GRC 175 Learning and Discussion Forum

Hello everyone!
For my final designs, I sort of went with my image bubbles designs but I also chose to simplify it a little more so it has a more clean/minimalistic feel, much like my other design from preliminary. I hope now that it is more organized and structured. The background color I went with is the closest approximation I could get to the spot colors I used in the business card design I made for the printing class. I added a portfolio link instead of an inspiration section so that I can use this site for its intended purpose (as practice creating a portfolio site of my own) and the inspirational sites can be grouped with the resources anyway. I'm not 100% sure I've gotten my alignment exactly to my standards so I'll probably be messing with the small details as the semester goes on.
Also a little note: while the center image bubble is larger in the desktop design, what I wanted to do was have the image become larger as the mouse hovers over it, and each bubble can be clicked to also lead to the portfolio page.
I was also tempted to try doing the same with the mobile version but I realized it wouldn't work out that way and I don't want to make a small mobile design busier than it needs to be. These are a couple of the research links I had used for this project.

https://www.wix.com/blog/2021/05/web-design/
https://webflow.com/blog/web-design-for-beginners

I really found these websites useful because when I first started working on project one it was too easy to get caught up in this idea that somehow designing a webpage was an entirely different concept than anything I've done before in other classes, but these sites were able to help me realize in what ways everything that I have already learned is still part of this and how to effectively apply those lessons to this.

Hi Megan, these are really nice! I love the direction you went with them, they are simplistic but have a sense of uniqueness. You brought these together super well. For the mobile design I saw that you wanted to use the bubbles as navigation, you could use that center one as a button to press that brings up a navigation page. The web design is super nice, I might just bring up the size of the body text a bit. Other than that these are great!

Another poll?! I'm in!

Glad to see you went with the bubbles of doom design. It's a strong one. I like your use of proximity and margin to create three solid "chunks" in your design; a header, a central content area, and a footer. A great way to visually build structure. I also like the circular images. So much of web design is squares and anything you can do to hide it always helps. Good image choices too. They say a lot about you without you having to spell it out in words. I also like your corner frames around your headlines and nav buttons. They serve as great little signals that what they are framing is something important to be noticed. Great use of contrast, too. Your medium sea-gray background color is light enough that both black and white stand out against it and you use that to great effect. Good use of type as well. The script and sans-serif play well with each other.

Just a couple of issues that I see. One, I think it would have looked better if the mobile versions bodycopy kept the right alignment. Two, I think the bodycopy on both could have used a touch more leading. Three, the email address would have looked better under your script type rather than on top of it.

Nice work!

This one reminds me nature and great valleys. Very ideal for the wondering man a vagabond. I like it.

Megan!

Wow nice job at refining your original design! I think your rearrangement of the circles work really well here on your homepage whereas before I found them distracting but now I feel they work very well with them being lined up with some symmetry and containing the size (big one in the middle and the same size smaller ones on each side). If those photos were also taken by you (per your about me section and how you do photography) then even more major props to you - those are gorgeous photos of the sierras and Tahoe! Your spacing is also excellent with your embracement of the negative space as well as the color choice of that grayish blue - very Northern Nevada/California mountain vibes which works well with the imagery.

Font wise, I loved the script font you used for your name in combination with the sans serif skinny font for your email right below it - they compliment each other very well! Same with your about me section and body copy - great picks for fonts! Super professional and elegant looking! I also dig the uniqueness of your navigation being at the bottom for both the desktop and mobile.

Honestly, there's not much I would change or add unless you wanted to do something different functionality wise with drop down menus and icons but as it is now, very aesthetically pleasing and functionally easy to navigate on both platforms. Looking forward to seeing you build this out and what the final final product will be. Keep up the great work!

The colors you choose for the webpage make it have a very mild effect to it and the pictures being trapped in circles gives it a sense of wonder. We the viewer are going through the lens like a telescope to see more into the picture. This whole thing makes me think of water and sailing from the blue and the circles as bubbles/ telescope. I like it.

The letters on your paragraph are kind of thin, though, so maybe find a way to thicken them up or not; it works both ways.

Hey Megan,

I love these changes WOW! It looks so clean and unique at the same time! I hope no one voted no on the cute animals because that would be insane. I love the color you picked it matches the scene really well! I love the font you used in black! It's so elegant and natural. Everything about this design is working so well I love it! The circles with images in them are just so fun and cool.

Hi Megan,
I think this turned out so nicely, it's not as busy, and you handled the layout so wonderfully!

Hey Megan,
Your designs look amazing! I really enjoy the clean and minimal look to them because of how the black, cursive fonts you choose for both your name and navigation pop out from the background. I also do like how you had switched one of the subtitles from "inspiration" to "portfolio", it does seem much more professional and perfect for when you create your complete portfolio later on! My only nitpicks would be the white corners behind your name and "about me" headline, I feel like they shouldn't be there and instead creates an awkward sense of framing in the whole composition (I suggest removing them from these two, or from all so you can instead have it as a highlighting animation--for example, when the user hovers their mouse over "resources", the white borders appear indicating that its clickable). But Other than that, this is still a really great design! Would love to see your photos more when you develop the website!

Hello,
I really like the straight-forward layout of your design, I also like the palette you chose to represent it. I am curious though if some subtle effects wouldn't help the elements separate from each other and lift off the page? The body copy seems a bit lost on the right and I wonder if the negative space above it couldn't be utilized to bring a more holistic balance to the design. Good luck with your page, looks good.
James