My New Portfolio Site

[STL FANATIC]

Hey guys,

Can't believe I've stayed up so late working on this. I'm going to regret that tomorrow, but I really wanted to get it finished.

Anyways, I've put together a new portfolio site, and I'd like to get your guys thoughts on it/just show it off. So let me know what you think.

JB Scribbles Graphic Design :: jbscribbles.com

Thanks!

-Justin

[fiasco!]

Very sharp. The portfolio is strong, the nav works well, and the site is easy to go through and keeps my interest. Great job, Justin.

[SDX]

I'd get rid of the splash page but other than that looking good.

[Jimmy!]

Great site.

I'm having issues viewing it in IE. Everything appears to the far right and I have to scroll to see it. Not sure if that's happening with other browsers.

[STL FANATIC]

Very much appreciate the feedback so far guys. Thanks a lot.

Also thanks for the heads up on the IE problems Jimmy. I'll have to try and check it out on a PC soon so I can figure out what's going on with that.

[STL FANATIC]

Alright, I think I've got the IE problems fixed...let me know if anymore come up.

The only problem I'm seeing in IE is that the rollover on the splash page does not work, but I don't think that's a huge deal and might lose the page anyways as sjdyson recommends.

Thanks again, guys.

[pollux]

Great site. Really easy to navigate, strong content too.

I'll echo sjdyson and I suggest that you lose the splash page, as it doesn't add to the site. Also, you could use the image on the top left as a subtle link to your home page. I wanted to go back and it too me a few seconds to find the link, as opposed to trying to click the big image.

And this might be seen as nitpick, but did you try viewing the site at a very big resolution (1600x1200)? The orange background tends to steal the show as it pops up a lot. But if you intended this to be seen on 1024x768, then you're good to go.

One CSS question... How did you make everything vertically-aligned in the middle?

[STL FANATIC]

Thanks, pollux.

I probably will end up dropping the splash page, and I've also given thought to the upper left "home" link. That shouldn't be too hard to do, so I think I'll take that advice.

As for the resolution, I'm at 1440x900, and when I stretch my window all the way, I agree that the orange starts to become dominant. I haven't viewed it at anything bigger. I don't want to lose the color. Part of MY image as a designer is to be a little colorful. As an example, when we had a recent presentation in class, most of my classmates showed up clad in black dress clothes, while I showed up in a vibrant blue shirt and orange tie.

But if you have any suggestions for how I can keep the color but tone it down enough (and not totally change the design at this point), I'm more than willing to listen.

The vertical-alignment to the middle is something I googled and found a pretty simple solution too. I don't know if I have that link anymore though, so let me try and explain the best I can. Hopefully it can be followed.

Set your height. Then set position: absolute. Next, set top: 50%. Then set your margin-left to negative one-half of your height. If you're also centering horizontally, you can use the same technique.

So a potential example of the CSS would be...

#example {width: 700px; height: 250px; position: absolute; top: 50%; left: 50%; margin-top: -125px; margin-left: -350px;}

Hope that makes sense, and thanks for your feedback.

[oddball]

I'm looking at the page on a 1900x1200 screen and I think it's perfect. I very much disagree in that the orange in dominant. Actually, and this is on my screen, the orange takes up the same amount of space that the grey does and that is a perfect balance. If anything, you could add blue where the dark grey lines are on top and the bottom, but overall it's just a nice clean design.

[Shumway]

Nicely done. It's simple and easy to follow, with a hint of bells & whistles. I'm working on re-doing mine now, since it's about as basic as it gets.

[scottysprings]

Awesome man, looks very professional. Just curious, how much of your web design knowledge did you gain in college? Is a lot of it self taught or are you instructed in HTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver?

[STL FANATIC]

Awesome man, looks very professional. Just curious, how much of your web design knowledge did you gain in college? Is a lot of it self taught or are you instructed in HTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver?

Thanks, Scotty.

I've self-taught myself basic HTML going all the way back to 5th or 6th grade. But it was always limited knowledge and not up to standards on the "right way" of doing things.

But through my job at the U of I Athletic Dept. and even moreso a class I took this semester, I've been able to take my basic knowledge of the code and turn myself into a pretty good web designer (I'd like to think anyways).

But I don't think the GD program at U of I emphasizes web design enough. I was lucky (1) to have a base knowledge of html entering the class, and (2) be taught by a guest professor that really cared about web design. The class I took likely would not have been so web based with the normal professor.

But even then, many students in the class were intimidated by the code and left the class as still very mediocre or poor designers, and there's some GD majors who will never take the course. I think that's awful, because I think web design is such an important part of design now and certainly in the future.

Now, I'm not sure what you're situation is. If you're hoping you can learn it on your own, I would say you certainly can. To be as strong a designer as possible I would look for some really good tutorials or maybe even take a class at a community college.

If you're hoping to go to college and wondering if you'll come out a good web designer, it'll depend where you go and what classes you sign up for it.

Ultimately, I think you have to take the initiative to learn, and if you can be patient and keep yourself from being overwhelmed, you can learn it on your own.

Sorry for the overly long explanation.

