As the title suggests, I would like some feedback for my portfolio website. Constructive criticism most welcome. Let me know what's good and what's bad.

 

My link

Woah!

 

Kevin_P I suggest you go back to the drawing board, (being nice!) - You have a number of things to consider:

 

- Look into storing your css in an external sheet, not the same page.

- Your design lacks 100% imagination and creativity.

- The coding structure is poor and the design is extremely poor.

- Your logo animation can be done with jQuery, my recommendation would be to not use flash, especially with more tablet devices around.

 

The fact that someone would pay £750 for your gold package is seriously worrying and you will be seriously damaging the industry. How can you offer a 'bespoke' service when you currently don't even market your own website properly, I see know meta tags for keywords, content, description, all sorts.

 

I wouldn't trust your SEO Advice or a lot for that matter, I suggest you seriously dive into photoshop/fireworks and begin designing the website from scratch and do ZERO coding until your 100% happy with it..

 

There are tons of tutorials out there which can help you pick up all sorts of tips and tricks. I suggest you start there and do not release a site that I assume you knocked up in an afternoon.

 

If you can answer this question, I will be more than thankful, do you think your site at the moment matches the web standards of today?

 

If not, Start Over.

Edited June 4, 201214 yr by OwenONeill

• The colours are way too harsh.
  
• WAY too much information.
  
• Sick to one font.
  
• Simplify the layout.
  
• Fonts are too bold and big
  
• On the packages page, there is too much features shown, simplify it.
  
• No offence but your use of black as a background with what looks like Times New Roman as a font just makes it look like we're in the 90s again.
  

I'm not sure your profile of being at an intermediate level is entirely accurate here! I'm at a similar stage (setting up my first freelance website), and I have spent well over a year learning from scratch, from books and hundreds of websites. Your website seems to go against all I have learned so far!

 

If you're fine with code, then there are some books available that are just pages and pages of pictures of web pages, which you really can learn a lot from of what looks good. Your website is too busy/messy and isn't very uniform. In my opinion, there are too many jagged edges and an unattractive colour scheme. Try kuler.adobe.com which has many colour schemes and the option to create colour schemes that compliment each other.

 

Also I'm not sure why you would offer free advice on SEO when it is you making the websites? The client surely can have no impact on SEO if you are the one desinging, coding and hosting the site. Also most of your words are images and you have no h1 tags etc which are vital for SEO.

 

Final point is the actual domain name is pretty long and forgettable, could do with being more catchy.

 

Good Luck.

I'm sorry but that is just ugly, you need to start from scratch and re-learn your trade ... or find a different one.

Edited June 5, 201214 yr by MMMedia

The fact that someone would pay £750 for your gold package is seriously worrying and you will be seriously damaging the industry.

Really?

 

Come on! Yes, the site needs work. Yes, there's a lot "wrong" with it. But damaging the industry?

 

Sorry Owen, but if you're going to make a statement like that, you need to back it up. I'd say that if the OP was charging £5 instead of £750 that would be more damaging. Just because he is still learning, doesn't mean he shouldn't be paid a living wage for the work he does.

 

If you find designers with a lower skill level a threat, then you need to look at how you get clients - not let rip at other designers.

 

I've been really surprised by this thread. A lot of comments about what's wrong with the site, with very little advice on how to proceed.

 

So here's what I think:

 

Black and white is just too heavy for this kind of site. All the jagged, spiky edges are creating an atmosphere of tension on your page. It's too cluttered, too dark, and lacks a sense of balance that people expect to see when paying this kind of money for web design.

 

Your page most of all lacks a focal point. Every web page should have a job to do. I would say that your home page's job is to alert prospects to who you are, what you do, and why they should explore your site further with a view to hiring you.

 

So I would say you need to re-design your home page step by step, with your prospects' response in mind.

 

Your logo does not need to be animated, or anywhere near as big as it is now. It also could do without the spiky edges.

 

Instead, give your main value proposition the most weight on the page. For example, at the top middle it says "Does your business need a website?". Although somewhat lacking in imagination, this is the best part of the site because it addresses the visitor directly, and engages with them about their needs.

 

Your navigation isn't working at the moment. Because it's part of the section I just mentioned, with no contrast or separation, it's easy to miss. Your site visitors will likely suffer from 'banner blindness' - your section is ad-shaped, and separated. People's first reaction to it could quite possibly be to think it's an ad, and ignore it. Ditto the right hand column. You should lose that part of your site entirely. Your tweets don't belong on your site imo - they just interrupt your message, and add clutter.

 

Why have you got a big "portfolio" button sat in the middle of your page? This is where my eye is drawn when I visit your site, but it's confusing. Instead, just create a simple navigation menu that's dead obvious. People have expectations about how a website should work. Don't make them sweat, or try to be smart. Give them an easy way to see what you're about.

