Hi guys,

 

I've been designing a portfolio site recently. I've gone for a sketchy style and I think it works well apart from the page content. I'm not sure how to section off the text and control the white space effectively.

 

Any advice?

 

http://www.keithdevon.com

 

Thanks!

 

Keith

I honestly think the style doesn't fit the logo! With a logo like that, I'd go for a web 2.0/high-tech look. (btw, i like the logo!)

 

I know you're still working on it, but i think the portfolio showcase would work better with a jquery accordion http://www.stickmanlabs.com/accordion/ , that way you can click it and it stays open, or you can have the first one automatically open on page load. You can also have regular HTML text inside of the accordion versus the text-on-picture you had at the moment.

 

The contact page doesn't need the "...or..." ,it's ok if you can't will up the entire container.

 

Also, the footer looks awfully empty?! How about some testimonials, blog posts, or just some copyrights?

I love the site, but agree about the 'or's and the footer. Also, the sheet could have a larger top offset so that you can see the top of the post-its.

But I love all the details when you hover over images, like the twitter link at the bottom and the recent work images on the homepage, that idea is brilliant!

Other than that, you might do well to design your own font for the text and use cufonto load the font on everyone's browser. That would look awesome!

Good luck with the site and the business, although it seems like you've had more luck than me already, and I can see why, your designs are great! Hope this all helped!

Hey,

 

I like your design!

 

I like the gradient background as it fits well with the sky and also fits that paper style body. I also like the way you change the background for times of day.

 

What would be good if you used Javascript that looks at your clock and automatically changes the background at different times of day eg. night it changes to dark.

 

I think that you should change the nav bar so it looks like a diary and the nav images are stuck there being held by a paper clip

 

Nice Site

 

Ben

You could do the bg by time of day using PHP, just add it to your existing code:

 

<?php 

$daytime = date('g');

if(isset($_GET['stylepost=day']) || $daytime >= 1) [your settings go here] ?>

 

As you can see above, all I did was add a new variable, and said if the style is already declared day OR (the two pipes "||" ) the hour of day is greater than or equal to one [your settings go here].

 

Cheers!

I like it, but something doesn't seem quite right - it just seems a bit inconsistant - and some of the type is a bit big and 'simple' looking. Its better than I can do though, so props to you! Just a bit of refining - making things a bit smaller and neater - increasing the amount of white space I think will do a world of good

Massive thank you to everyone who posted here. It's given me lots to think about and lots of encouragement!

 

I'll try to have a look at everyone's suggestions and I'll let you know when I've made the improvements.

 

Thanks again and good luck to you all.

 

Keith

Awesome!

 

*high five!*

Ok, I've done a bit more work.

 

I think the home page looks a bit better now. There's a bit more to it and I think the text looks better at that size.

 

I've put a few bits and bobs in the footer, hopefully there will be more substantial content there in the future. Maybe even a blog, ooh!

 

The "time of day" style switcher should have been working from the start. It's php powered and is set to change at sunrise and sunset. Change it manually in the top right corner (the current time of day is now illuminated).

 

Not sure what to put on my "about" page. What normally goes on there? Should it be personal or professional? All about web design or about other interests? Is education important/relevant?

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Well done, Keith!

 

For background of content block you use nice crumpled paper texture. So if you try to add some uneveness, 'crumpledness' for the edges of this sheet of paper?

In the night version, airplane stops an lays downd on the moon. Is it bug or feature?

In the night version, airplane stops an lays downd on the moon. Is it bug or feature?

 

Neither, that's just where it stops! Maybe I should have a spaceship at night!

 

I'm thinking of losing the paper texture entirely. It's too big a file as it's a PNG with an alpha drop shadow. I've thought about an all white background with 'suggestions' of paper (ie in the top corners) or with dahed outlines. Not sure, gonna try a few in photoshop and see what looks good.

 

If I lose the texture it also means that anything on top can have shadow effects without having to use PNGs. It will be easier for the background to be scalable too... I think I've made up my mind!

Creative! Love it!

Two steps forwards but one step back!

 

I've cleaned up the design a bit. I got rid of the crumpled paper texture. It means I can use jpgs for the images instead of pngs. It also makes elastic heights a lot easier.

 

However, I then used cufon to style the headings with a great font. But the .js file is 590k!! I might have to go back to good old image replacement - what a pain! Any thoughts on this?

 

What do you think of the new design?

 

http://www.keithdevon.com

 

Any ideas on what I can do with the "Work" page would be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Keith