New version of my business website

[Jan]

Don't panic! Don't panic! It's all right!

I know this feeling - everyone knows it, this happens to all of us. When you work too long on something, you can suddenly realise that you think that everything is wrong and start saying "What on Earth am I doing?". Just give it some time, and return to the project a bit later, and you'll find that it's OK. Perhaps you'll have to do some minor improvements and changes, but the general concept is great! Of course, I'm not a professional, and I'm not a company, but I like the design and I know it's prefessional enough. And, moreover, you should be very self-confident, because you've made many successful professional webs (just look back to your portfolio)!

Maybe I would think about the orange colour used for the arrows and some text (maybe too "sexy" or "kitsch"), and as I said I still think that some of the headings have too big font size (e.g. the "Ready to chat? Contact me!" - looks like a big sign "GIVE ME SOME MONEY!"), but these are just details, and I might be wrong. As we said, the design is smart, simple, clean and attractive! Have some rest, do something else, and return later, and you'll see you've done a great job!

EDIT: The paper-plane idea on business-cards etc. is just excellent!

[Gambit37]

Thanks for the wise words, all very good advice

However, that didn't stop me from thinking about things a bit more, and wondering about taking the flying theme forward a bit more. So I started playing around with a quick concept, and well, here you go! Note that it's just a visual idea, all the content and design precision is wrong, so ignore all that. I just wonder if something like this might work -- you know, using the "Make your business fly" message as a metaphor in the site design...? It could be quite cool to animate the balloons going up -- though it does mean I lose the top space for promoting examples of my work -- and this space is generally accepted as the best spot to have your portfolio or case studies.

[ian_scho]

Well it certainly seems more vibrant! I do enjoy this one as well.

I like how you emphasise 'fly', I'd just say "Helping you succeed online" or just "Succeed online"?.. But there's a lot of "I" with you web designers (see examples)!
Not sure about the white clouds overlaying text and the computer at the bottom though.
Two hot air balloons?... Hmmm.

A cursory view of other web designer portfolios(1) scream at me that you guys are having a LOT of fun!

[Gambit37]

There's no escaping some use of "I" -- I'm selling MY expertise after all, not that of someone else*. That said, I agree, the focus will be on what the potential client needs and as mentioned, the text content hasn't been written yet, this is just generic stuff thrown in for the purpose of getting a design worked out.

As for overlaying clouds. THIS IS A CONCEPT -- I said that the visual precision would be off It's quickly thrown together from the previous iteration without any care to precision, I'm just hoping for some for feedback on the concept.

Two balloons: Why not? I'll animate them with jQuery at different speeds and they will be in different colours moving from behind the clouds up the screen. When they go off the top, they'll start again from behind the clouds.


*That said, I am debating whether to change this and make it "we", as I want to start collaborating with other people who have the skills I lack.

[beowuuf]

I'd just say "I'll help you succeed"

[Sophia]

I like that one.

[Gambit37]

Do you think it's problematic to have the sample case study image appearing so much further down the page (note that it won't be presented on a white box like that -- still need to work out the right treatment)?

I thought about somehow dangling a rope out of the balloon with a big billboard on the end... but it doesn't work*

What do people think of this from the "professional" point of view? Do you think theming around this idea of flight, and big bold imagery, is "pro" or will it put off "pro" clients?


*Because it's a crap idea.

[beowuuf]

At the moment it seems pretty professionally done, and not cheesy. After all, you are pushing yourself as a creative person, so I think it's a good idea to show you can sell yourself in the same language as alot of your clients would want to communicate in.

I think your internal filters are tuned well enough to spot if it's getting too much, at the moment it seems balanced correctly.

[ian_scho]

In your portfolio you'll have at least one of those "pro" clients won't you
What we are mostly talking about in this thread is the impact that your first page will have. I agree with Beo that the balloons idea seems well balanced between an interesting design, a clear presentation and giving off an aura of professionalism.

[Gambit37]

OK, I decided to do the complete "flight" concept to see how it might work. Please bear in mind the following:

1) Images are stock comps, so are watermarked -- will obviously be replaced with correct versions once I've bought them.
2) There is about 50% too much text, I need to reduce it by half. But the general message is what I'll be getting across on the homepage
3) Layout is not fixed, needs some zhoojing up a bit
4) Other stuff might change

http://www.friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd13.jpg

What do you think?

[Gambit37]

Anyone? Or are you all sick of my constant tweaking

You'll have to forgive me. I spend most of my creative time on my own and get hardly any opportunities to run things past other people, so your feedback is really valuable to me. Many thanks.

[Sophia]

I like it, which I said already. There's a little bit of tweaking from the last version, granted, but it's not enough to really say anything else about other than, I still like it. The little biplane is cute and a nice touch, though.

[Gambit37]

??? Oh! Hang on, I did the proper version with the right text on it and a different layout, but forgot to upload it!! Doh, confused myself now, too many versions! Here's the one I was looking for feedback on (the content is now pretty much representative of what I want to say.):::

http://www.friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd14b.jpg

[ian_scho]

One thing I really like about your design is that the page is made up of different sections containing differing types of content and my eyes wanted to see what else there was at the bottom!

