GRC 175 Learning and Discussion Forum

Hey guys. I'm actually a little bit late to the party but I got a project that might need some critiquing. Honestly I'm not really used to Photoshop so apologies if it's a little rough around the edges even for a final design. Things can always change mid development though so it's usually not the end of the world.

I got a set up where the bubbles and pics are links to outer pages dealing with project thumbs and roughs, resources for sites, and the home is for the intro page. Honestly this could have been much more simple and a little cleaner but I decided to try something weird. It's also pretty easy to code up (at least if dealing with the usual HTML/CSS/Javascript, and maybe React could produce something interesting with some bit of reorganizing), so I guess that's a plus. The intro is really the only thing that will probably pop up on the home page. The rest will be separate links.

Neat! You've got a kind of pseudo-iOS feel going on here and it's working pretty well.

You use color really well in this thing. I like how the subtle distinctions between the gray background and the white content areas serve to highlight different pieces of our design and illuminate important parts to your users. I like your idea of using drop shadows and soft glows to separate and highlight things, too The app style navigation buttons are working very well. Each image is appropriate to the content. They look like a little row of apps so users minds automatically know how to use them. The blue wave at the top provides a nice splash of color and serves as a good demarcation line between your headline and the rest of the website. The black TMCC logo wreks well with your composition and colors.

My biggest issue with this is your headline type. It clashes with everything else you have going on in your design. Neither the typeface nor the color is working well. I think it would have looked better if it were a bigger, bolder version of your title type. Also, your whole headline should be completely above the blue wave. The other bit that stands out is the light sourcing on the drop shadows on your navigation buttons and your content bubble go the exact opposite direction. Next time pick a direction and use it through your whole composition. I think the "GRC 175, Web Design and Publishing I, Spring 2017" needed to come up just a touch too.

You've really got something that looks like the homescreen on an iPhone, here.

Good work!

Hello Brandon,
I really enjoy how clean your design is, the links/navigation is the best part. Your name and contact information are a little too small, I think it is the most important part of a portfolio: who you are, what you do and how to reach you. Make it big!

I really like the look of your website. The splash of color at the top and the layout work very well. I would tighten up the space between the top portion and your text on the bottom half. Your name and title info is too small at the top. Not feeling the font or color you used on your name. Nice work!

What's up Brandon!

As a fellow developer, I feel your creative design struggles! However, your page looks fantastic! I love how clean and light it is. I hope it retains the tall thin look as shown in your rough when you upload the live version, it has a nice feel. The color choice for your name is great too. It makes your name POP out (which is great because you used a very small font size). My only concern would be how light your text is against the background. I personally like it from a 'looking at it perspective", but there could be some compliance issues with the contrast levels. Great job!

Good job man! I like the color palette, it tends to bring attention to your name and titles, as well as the work and links section, then it brings the eye to the more muted grey tones of your body copy for information and it all works nicely against the background.

Look at your box alignments near the bottom they are almost perfect, but not quite. Also as others have mentioned you're definitely going to want to bring more attention to your main heading but overall you have a nice clean design that comes across very nicely.

Hi Brandon,

I like the three images you chose, they work well with your description of yourself. I also like the blue flowy lines at the top, and the matching color of your name. I would suggest making your name bigger, it kind of gets lost up there at the top of the page.

Hi Brandon!

Looks great the colors and the layout work so smoothly together! however your headline is to small and doesn't really stand out to much.

I like the overall layout of the design, and the use of shadows to make the body copy and links boxes stand out against the white background. The only thing I think that could use some tinkering with is the positioning of everything on the page, to me it looks really low below your headline, but I think you may have done that purposely in order to show the blue wave in the background image.