 

Your content area isn't working for me. First off, white text on black background is much harder to read that dark text on a light background. Secondly, your copy sounds like it was written as homework, not as a way to attract paying clients.

 

I can tell by what you have written that you've got it in you to sell yourself far more effectively than you are doing. Your site reads like it was just thrown together, in a hurry.

 

I would strongly advise you to start again, but start with your copy. Create a strong and compelling message. Something you could use to sell your services to a client if you were talking to them in person. Be honest, but upbeat. Make sure prospects understand the value you're offering them. Make every page about them. If you were hiring a web designer, what would you look for?

 

When you've got all that nailed, you need to redesign your site to support your message, and make it as easy to interact with (and respond to) as possible.

 

Read up on typography, grid layouts, colour theory and calls to action. Design is communication, not art. There are loads of resources out there, and on this forum.

 

I hope some of that helps.

Notbanksy, thank you for your constructive criticism and for defending me a little from the crowd of angry web designers who believe I should be shot for designing such an awful site lol.

 

When I read the comment about me doing the industry damage I crawled into a corner and beat my head off the wall numerous times. I am still learning about web design and your comments have given me some food for thought about where to go from here, namely redesigning the entire site. To be honest, I did throw the site together too quickly and on reflection I should have concentrated more on the content I was putting out there. I have read some stuff on typography and colour theory but obviously not enough, so I will be searching out more info on these subjects.

 

I also had a confab today with a friend who is a web designer and he gave me some info about using the 960 grid system along with some resources which will help me with future designs. With regards to the price, I had previously been offering up to 8 pages for £200 however I was told that that is way too cheap and that I should be charging in the region of £100 per page. I am in no way trying to overcharge anyone for a mediocre service as I would normally make up the design in photoshop and make sure the customer is happy with their design before making the website. My coding can and will improve over time however leaving out the meta tags was a result of my goldfish memory.

 

Once again thank you for your comments. They really did make sense and gave me some good ideas about how a web page should look. When I redesign my site I will put it up here again and await my torturers responses. I can only hope that you will be here to cut through the bull and give me some more honest and helpful advice

 

Sorry Owen, but if you're going to make a statement like that, you need to back it up. I'd say that if the OP was charging £5 instead of £750 that would be more damaging. Just because he is still learning, doesn't mean he shouldn't be paid a living wage for the work he does.

 

If you find designers with a lower skill level a threat, then you need to look at how you get clients - not let rip at other designers.

 

I've been really surprised by this thread. A lot of comments about what's wrong with the site, with very little advice on how to proceed.

 

 

Notbanksy, I do not find anyone a threat, why should I? I am here to help people and to better myself as we were all at that stage once! I am not targeting anyone either but I believe in putting the effort into design and coding. Effort has been put in, but my personal opinion and views on seeing the site made me feel like It had been rushed and just 'put up'.

 

I don't believe that he should charge people on a website that will be poor on SEO, and just dashed together, I have nothing but respect for people starting out, but believe

 

Read up on typography, grid layouts, colour theory and calls to action. Design is communication, not art. There are loads of resources out there, and on this forum.

I hope some of that helps.

 

Kevin_P - This is good advice, a lot of websites rely heavily on good typography and photography, so maybe think of different style or some nice fonts that will suit your design of the ripped edges.

 

For a list of available web fonts, visit:

http://www.google.com/webfonts

 

And how to input custom web font's across your website can be found here:

http://www.howtoplaza.com/how-to-use-custom-fonts-on-your-website-with-css

 

 

When I read the comment about me doing the industry damage I crawled into a corner and beat my head off the wall numerous times. I am still learning about web design and your comments have given me some food for thought about where to go from here, namely redesigning the entire site. To be honest, I did throw the site together too quickly.

 

I was told that that is way too cheap and that I should be charging in the region of £100 per page. I am in no way trying to overcharge anyone for a mediocre service as I would normally make up the design in photoshop and make sure the customer is happy with their design before making the website.

 

My personal opinion is to not charge per page, but charge per hour, unless it is a bulk large sum that you want for the website. Work out what you think is a reasonable hourly rate then charge, or work out how many hours it will take you to build the site, times that by your proposed hourly wage and ask yourself, is the right price that you would pay for a site?

 

Once again thank you for your comments. They really did make sense and gave me some good ideas about how a web page should look.

 

And Lastly, my apologies if you took what I wrote to heart, but It was not meant to mean, I just believe that there are too many people claiming themselves as skilled web designers, but lack massively in offering a real skilled service.

 

My recommendations would be to look into SEO Tips, the best place to start would be Google's Guide:

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

 

^ That is a seriously good guide, and is a great way to learning how search engines work and rank.

