RESEARCH
A portfolio site is an extension of a freelancer’s (or company’s) résumé. It provides a convenient way for potential clients to view your work while also allowing you to expand on your skills and services.
The ultimate purpose of a portfolio website is to provide a way for you to land more clients, whether that means freelance work, more clients for your agency or employment at a company. You should decide what you want to accomplish with your website before adding content to it.
Some examples of portfolio websites:
Chris Loades
https://chrisloades.webs.com/
This website was easy to navigate through and provided all the information needed for a viewer, however I did not like the text to image ratio as it gives a bit of an overwhelming feel to the viewer, moreover, with exception to images and photos in the website.
The colour scheme of this portfolio website consists of mainly black and white, which i think in this case makes the website look quite neat and tidy however in my opinion when using black and white, creators must be careful not to make their website look dull and plain. The creator here has achieved this by having multiple images on one page that intersperse the black and white with colour.
Destiny Ekaragha
http://www.destinyekaragha.com/
This website had a much more casual approach in regards to the tone of the written text, I think this can appeal to some people in certain areas of the film industry but for the majority of viewers, it comes across as slightly unprofessional and so may affect the amount of clients that the writer receives.
One other thing I noticed in this website was that instead of a thumbnail video you can click on to watch there is an image from the video and then a link to the real video underneath. This isn't a major issue but most viewers would prefer a video directly on the website.
Emily Penny
My first thought when I came across this website was that I didn't like the layout, in my opinion it was too spaced out, creating awkward gaps between images and text. Also Instead of having different pages you can click at the top like most websites this was actually one long page with no shortcut links to take the viewer to a certain area of the website. However I liked the colour scheme, as it gave the website a 'vintage' feel which tied in nicely with the font selected by the creator
Francis Pesquera
I quite liked this website as the layout was quite organised and simple one feature I specifically like was that this website had images that were links to different pages, one issue with this however was that you had to hover your mouse over the image to find out where it lead to which could become tedious to the viewer if they're trying to find out a certain part of information about the creator.
Ryd Cook
This website, in my opinion was the best in terms of design, the layout was simple and not trying to be different compared to others i had seen in my research, the font and colour scheme fit nicely together and it gave all the right information and contacts. My only criticism of this website would be that the creator could have included more examples of their work that they have previously done as there were not as many examples as i had seen on other websites.
From my research, some key elements within the design of a website include:
- The visual design element of a website should come secondary to how it functions and the usability, i.e. the website should be easily accessible.
- Most users don't read, they scan, so avoid long paragraphs of text as this can easily encourage a viewer to click away, instead keep information light and informative.
-'Don't make users think' A website should be obvious and self explanatory.
-Viewers of a website are often impatient and want to find what they're looking for easily and quickly, if they are unable to do so the web designer have effectively failed.
Comments
Post a Comment