Megalongcat | Design in the Presence of Idiocy. -

Not too long ago I posted a request on Twitter to have any designers or visual people take a look at my new portfolio website layout and tell me what they think.  It’s still in the mockup phase so they were critiquing screenshots of the possible layout.  I was lucky enough to get feedback from guys like @aaroni268 & @markhauge and I wanted to share with the design community their insights into the new layout.  For reference you can go ahead and visit the current PixelCandy website which is running the Viewpoint Wordpress theme (thanks Smashing Magazine) and then take a look at the screencaps below which feature the aesthetic direction the website is going towards.

The only difference between the two screenshots is the color scheme, but that can have a major impact on whether or not prospective clients remain on portfolio or click over to someone else’s. Below is the feedback that I got from all of the people I sent it out to.

Samin Patel:

I like the first one – the orange looks nice. Although the second one isn’t bad either – but I’m biased since my new layout uses a black/grey/blue color scheme and I tend to prefer those schemes for things.

One thing that I’m not fond of is the bar in between the menu and the page, the gradation between black/white seems too smushed, it should be more subtle in my opinion.

Also the menu, try changing the font, maybe something a bit more vertically compact. When I was making my site I tried various fonts and just found smaller ones look better.

Also the hover (I assume hover) state – the drop shadow around – think about tweaking it to be more precise. Or maybe not making it so obvious.

I’m a fan of subtly sometimes when it comes to layout. And since yours is a clean/simple one I figure that more subtle accents/things will make it look better.

The bottom part with your contact info, you might consider making that a colored bar. That link to top 10 portfolio things from smashing magazine i gave you – many sites had those bottom bars with solid colors.

Hope this helped.
 

Ewan Grantham

I personally like the updated orange, but based on what I have heard in other places, I suspect you’ll get better results using the updated copy since “cooler” colors tend to encourage hanging around where brighter colors feel a bit more like someone is yelling at you.

Whole point of RSS buttons being orange is that your eye is drawn to see what it’s about.

That said, I would like to think that while the design will have some impact on the users, I suspect for a site where you’re looking for a lot of repeat traffic, the content will matter more.

As an extreme example, check out Jerry Pournelle’s page at:
www.jerrypournelle.com

Trust me, the content is the ONLY reason someone would go there day after day. Of course as he’s been steering more into politics and less into technology I’m finding it a little harder to visit myself.

Anyway, hope this all helps!

Mark Hauge

Yo Fred! It’s feedback time. I’ll try my best to go from top to bottom.

• I’m digging the layout. Will the “I offer creative solutions…” phrase change per section? How does it look directly under the “hi, i’m fred…” ? Are “create brands” “build loyalty” and “brow your business” links? Where do they link to?

• Is the jquery slideshow going to be on every page or just the homepage? If just the homepage, i think a slideshow that moves on it’s own without buttons is better for the viewer. Also, “previous” and “new” doesn’t really make sense to me, if the user clicks one, doesn’t that change the meaning of the buttons? “Previous” and “Next” is simple and logical, especially if the work is going to cycle back to the beginning.

• It might be because it matches the placeholder photo, but I feel like the orange color scheme is more solid than the blue, it just feels more grounded.

• “You can find me on” needs to be aligned with the 3rd column. (I’m sure you already know that) Just an idea, maybe those icons can be monochromatic, and then colored on hover. They also seem a bit large next to the other footer elements, and also competing with your icons in the section above.

Thats all… FOR NOW

I like giving feedback on work, being stuck in a room by myself designing, I do miss the conversation with other designers. You can hit me up anytime.

Peace,
Mark

Aaron Irizarry

Hey,
Sorry it took so long to get some feedback for ya.
I like the orange color scheme.. If you haven’t picked icons yet… you should talk to @kylesteed the kid has brutal icon skills (unless you were going to make them).
keep me posted… once it is done I will make sure to put it up in the onecss.com gallery

Aaron I

After taking note of their changes, suggestions, and comments, I began to fix the design aesthetic into a complete and solid piece. Below are small screenshots of the new Pixelcandy website. I’m not going to post entire screencaps because when it launches I want it to be a surprise to everyone.