 

Other than than, then the best place to go, to learn slowly and at your own rate would be at TutVid.

http://tutvid.com

 

TutVid is a great source for learning adobe programs and learning little tips and tricks that will help you along the way.

Hi Owen, Thanks for the links to the websites you provided. I am sure they will be very helpful. I know you keep saying about how much knowledge I lack in good SEO practise however I do have some issues with this. Yes I forgot to put in the meta tags however this is because I was concentrating getting the design of the site the same way it was in photoshop and it slipped my mind (I would have & will get this info added). I am also aware that the content of my site is not written well for SEO and I had fully intended to sit down and write out content again and redo th home page so that it would contain better keywords etc... In the past I have (and still have) number 1 in google search rankings for my "glasgow drum lessons" website and appear in page 1 in a number of different searches.

 

As for the prices I am charging I would like to point out that it is not all profit i.e. I would be paying for the customers domain name, stock photos as well as a years website hosting. I think it is harder to make a portfolio site as I am having to come up with the content myself rather than this being provided by a customer.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the links you sent and for your thoughts.

I don't care what you charge, in fact I'd rather you charged more because people undercutting each other just kills the market.

 

We never discount, we never price match and we certainly don't drop our prices to match local competition - and yet we don't struggle for work.

 

My issue is your craft, in this example, is lacking.

 

Main issues for me are as follows:

 

- old fashioned

- ugly design

- poor use of colour

- wrong colour palette

- a green link, why?

- imagery is poor

- structure is poor

- appearance is rough and unfinished, unloved

- typography needs work

 

I genuinely suggest starting again, I really dislike the design and don't see (m)any potential clients liking it either.

 

There's absolutely no issue with using black and white but use clean lines, straight lines to create structure and avoid throwing disjointed colours at it. Pick a simple palette of complimentary tones and stick with it.

Edited June 6, 201214 yr by MMMedia

There's no need to rip people apart.

 

There are actually some good elements within the design. The biggest problem you have is to work on the layout. For example I would make sure all the elements are aligned with each other. I'm not too keen on twitter feeds (they look like adverts).

 

I would also suggest making the background black.

 

Good luck.

I don't care what you charge, in fact I'd rather you charged more because people undercutting each other just kills the market.

 

We never discount, we never price match and we certainly don't drop our prices to match local competition - and yet we don't struggle for work.

 

My issue is your craft, in this example, is lacking.

 

Main issues for me are as follows:

 

- old fashioned

- ugly design

- poor use of colour

- wrong colour palette

- a green link, why?

- imagery is poor

- structure is poor

- appearance is rough and unfinished, unloved

- typography needs work

 

I genuinely suggest starting again, I really dislike the design and don't see (m)any potential clients liking it either.

 

There's absolutely no issue with using black and white but use clean lines, straight lines to create structure and avoid throwing disjointed colours at it. Pick a simple palette of complimentary tones and stick with it.

 

mmmedia, Looking at the site now, and after all the positive comments I will indeed be looking to redesign the site. I had initially been looking to add/change the site over time but after the comments on here I am convinced a complete redesign is on the cards.

btw the green link was intended as a call to action ie to stand out in the page and get people to click there but hey ho. Thanks for the input

There's no need to rip people apart.

 

There are actually some good elements within the design. The biggest problem you have is to work on the layout. For example I would make sure all the elements are aligned with each other. I'm not too keen on twitter feeds (they look like adverts).

 

I would also suggest making the background black.

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers Owen. I'm back at the drawing board today tho as I now have a good template with a resizing webpage depending on how big the browser is i.e. it will easily adapt to mobiles etc... The twitter feed was put up as I realised how bad the site was for seo purposes and thought it would allow a few keywords to be included on the site. Anyway back to the drawing board for me :-) - I will put up the new design when completed and would appreciate your thoughts when this is done :-)

Hi Owen, Thanks for the links to the websites you provided. I am sure they will be very helpful. I know you keep saying about how much knowledge I lack in good SEO practise however I do have some issues with this. Yes I forgot to put in the meta tags however this is because I was concentrating getting the design of the site the same way it was in photoshop and it slipped my mind (I would have & will get this info added). I am also aware that the content of my site is not written well for SEO and I had fully intended to sit down and write out content again and redo th home page so that it would contain better keywords etc... In the past I have (and still have) number 1 in google search rankings for my "glasgow drum lessons" website and appear in page 1 in a number of different searches.

 

As for the prices I am charging I would like to point out that it is not all profit i.e. I would be paying for the customers domain name, stock photos as well as a years website hosting. I think it is harder to make a portfolio site as I am having to come up with the content myself rather than this being provided by a customer.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the links you sent and for your thoughts.

 

No problem, as I said, my apologies for anything that may have seemed harsh! Ever need anything in the future don't hesitate to send me a PM!