Portfolio Critique

PlasmaticJj

Hello all, the title is pretty much self-explanatory, need some critique of my portfolio.

You can be as harsh as you want on it, as long as it’s constructive criticism. If you see something you don’t like, or multiple things you don’t like? Don’t hold back, let me know why you don’t like it and I’ll get working on it.

Just really need some pointers on how to present it well for Developers and so on.

Portfolio: http://unscjj.wix.com/jamie-jamieson

GC_Vos

Very nice Chinese garden! I love modular stuff like that.

First thing that jumped out at me was your site is a bit 'busy'. I think you are on the right track using specific colors (i.e. blue, white and grey) but it doesn't blend very well with your actual content. I would try and be a bit more minimalistic, less unneeded borders and lines which make it look noisy. I would also move or remove your description to your about page so you immediately see your work instead of text.

In that sense your projects and about page look better...

slosh

I would axe a ton of stuff on your site. Not art necessarily but simplify the crap out of the site itself. Axe the "home" page. The landing page should just have thumbnails of your best work. Have a link to your resume and contact. Don't have that intro blurb on the front page. You can have an about page link on the main page but I would keep it separate from a resume link. So basically, IMO, the main page should have that top bar menu(that's fine), screenshot thumbnails of your best work below, and that's it. Get rid of the scrolling, slideshow nonsense. As for the art, it's not bad but keep at it and add nice pieces as you go! good luck!

jhoythottle

Just took a quick glance. Your home page header is super busy. You spelled experience wrong in a bunch of places on your about page. Also your description of yourself in "about me" focuses too much on your weaknesses. Don't sell yourself short. Let your work speak for itself. If you don't have anything nice to say (about yourself) don't say it at all. If someone is on your site and makes it to your about page, don't give them a reason to say "no". You'd be buying back the sale at that point.

ozzy310

I agree there is a lot going on the site that distracts from your work and needs to be simplified. Another thing and not sure if its a placeholder but to me having the wix name on the site or web address does not look right and would be difficult to look up your site.

samwoodart

Hey dude! I love your work. You have several spelling mistakes, like "peaces" instead of "pieces" So clean those up. I would also move your personal description. Employers will come to your page for your work.

PlasmaticJj

Thanks for the advice everyone! Sorry for the long delay in getting back, was invited to showcase my work at my old uni, so I’ve been working on that for the last few weeks.

Anyway, made some changes to the portfolio based on your suggestions. If I’ve missed anything or if there is anything blatantly annoying to you, don’t hesitate to rip into it.

Same link as before: http://unscjj.wix.com/jamie-jamieson

TomGT

I am not a fan of how you arrange the images. Seems very messy since you've got areas that are blank.

Not sure what your site looked like before you changed it, but I reckon its still very busy. The header for instance can be simplified so its less distracting. For example the name banner can be taken down in favor of your full name beside your JJ logo.

That said, that is a nice Chinese Courtyard!

PlasmaticJj

Thanks for the feedback!

Edited it more, removed and resized some of the header. I think the main thing that’s dragging the portfolio down is lack of art content, mainly in the fact that I only have two projects up there, so going to spend more of my time getting more up there.

Resized and re-organized the images in the main page, let me know if there too big or just look odd.

And yes, that Chinese courtyard was my final peace for uni last year, I’ll have to get working on converting everything to PBR at some point.

Any more suggestions for improvement?

Same link as before: http://unscjj.wix.com/jamie-jamieson

TomGT

That is much better! Easier on the eyes. I'd probably tweak some of the margins on the text but that's all very pedantic stuff. More artwork on there will be good! Keep it up.

Btw you misspelled Environmental, both times. Right now you have it as 'enviomental' haha. Be sure to change that asap.

Christian Nordgren

You should look into the way people press the images. It takes like 1-2 secounds for me to look at one image, thats annoying. I think thats one of the features that makes people "hate" wix.

You could design in a way that you have one image which links to several images in a website. (very similar to my portfolio for example).

Lose all that fadein-fadeout, it just takes time and does not come off professional. Instant pages are way better.

Keep up the work and maybe make one or two highpoly assets to showcase more of your modelling side.

Goodluck!