnails for the newest designs in an attempt to de-clutter it. What do you think?

As for my art, you are right. I've never really had any proffesional clients come and ask me for designs, most have been friends or people who like my style and want me to bring it into their website. I plan on creating some more proffesional looking mock ups to add to my portfolio.

Pinoy_boy, as for hierarchy and contrast, can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

Print Driver, do you know of a way to make the Iframe expand to however tall the document is so there is no need to scroll? I'm going to look into that because it definitly is a hassle.

Thank you for taking the time to comment about my site, please keep it coming!

[milano.design]

i see forward thinking a good thing just needs refining. see talent but a bit scattered.

don't like circles. see one design with it, ok. see two, :(
see three gives me the impression you aren't pushing yourself past the basics.

Fonts. stay away from fonts you can't read. Most students love to try something new. Don't!!! see how you can make the classics work for you first, then after about 5 years try bringing in the weird stuff.

Don't show everything ONLY SHOW YOUR BEST! the overall impression will be higher. so take out a few things that need work, is unreadable. or look the same.

need to master type better. alot of wide paragraphs. and same style layout in many of the looks.

rework your logo. single most important thing. and there are some kerning issues. M is not same as A point size, and it looks like a mistake. kerning from A to L is bothersome. again the circles. Ugh!

Overall, good use of colors. interesting solutions to design.
and LOVE the bag design.

[Megalopolis]

Ah I love circles! But I can understand its a bit over done, I'll work on the logo some more and refine my portfolio. Could you explain more in regards to wide paragraphs and the same style look?

Thanks again, keep it coming!

[budafist]

Madness! I have green circles like that on my CV. Mine don't have outlines though, but similar shades of green.

The first page has too much text and not enough images. The first thing I want to see on a designer's website is some pictures! Try condensing the text you have got there. I didn't read it. Too much info.

I really like your illustrations. They have a graffiti/street art appeal to them. I don't think your style of illustrations fits with the design of your website. You might want to style your website to fit your design style a bit more.

[Megalopolis]

Thanks! See the thing about my illustrations is that I'm so sick of them! haha, I've been drawing like that for a few years and I think if I designed my site around it i'd be tired of it within a week. plus i'm trying to make my site look proffesional, I don't know if it would come off that way if I designed it around that.

I'll definitly take your advice about the pictures, I had some ads I designed on the top and it was just way too much, way too busy. Maybe I'll rework it.

BTW-I'm trying to convert my site over to .php so if things look a little off then it's probably because i'm toying with the layout.

[budafist]

Fair enough. Professionalism is a good route to go.

[milano.design]

website photos. small but can see that alot of them are alike. and the paragraphs seem to take up too much space. Some are even going to the border. And a few of them look like they are the same.

actually its quite difficult to give feedback on them individually since they are coming up so small.

[Megalopolis]

If you read the descriptions under the images there is an option to view a larger format. :) I can see what you mean about the paragraphs being too close to the edge, however I don't really see them as being too big, maybe I misunderstood you?