website critique

ill_logic

so i post pretty often on other forums & neglected this one for far too long. i've been trying to develop a bit more of a presence on here lately & i appreciate all the great crits on the fighting game character i've got going. Thanks!

right now i'm also in the process of trying to revamp my portfolio/website & i was hoping to take advantage of some of the great critiques i've gotten here so far, & apply them to my presentation. Basically this is the old site, & I'm asking for harsh critique in order to make the next version better.

www.jaredlewis.com

this site (& the reel on it) was a real last minute kind of hodge podge, but apparently good enough to get me a job abroad last summer/fall. thing is, while i was waiting for my visa/paperwork to go through, that company decided to outsource their 3D work to China instead & well basically... I was SOL, back to square one. so i'm back on the hunt again & don't mind saying things are kind of a bit desperate lol

so any comments/critiques would be very helpful! thanks in advance to any who take the time!

-J

cholden

I like how you have the random image in the background, BUT you should really be taking the potential employer DIRECTLY to you portfolio.

By that, I mean, your #1, best piece up front, with a next button right up top (instead of deep at the bottom as you have it).

You have redundant buttons, Demo Reel, About, Contact. They could all be the same link. I suggest narrowing it all down to PORTFOLIO, RESUME and DEMO REEL. You can keep your links, tuts, etc. fluff too.

The work looks good. You could get a with this, but it could always be more straightforward.

Rick Stirling

There are a lot of "Under Construction" bits - ditch them. Either get the content on now, or remove the links to them.

The about me page has no side margins, so with my default window size the longest line stretches out to 44 words. Thats unreadable. Make it the same width as your header.

nkoste

Hi Jared

You have some really nice stuff on your site.

I agree with getting rid of the redundant stuff. Simplify IMO should be a buzzword for your site.

Some items that haven't been mentioned.
Your link section also have a very small font with dark reddish color on a black background. That's almost unreadable. I would organize those differently like in collumns, perhaps select a core few instead of just sending people 60-70 places elsewhere. I don't want your complete web history.

Your resume is placed as a subsection under demo reel, that seems a bit odd to me. That would be a button you need as opposed to some of the others, that could be put together. Also in the about section you don't need to specify your work history. Your resume should state that. Keep the about stuff short and simple so you can get on with looking cv and art.

Also in about I would suggest being more straightforward as the first line contains remarks as "if you couldn't tell already" and "I do realize it's plastered everywhere else on the site, but I figured it was best to be formal about it". Not very formal and that's what takes up space in the first sentence the employer might read about you. Simplify like "hi my name is Jared Lewis and I'm a character artist", something like that.

But hey first impressions not that bad, specially because of the content, so good luck with it.

ill_logic

thanks for all the suggestions guys!
i'll take it all under consideration with my next update. i know there's not a lot of content & a lot is 'under construction'.
for instance, the vfx stuff is not a field i really want to get back into & i really didn't want to spotlight it but it was on the reel & it was suggested to make a seperate gally for it. and someone on another forum was telling me to have tutorial page so i could get traffic & prove i know what i'm talking about for employers, but i never really ever had any in mind. i only added those to keep the buttons even in that image map, you know? and if they came to me, or i felt the need to add something, i would. but yeah things like that.
as for the about page, i had no idea that it didn't resize properly & went off the page. that'll be fixed.
as for the links, i'll pick better colors. in theory, that's not really where i want the employer to go anyhow (lol), but i wanted to have a comprehensive listing of artists & forums, basically because i can't bring my bookmarks with me everywhere. basically that parts for me & any other artists out there.
I'll combine all of the art stuff into one gallery splash page, all of the job/contact/about stuff into another page, & then like, links or something & the extraneous garbage there.

thanks guys.

-J