PortFolio - Robert Ramsay

RobertRamsay

Hello to all.

I am starting this thread to show off my current folio work to date.

So far you can find some of it here, but I think my new pieces will be a vast improvement upon these found here (an old site of mine now).
:
http://symbolscg.webs.com/apps/photos/

Enjoy the show!

BARDLER

Well the first thing that jumps out at me is your website design looks like its right out of 1995. I mean no offense of course.

Look at these portfolios
http://www.andreiszasz.com/
http://www.stevecoyle.com/
http://www.timbergholz.com/

Try to emulate how clean, straight forward, and simplistic they are. Let your work speak for itself. Keep at it though!

RobertRamsay

I am rebuilding it with HTML5, not sure if its a good idea tho. :poly122:

Thanks for those links, I will have to build up more top quality work before I think about the design, i just bought my domain name and space tho, so I can at least start to think about the overall design and pieces I want to show/make.

CheerS!

MooseCommander

You definitely need to redesign your site. Honestly, a simple and clean website is necessary for this industry. It's basically a given. Your current website is messy and hard to navigate, and the background, menus, ads, and overall general presentation take away from the quality of your work, which is actually quite good.

My suggestions? First, pay for your own domain. Hosting on a 3rd party site looks unprofessional, especially for your personal portfolio. Feel free to have a blogspot account for your own personal blog, but your portfolio should be on something like www.robertramsay.com.

Second, make sure the focus stays on your work and not on miscellaneous elements. Most people looking at your site will give you about 30 seconds - it shouldn't take 3 levels of links to get to see your work. The main work should be on the front page and easily visible for anyone to see. Organize your work by projects or focus rather than by date, although newer projects should be at the top. For example, you currently have 2011 Work and Props from 2011. This is redundant, and I'd rather just see the work on the front page.

Third, you need to really limit what you are showing. Only show your best work. Some of your work, like the tables and chairs, aren't bad, but they aren't exciting. Your screenshots are also too small, and when I click on a screenshot, it takes me to your next screenshot. It isn't intuitive. If I click a screenshot, I'd like to see a bigger version. You can get around this by simply having the biggest version always display. The less clicks, the better.

Sorry if my feedback came off as particularly harsh - I think you have good work and good potential, but your website is currently a mess, and that's going to hurt you in the long run.

RobertRamsay

Thanks guys, I have done just that.

Working on it just now, but here is what I have so far:

www.robertramsay.co.uk

I am wokring on it as we speak so the contents come up but there is no functionality to the site just yet.

BARDLER

Do not use flash either, it takes to long to load, its annoying, and its hard to save content off of it.

Keep it simple, easy, and clean.

Jeff Parrott

Yeah dump that flash.

+1 for Keep it simple. Make awesome art not awesome websites (unless you want to be a web designer).

RobertRamsay

This is HTML5, I guess it compares to flash. So you reakon I should just stick to HTML. Keeping it simple ofcourse.

BARDLER

Yea you don't need animations or swipes. Just simple thumbnails that lead to more details of that piece.

RobertRamsay

Ah okay, my zoom function works for me but against me. So yeh. I will make more little icons for detail shots.

Thanks for the feedback