refurbishing my homepage and this is what i came up with yesterday,

 

http://swansea.me/

 

created using illustrator and dreamweaver with a few css tricks i picked up in the past, the flower vector was free stock and i am using twitter for interactivity (bit of life into the page)

 

my main problems are ...

 

need a nice navigation bullet for my menu, though i might not use one, havent decided

unsure if i should use some photographic images or to keep it as it is

should i be using "nofollow" on the twitter link as it might decrease page rank?

 

big thanks for all feedback good or bad, just be constructive

The graphics (except the swan) are random with no clear associations. The swan itself could be incorporated into a logo but the rest of the site would have to match. Even then the 'swan' / 'swansea' association is tenuous.

 

The text in the right column and the bottom-right of the page is too small. If you wanted to reduce the prominence of these areas, reducing the text size should only be done after you've explored other possibilities. For example, you could change the text colour so that it is lighter than other text. (less contrast, less prominence).

 

The blues of the site title and the content titles should match, or be clearly different. They're too similar at the moment.

 

I suggest thinking about exactly what you're trying to express to potential clients. Every element of your design should express something clearly. The totality of these elements is what gives a viewer an 'impression' of you, your site and your design abilities. Benchmark other designers' sites and think about why they look the way they do. Be bold, be deliberate and be clear.

good feedback,

 

the swan reflects the city in more then the name, the council, football team etc have taken it as a sort of icon of the city so it helps people relate the location

 

the reason i usualy make larger text lighter is because it apears darker on a light background, though i switched the colours to match and i guess its an improvement

 

the reason the text was small was because i threw in the graphic before thinking about where the website footer would end up, i have already switched the less prominent sections to a liter contrast to keep the main focus on the content (different shades on grey)

 

i am trying to give it a green, eco-friendly, hippyish look (i do use a green web host) and did consider using wind-turbine graphics, as they are visible on the hills around swansea.. somthing im working on

 

Ill be honest i find most designers websites lifeless and very conceptual, my previous portfolio websites where similer so im trying to make this one a bit colourfull but im finding it difficult to add colour at the moment.. the links i do like (when roll-overed).

 

I am just tired of making black, white and blue websites.. (with pictures of smiley telephone operators and badly-edited city pictures and corporate imagery).

i am trying to give it a green, eco-friendly, hippyish look (i do use a green web host) and did consider using wind-turbine graphics, as they are visible on the hills around swansea.. somthing im working on

 

this is a nice example of an 'eco' design site, not very hippyish, but does it need to be? Don't forget that the content (copy and media) of your site will go a long way to expressing what you have to say. The site design should reinforce what's communicated in the content.

 

Ill be honest i find most designers websites lifeless and very conceptual

 

I couldn't agree more... Web designers' portfolios should make the client want a site as beautiful, useful and functional as the web designer's.

 

I am just tired of making black, white and blue websites.. (with pictures of smiley telephone operators and badly-edited city pictures and corporate imagery).

 

Sounds like you've been making corporate sites for a while! They're often mind-numbingly dull and uninspiring but they needn't be.