[leggman01]

"Okay, then who's Justin Striebel?"

i think this should be who is...while technically grammatically correct, it just looks weird and way too informal/colloquial

i'm also not sure about the 3rd person tone on the "about" page...i think it would be more personal if you used "I'm this, and that and other things" rather than "Justin is this, and that and other things"...this is about building a relationship with a client, and 3rd person isn't conducive to relationship building, in my opinion...let them get to know you in your own words, so to speak - you might also consider a small photograph of yourself on this page to add to the personal nature...unless you're an ogre...then stick with no photo

overall, the site is really nice - navigation is a breeze and everything is where you would think it would be - your thumbnails show just enough detail to entice me to click them and the colors really work together well - there is some solid work in the portfolio, as well - nice job

[KCScout76]

STLFan - very good site!!! I'm not a web designer but I like the set up and the ease you can move through the links.

Very user friendly - Well Done my man!!!

[scottysprings]

Awesome man, looks very professional. Just curious, how much of your web design knowledge did you gain in college? Is a lot of it self taught or are you instructed in HTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver?

Thanks, Scotty.

I've self-taught myself basic HTML going all the way back to 5th or 6th grade. But it was always limited knowledge and not up to standards on the "right way" of doing things.

But through my job at the U of I Athletic Dept. and even moreso a class I took this semester, I've been able to take my basic knowledge of the code and turn myself into a pretty good web designer (I'd like to think anyways).

But I don't think the GD program at U of I emphasizes web design enough. I was lucky (1) to have a base knowledge of html entering the class, and (2) be taught by a guest professor that really cared about web design. The class I took likely would not have been so web based with the normal professor.

But even then, many students in the class were intimidated by the code and left the class as still very mediocre or poor designers, and there's some GD majors who will never take the course. I think that's awful, because I think web design is such an important part of design now and certainly in the future.

Now, I'm not sure what you're situation is. If you're hoping you can learn it on your own, I would say you certainly can. To be as strong a designer as possible I would look for some really good tutorials or maybe even take a class at a community college.

If you're hoping to go to college and wondering if you'll come out a good web designer, it'll depend where you go and what classes you sign up for it.

Ultimately, I think you have to take the initiative to learn, and if you can be patient and keep yourself from being overwhelmed, you can learn it on your own.

Sorry for the overly long explanation.

Thanks for the overly long explanation, I really appreciate it . I'm not looking to pursue a graphic design degree but I've always been very interested in applying my graphic design knowledge to web design. I've looked at a few basic HTML tutorials but like you alluded to it can be very intimidating and tedious. Regardless, I'll see if I can take a class next year on the topic. Thanks again.

[oddball]

What I've been told by people is there are good web designers, and good programmers, but it's rare there are both. It usually becomes that when one or the other tries to learn the other skill, their primary skill suffers. Hey I do have a question about Illinois. How is the advertising there? I only ask because when I looked around for a program to get my MFA, both Texas and Illinois had advertising. I'm leaning toward Texas, because everyone and I do mean everyone says that Austin is a great place, the campus is beautiful, the food is great and there's every kind of music you want. I figure since you go to Illinois it might be wise to get a student's perspective of the school and the programs.

[STL FANATIC]

I've grown up loving the U of I, and that hasn't changed since I've attended school here. You can major in just about anything and know it's one of the top ranked programs. That also makes for a very balanced student body. Although it remains highly ranked, I've heard engineering and science students complain that most of their classes are taught by TAs, so even though the professors are top notch, they don't get as much out of the classes as they'd like.

But as far as Advertising, I've heard nothing but good things about the program, and I know quite a few Advertising majors since there can be a lot of overlap in the goals of the two programs.

The U of I continually has one of the best ranked Advertising programs in the nation. You'll see even from this page from Texas' Advertising Department, that faculty from around the nation rank the U of I undergrad dept as #1 and more importantly to you, that the U of I is ranked #1 by US News & World Report in its Graduate Program.

For a while I considered a dual-major in Advertising. Then I decided I would stay and like you, pursue and MFA in Advertising here because of the strength of the program.

In the end, I think I'm going to try and find a job for a while before pursuing and MFA, but the program here is enticing, that's for sure.

Whether the campus can stack up to your tastes vs. Austin I don't know, but the Advertising program itself is likely on equal footing with UT at the least.

[STL FANATIC]

i'm also not sure about the 3rd person tone on the "about" page...i think it would be more personal if you used "I'm this, and that and other things" rather than "Justin is this, and that and other things"...this is about building a relationship with a client, and 3rd person isn't conducive to relationship building, in my opinion...let them get to know you in your own words, so to speak

What are others thoughts on this?

I'm open to whatever. I never know where to go as far as formal vs. informal.

I do make a small theme of what I've written that I believe in the client-designer relationship, so perhaps it does make sense to go first person. But first I'm curious to see what others thing.

And I also think it's a good idea to add a photo or photo-drawing of myself. I'll just need to take/find/make one.

I'd like to think I'm not an ogre lol. In fact, that's me in the "Lust" photo-illustration in my portfolio. Let's be honest...I look pretty irresistible... [/end awkwardness]

[udubs03]

I agree with leggman about the 3rd person. It just seems kind of weird as most people who visit your site will assume that you designed it. Other than that though, it looks great, and like others said, it is very easy to navigate.