New version of my business website

[Jan]

Perfect. As others said, it's simple and elegant and I like it! I wish I could employ you.

Anyway, good luck in finding a new job - a good one!

[Gambit37]

Thanks guys I was worried the picture of me maybe a bit over the top, but I figured since I'm selling myself, I may as well go for it -- any comments on that?

[Jan]

Well, at least your potential employers will be prepared for anything. And you'll know that they'll have hired you for your skills.

*runs and hides*

No, sorry, that was stupid. Seriously, I think it's alright. There should definitely be a picture of yours because as you said, you're selling yourself. It's great that the photo is positive and accuratelly casual and that it shows more than just your head. Maybe the white T-shirt on the white background isn't ideal and that you shouldn't laugh that much, but, meh, I'm just nitpicking - I think it's alright.

[Gambit37]

I am terrible subject for photos, this one is easily the best one that's ever been taken of me looking vaguely natural

[Jan]

Be glad that you weren't made to see my photos. They could be used to frighten bad kids, and my 3D models could be used simply as scarecrows.

[oh_brother]

Be glad that you weren't made to see my photos.

I am surprised that you could find a camera that did not crack when confronted with your face...oh, sorry, wrong thread!

I like the photo, it makes the website stand out from just a wall of text. Seems personal and memorable, and the smile is much better than just a default faint-smile-head-shot.

[beowuuf]

It was the only thing I wasn't sure on, but at the very least it's also something that stands out on the site. It's just as likely to be the thing that makes a potential empoyer give you a second look as be put off, but I think it's better they have a reaction and stop at your site for a moment longer than any other.

I think it works personally.

[Gambit37]

OK, I need some eyes to take a look at something please
Please view this image and tell me what you see/read, thanks:
http://matthill.co/f/testlogo.jpg
Please reply via Private Message - I don't want to taint the results with answers shown on the forum.
Many thanks

[Gambit37]

Thanks to everyone for helping me out -- the results were a success

Could I ask another favour. I'm testing out a URL shortening service and need some data to work with.
Could you please click this link http://hill.so/blog -- it should redirect you to my new blog at http://blog.matthill.co
Could you also then reply here when you've done that?
So many thanks in advance, you lovely people

[Zyx]

I tried to leave a reply by clicking on the link, but nothing happened. I use ghostscript which blocked disqus.

[beowuuf]

Seems to work out ok

[Ameena]

Yeah, worked for me too .

[ian_scho]

Finally a blog...

[Gambit37]

Cool, thanks guys. Stats say there is one hit from Argentina, one from Spain so looks like it's pretty accurate

Zyx; Interesting, I use Disqus as most of the people who'll comment on my blog (web devs) probably already have a Disqus account. I didn't really think it would be an issue. I may reconsider and go back to a non-javascript solution. Do you block JS completely on all sites using Ghostscript? I imagine most of the web doesn't work very well for you if so -- uinfortunately, the engineering behind a lot of modern websites assumes that JS is available and they don't account for it being disabled, so most features won't work.

[Zyx]

No, I don't block JS by default, only trackers. I had a try under IE without blocking anything, and could leave a comment.

[Jan]

There should also be one hit from Central Europe now. Gosh, I feel so important.

[Gambit37]

Yep: "CZ (Czech Republic) : 1 hit"

I also got one hit in Ireland -- who's that then?

[ian_scho]

That will be one of the users that never register on the forum! :=)

[Jan]

Oh, those sneaky Irish! Never trust the Irish, that's what I say.

[Ameena]

So, technically, does that mean we shouldn't trust the Scottish either, since they were originally all from Ireland...in which case, eek who made Wuffy an Admin?

[beowuuf]

<.<
>.>
O.O

[Gambit37]

Oh, don't pick on poor shialabeowuuf

[Jan]

I think that the Scottish could be trusted as long as they stay in the Union.

[oh_brother]

I also got one hit in Ireland -- who's that then?

Might have been me! (Edit: I realise I should have posted here when I did, but I was travelling with dodgy internet for some time now and probably just skimmed the forums at best).

Oh, those sneaky Irish! Never trust the Irish, that's what I say.

[Jan]

Oh, come on, I didn't mean it. I trust you. We trust you. Look - even Beowuuf trusts you. And he's Scottish! The whole World trusts you. Well, there might be one or two people in North Korea who wouldn't trust you but there still are several billions of people who trust you and this is something you can trust.

I trust that you're not sneaky as long as you trust me that I came with that smart comment independently on the other thread.

[beowuuf]

I might have changed my rank to shialabeowuuf if you hadn't been so mean to the Irish :p

[Gambit37]

Anyway, back to business, I'v put up a very simple landing page for my new venture:
http://www.arcodea.com/

I decided against the logo text that I showed you before. Once I realised that I needed to create a recognisable logo-mark, the custom text I'd designed didn't really work with it. So I'm now just using a simple 'normal' typeface.

[oh_brother]

Nice! I like the three-colour logo. I guess you should start tweeting with some information soon to show that it is active.

[Jan]

Wow, it looks fantastic! The three-colour "A" / triangle is awesome!

[Gambit37]

Cheers guys, thanks for the nice comments. I've spent a fair bit of time on this and I'm really happy with it. In fact, I'm gutted I didn't come up with this name and logo when I started freelancing 5 years ago!

The triangle / A even has some logic behind it. The name "Arcodea" is a mashup of Art + Code + Ideas, so each stroke of the A is one of those aspects. The slightly 'brush stroke' nature of each line is also supposed to suggest a friendly, hand-drawn aspect, but also it's "clean" to appear modern and fresh.

Now I've just got to make some products to sell....!