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Design

Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points
Posted by Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points

What do you think about my new personal website?

Hey,

I just finished my personal website containing my portfolio and more.

It is not yet fully responsive, but I would love some feedback of the website when viewed on a desktop screen.

Thanks!

Best regards, Anton

10 Answers

Moiz Malik
Moiz Malik
11,906 Points
Moiz Malik
Moiz Malik
11,906 Points

Good design.

One thing I'd suggest is that you should probably resize your image on the "who" in Photoshop or another photo editor. It's generally a good habit to not rely on CSS for resizing a large image. The user still has to load a large file, which is not a good user experience.

Rick Rakin
Rick Rakin
6,531 Points

A-ha: That's why it took like 1-2 seconds to draw this image the first time I looked at his site. It's an 819KB file.

Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points
Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points

The design is great but I would definitely tighten up the copy/wording. At present it is bordering on condescending to the user...

"I am a designer. I am a developer. I design and develop websites."

If your target audience have made it to your page they don't need to you clarify that you design websites and not iPhones.

"You can clearly see this by checking out my previous work."

In academic circles, using the sentence 'you can clearly see' is code for 'you are an idiot if you don't agree with me'. Most individuals will subconsciously react negatively to that statement.

"I am a freelance web designer and developer"

Sorry, I didn't understand the first two times, did you say you design cars? In 31 words of copy you have told me that you design and develop websites three times.

"...the occasional beers in the weekends"

'at the weekend'.

I can see that your grasp of English is excellent but there are some other simple grammatical mistakes you have made. If you want me to tighten up the copy I am happy to help, one TreeHouse student to another.

However, it's not all negative. I think the overall aesthetic is superb - really great work. Love the typography and the use of colour.

Sorry if I come across as blunt/harsh. It's not intended.

I really like the GIS image you have used on the Talk page. It's a nice touch.

Sharon Walls
Sharon Walls
9,234 Points

"at the weekend" = British English

"on the weekends" = American English

I guess either one works for Sweden?

Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points

The sentence is written "in the weekends" at present. Given that English is the lingua franca of the web we should steer the guy right.

On or at the weekend is fine. In the weekends is not correct.

Sharon Walls
Sharon Walls
9,234 Points

I know it says "in the weekends". I was only noting that I didn't know if Sweden followed the American or British standard, so I offered both options. I'm not advocating for typos. ;)

Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points
Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points

Perhaps, but images of what?

Have you gone through the projects as well?

Nicholas Bianco
Nicholas Bianco
174 Points

I think some textures would be nice here. You have such a large canvas for using different textures throughout the entire website. Maybe it's just my personal taste, but I think you should try it out. Get a seamless background texture and repeat. :)

Michael Sukkarieh
Michael Sukkarieh
1,915 Points
Michael Sukkarieh
Michael Sukkarieh
1,915 Points

I'm not sure if you did this on purpose but in the "Talk" section, the sample text in the email box is ipsum text. Might want to change that if it was an accident. Other then that, very nice looking website.

Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points
Anton Moritz
Anton Moritz
5,490 Points

I actually did it on purpose as a fun thing, since Lorem Ipsum is what we use as place holder text. But maybe it's stupid...?

Michael Sukkarieh
Michael Sukkarieh
1,915 Points

It is a pretty creative idea but it may seem confusing to someone who does not know what it is.

Nicholas Bianco
Nicholas Bianco
174 Points

You should really think about who is going to be viewing your website when thinking about this sort of thing. To us developers, we can recognize the Lorem Ipsum immediately and "get the joke," however, if you plan on showing this website to prospective clients (which I can imagine is the actual point, no?) they would, as Michael said, be a little confused, and have absolutely no idea what all that crazy stuff is. You do a great job in making the rest of the site very user friendly. It is very intuitive, and easy to recognize where to go and what to do. The navigation is a little vague though, I mean, I kinda had an idea of what was going to be in the section, but I knew that I was "supposed" to click there. I thought "I don't really know what this is going to show me, but I'm going to click it anyway." One of the greatest pieces of advise I have been given, is to design things for ANYONE to use them. There is so much psychology involved when designing a successful website, and to understand it, utilize it, and blend it with the aesthetics, is the challenge we are all faced with. It sounds brutal, but hey, if you do that, every person who goes to your website will know what information they are getting, and where to get it. The user then leaves the website with an "accomplished" feeling. Happy users are a good thing. Sorry to ramble btw.

Eric Samudio
Eric Samudio
3,051 Points
Eric Samudio
Eric Samudio
3,051 Points

Looks good. If you're going for simplicity, I'd start with the homepage copy. Just go with:

Hello, My name is Anton Moritz. I design & develop websites.

Love the typography...

Max Paolone
Max Paolone
1,780 Points
Max Paolone
Max Paolone
1,780 Points

In the "Look" page, the logos look like they have been upscaled from low-resolution images. They are kind of blurry.

Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points

Yes definitely the Venn Diagram has been upscaled. The others look OK to me.

Rick Rakin
Rick Rakin
6,531 Points
Rick Rakin
Rick Rakin
6,531 Points

I think it looks great overall. I'm aiming at getting a similar kind of website for myself up before Monday morning. If it looks as good as yours I'm going to be happy.

justinw
justinw
14,517 Points
justinw
justinw
14,517 Points

Great looking site, nice and clean.

My only change would be to remove the Typekit in the footer. If you're looking for what to put down there than I would do breadcrumbs.

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

+1 For removing the Typekit footer

Morrice Pfeiffer
Morrice Pfeiffer
4,162 Points
Morrice Pfeiffer
Morrice Pfeiffer
4,162 Points

Look your site is OK but not purpose driven. Whats your purpose? What drives you? What makes you GO??

If you just want a clean simple website. U got it.

IF you want to make a business and therefore make MONEY...then where is your CTA?

Its awesome to be a designer (thats the fun part) but to make money you have understand marketing and people and how people think, and empathy, and the human condition. Sorry a little to deep.

The only thing I am trying to explain is to really stand out know yourself.

Its not about you its about other people.

M

Nicholas Bianco
Nicholas Bianco
174 Points

Nicely put Morris. I would have just said "what Morris said" but didn't see your post until I scrolled down...lol

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Morrice Pfeiffer - I beg to differ, call to action buttons are great for sign up pages and subscriptions, but they don't fit the context of a service oriented site.

Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points

I don't agree Morris. The site is designed to make an impact and demonstrate that Anton is available for work. It is not a corporate site, it is a personal.

The design is similar to those used by well regarded developers such as Jack Cheng, Dustin Curtis and Jonah Jones.

There is a lot to be said for minimising unnecessary textures, icons and buttons.

Morrice Pfeiffer
Morrice Pfeiffer
4,162 Points

Love the debate for a Friday.

Steven Feeney
Steven Feeney
714 Points

:-) I am off to watch World War Z with my Friday.

It best be good, been waiting for it for ages!

Morrice Pfeiffer
Morrice Pfeiffer
4,162 Points

U r lucky. All I ever get to see r "chick flics"..Unless I want to go alone and thats just creepy.