Feedback for my portfolio
 

Hey guys. Just finished my portfolio and I'd like some feedback on it.

Available here:

www.brettmartinportfolio.com

Thanks!

First impressions are that you need to get rid of the gigantic Times New Roman crap and either integrate that info into the flash or use a more aesthetically pleasing alternative. I didn't look at the content but the actual site is pretty interesting, how its mapped. However, I think I've seen the idea before somewhere.

Thanks. In Firefox the Jenkins 2.0 appears, where IE has font issues. Damn IE.

I'm using Firefox 2.0. It doesn't work.

Web Design protip: If you don't use common fonts, other people won't see them and you will get a cheap replacement, unless if you specified a secondary font or font family in your stylesheet. Common fonts also look better than most downloadable fonts in the first place.

Stick to Arial, Comic Sans (although its ugly in my opinion), Times New Roman (doesn't work for a site like this), Helvetica, etc.

Even furthermore, the header "Welcome to Brett Martin's Portfolio Site" you don't even need. You have the title of the site in the flash and in the titlebar. You don't need it again. There's nothing wrong with only having a flash on the webpage.

edit//Let me get rid of all of my problems with it now.

You have the Creative Commons icon. You don't need to explain it further.

Also, its your portfolio site, so it will be assumed that you made everything on the site. Therefore, you do not need to say it. The only time you would say anything related to who created what is if you did NOT create something on the site, in which case you would credit the creator. However, if you did that it would be tacky and unattractive, since it's a portfolio site after all, and it can be assumed that potential employers will be looking at your site.

"Thanks for viewing" is also unnecessary. If you noticed, I just got rid of everything except the actual flash app and the Creative Commons button. That is the state in which your site would be most effective.

Why do you need a popup window to display this? Firefox blocks it every time, but I still end up seeing your page in the main browser window. o_O

Even though I can't see the "Jenkins" font, I'm not really missing anything. It's almost as cliche as Comic Sans. :( The layout of the text really bothers me, and it's in my face. Centered and huge doesn't really do anything for me.

The portfolio could be done almost identically and more gracefully through HTML/CSS, but to be honest, the flash movie is a little tacky.

So font aside, I was more looking for comments on the actual content of the Flash movie.

i thought it was great

Well thank you. However, I was looking for something more on the constructive side, ya know?

It looks pretty nice. I like how you put it together with flash movie.

Some comments on the design.

For the menu, I think the Tronics Project section is the strongest part of your portfolio. And I like how it show case your "from start to finish" work flow process.:p I would suggest put it before the Art section. Make sure people can see your best stuff first.

The small icon, I think it will look better if you put small thumbnail on it instead of a circle icon. People like to know what is inside before clicking on it.;)

The Resume: I will make that window bigger, and make it more easy to read. If you can, also make a PDF, one page printable version of it for download. So potential employers can have it on file.

The font: I think someone mention before, make sure you choose the font is comment in everyone computer. Or you can make a jpg/gif banner using the special font.

You may wanna try different background color.

hope it helps.;)

I am, in general, unimpressed. Your traditional art is either very messy, seemingly "rushed" or technically limited. Your Maya work is okay, not being much a 3D artist anymore I won't comment much on it. Your conceptual stuff seems "doodley," as if there wasn't much thought put into it.

The design of your site isn't very good either, a lot of Flash nonsense where it really isn't needed. I don't like websites made in Flash very much, it seems like they're always more fluff than substance, and in the instance of a portfolio site you kind of want to keep the site itself more subtle so the work you are trying to show has more "pop."

Thanks for the feedback!

I personally think that you got the right type of stuff, but isn't really quite there to get an illustration or conceptual type of job. Although I think it might be sufficient in terms of industrial design on your 3D. I am not seeing a lot of full rendering with more realized texture and effects yet, if that's your area of interest, you might want to add additional work on that front (since the last time I saw this portfolio, I haven't seen much new things in terms of 3D). Like traditional mediums, three dimensional works in the commercial environment also deal more with practical applications, so you might want to look into adding more realistic and still life/scene base 3D projects. Also, I think I might want to see stuff that is at least on the caliber of “subtractive nude”, which is what I would considered most realized besides your self portrait.

I have to agree with galen here also. Flash is totally unnecessary for an amateur portfolio site. Also, I hope you take my comments to heart, because if you're looking to present this, the presentation of the works is just as important as the works themselves.

Making it Flash really just makes it messy and more difficult for you to update. Why bother?