I found this to be an extremely interesting portfolio site, something I have never seen before, and one that goes against almost everything I have learned in this class. She is really taking a bold risk making her portfolio site this unorthodox especially since she is trying to market herself as a web designer, yet her own personal site is extremely unconventional and borderline innovative. The whole site is a 2X3 grid of 6 pages. Each page has only one possible link on it that takes you to the next page. There is no going backwards either. So if you do want to go back, you must cycle through the six pages first. So walking through the order of the pages, the home page has only one possible link that shifts you over to the “work, work” page. This page has examples of her past website works. The link now takes you to the “print design” page which has examples of flyers she has designed. Next is the “about me” page which has a brief paragraph about her education background and professional aspirations. The fifth page is a “more info” page that lists all her computer qualifications and the last is “contact” page with her contact information.
home page
work, work page
Printed designs page
about me page
Other skills page
contact page
The heading on each page lets you know what page you are on, but without any idea what the other pages are, or how to get to them, you feel very lost and your only option is to click on the single link provided. Once you click the first link on the home page, you can’t get back to it without completing a full cycle through the pages. I find this to be extremely inefficient and annoying. As a user I want to be in control and navigate through out the site, not be stuck in a one way slide show. I think this a big problem that needs to be addressed. My suggestion would be to have the starting page be a zoomed out page of the 6 pages, therefore the user can select which page to zoom in to. Then if she wants to keep the shifting effect to different cells, I would let the user be able to shift to more than one cell. For example have three arrows pointing in directions to shift the frame above, right, or diagonal the current cell. And also have an icon to zoom back out to the six pages. I do like the shifting frame to each page, I think it adds a cool aesthetic effect, but I think the user needs more control to navigate. If she is trying to market herself as a web designer, she definitely needs to solve this problem in the navigation.
The architecture is not deep at all; there are only six main pages. Her “works, works” page allows you to click and view the different websites she has designed. But other than that the architecture is a single level of six pages. It is not flat, however, due to the navigation system only allowing you to proceed to one page.
She does have a nice consistent hierarchy of typography on each page. Heading 1, heading 2, and the body content are clearly distinguishable due to different fonts, colors, and sizes. There in an apparent hierarchy that makes the pages nice and readable. The labels of the headings of each page are clear, there’s not much room for confusing home, works, printed designs, about me, other skills, and contact me.
The structure of each page is consistent. Each page has its own color scheme but the headings and content are in the same location on each page, top left. And the link to the next page is always on the bottom right of each page, which actually places it right in the middle of the screen, and therefore becomes the page’s main focal point. The imagery/ photos are what she needs to use to advertise herself but her photos are limited and not big enough to view details. For the “works, works” or “printed design” pages, when you click on a thumbnail a larger image drops down from the top, but its only two additional images of the work, and they are only slightly bigger than the thumbnail. They are much too small to see any details or typography. Since this is a portfolio website about her graphic designs, I believe these images need to be much much bigger. There is so much unused space on every page, it’s ridiculous.
The architecture is not deep at all; there are only six main pages. Her “works, works” page allows you to click and view the different websites she has designed. But other than that the architecture is a single level of six pages. It is not flat, however, due to the navigation system only allowing you to proceed to one page.
She does have a nice consistent hierarchy of typography on each page. Heading 1, heading 2, and the body content are clearly distinguishable due to different fonts, colors, and sizes. There in an apparent hierarchy that makes the pages nice and readable. The labels of the headings of each page are clear, there’s not much room for confusing home, works, printed designs, about me, other skills, and contact me.
The structure of each page is consistent. Each page has its own color scheme but the headings and content are in the same location on each page, top left. And the link to the next page is always on the bottom right of each page, which actually places it right in the middle of the screen, and therefore becomes the page’s main focal point. The imagery/ photos are what she needs to use to advertise herself but her photos are limited and not big enough to view details. For the “works, works” or “printed design” pages, when you click on a thumbnail a larger image drops down from the top, but its only two additional images of the work, and they are only slightly bigger than the thumbnail. They are much too small to see any details or typography. Since this is a portfolio website about her graphic designs, I believe these images need to be much much bigger. There is so much unused space on every page, it’s ridiculous.
example of workShe does use arrow icons that point you in the direction the frame is going to shift, which I had no problem understanding.
My favorite aspect of her site is her color palette. The six pages have their own different color theme. The different backgrounds of each page are electric blue, green, pink, purple, orange, or black. The heading uses a different shade of the background color and creates and nice look for each page. I believe these colors were chosen to be stunning and really spark the attention of the user.
As a portfolio site, I know her objective is to advertise herself as a graphic designer or web designer. However, due to the lack of focus on her works, I believe she is trying to rely on the novelty of transitioning between pages to show her creativity and skills. I do find her page transitions to be a neat feature, especially along with her bright backgrounds, but I think she is doing herself a disservice as a web designer with the poor navigation system. It made the site extremely confusing inefficient. I already suggested ways to improve the nav system in the first paragraph so I won’t repeat myself here. I would definitely use some form of my navigation suggestions and also utilize all the free space when showcasing her works, because the small drop down images are not doing much. Besides that though, I do like the look of the site, I think it’s loud and captivating. It has potential to be a really cool portfolio site, it just needs a couple improvements.
My favorite aspect of her site is her color palette. The six pages have their own different color theme. The different backgrounds of each page are electric blue, green, pink, purple, orange, or black. The heading uses a different shade of the background color and creates and nice look for each page. I believe these colors were chosen to be stunning and really spark the attention of the user.
As a portfolio site, I know her objective is to advertise herself as a graphic designer or web designer. However, due to the lack of focus on her works, I believe she is trying to rely on the novelty of transitioning between pages to show her creativity and skills. I do find her page transitions to be a neat feature, especially along with her bright backgrounds, but I think she is doing herself a disservice as a web designer with the poor navigation system. It made the site extremely confusing inefficient. I already suggested ways to improve the nav system in the first paragraph so I won’t repeat myself here. I would definitely use some form of my navigation suggestions and also utilize all the free space when showcasing her works, because the small drop down images are not doing much. Besides that though, I do like the look of the site, I think it’s loud and captivating. It has potential to be a really cool portfolio site, it just needs a couple improvements.
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