I like the header a lot. Eye catching colours and bold statements. Good stuff.

Next we have the nuts'n'bolts section which provides us with what you do, and have done. The titles are enough for people like me who scan the info and can 'ignore' the smaller text about the hoo-doo of what you do (e.g. web standards). Would it be too gimmicky to change the example web site into a rolling demo of 'n' web sites that you have linked up elsewhere in your portfolio?

The sub footer + footer are good too. Fun, even.

All good here - I like it

[beowuuf]

it's subtle, i liked the faded second balloon - i think it impled lots of work

[Jan]

The only thing I can say is: I like it!

[Gambit37]

A slightly different version -- different colours and different content layout. I'm trying to find the right balance for the content that will address the questions of a potential client, I think this is better. Do you agree?

http://www.friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd13b.jpg

[Trego]

The red font matches better to the example ad, displayed/hangs off the balloon (which I also like), but the 'Free Quote' and 'Contact Me' may need to be the same red to stand out more, I missed them on my first scan of the page compared to the old page. Both look good.

[Gambit37]

The displayed folio item will cycle through lots of samples, all different colours. So matching the button colour to the folio item isn't going to work.

[Gambit37]

This is gonna sound weird after all this work on a new freelance portfolio:

I'm going to find a full time job.

One might have thought that with this thread I had renewed passion for making my freelance business work. But you know what? I don't. I'm just going through the motions. I'm actually deeply unhappy working on my own and I don't really have any interest in the business side at all.

I've also been reading a few things recently that have made me realise where I would like to focus my energies. I'm actually much more interested in user experience design and the psychology of HCI (Human Computer Interaction). I want to get involved in usability studies. I want to work more on observing people's behaviour and making improvemenst through analysis. I think I've actually reached my limit of interest in pure visual design and need something more interesting and challenging. But I have no real skills in these areas.

The freelancing has been an interesting journey but I need to be honest with myself. I'm just not the right personality for it. I need to be around people, working in teams, working together for a greater good. Doing everything myself can be fun when it's a project that's perfectly suited to my skills, but those are very rare.

Weird. I didn't think I would end the week feleing like this. But I think it's the right time to get back out there and actually work with people doing interesting stuff. I have no idea how to do that, I have probably become unemployable, so that's going to take a bit of working out!

Um. Yeah.

[beowuuf]

Good luck!

[Gambit37]

Thanks! I'll probably change my mind tomorrow though!

[Jan]

Good luck! It sounds like a good idea. After all - if you feel uncomfortable with your current job, it's easier to change it now. The older you get the harder it is to change you life/job, and it would be stupid to be cheesed off with your job for the rest of your life.

(and if you change your mind tomorrow, don't worry - I think we'll find some wise words to justify staying with your current job for you )

[Gambit37]

I am currently in a state of flux. I honestly have no clue what the right direction is. I just wanted to dump that out there to see how it sounded and if it's really what I'm thinking long term. It probably isn't -- there are still great benefits to working for one self that I have become accustomed to.

Just ignore me, I think I'm starting my midlife crisis...

[Zyx]

I think on the contrary that you are on the right track to rethink and reshape your life. Keep the flux flowing, don't worry where it may lead you while it helps you to discover what you want and what you like. "Crisis" means that the old ways are at last losing their power on you, and this is an opportunity to break some bad habits and find a better niche.

[ian_scho]

I assume that you still have a few weeks or months of contracts to complete, so you get to have a good think about it while delaying/denying taking on any new orders and enquiries.

My first doubt is - where are all of the HCI jobs? It's mostly research based or are some of the big software houses offering these sort of roles?

With my own job I keep things interesting or fresh by taking a little time to try out new methodologies or approaches. Any overlap with where you want to go, with a potential job out there that includes web design and usability studies?... Hmmm, maybe. So could we say that this is an incremental improvement or a specialisation then? Good luck!

[Gambit37]

Actually, nope, I have very little work on at the moment, that's why I've been working on my own website -- and rapidly blasting through my funds

I have no idea about HCI jobs. It's just something I'm interested in but have no knowledge of.

And today I woke up with renewed vigour to make my business work with some other ideas of how I can make it interesting and fun. And let's be honest, having ideas about changing my career focus is fine if I were loaded, but I ain't, so I still need to keep doing what I do to put food on the table.

Told you I'd change my mind! I am such an unfocussed nightmare at the moment, it's untrue. I really wish I had a long-suffering girlfriend to discuss this with, but you lot make a great alternative!

[Gambit37]

So I did finally decide to return to full time employment. However, I recently met some people involved in the UX field and It's clear that I need to learn more to be able to get a UX job. I think it will be at least 6 months before I can make the switch.

More to the point, my current website doesn't have the right professional impression for potential employers who'll be looking at it. So it does need re-designing and re-writing after all. The fun themed stuff I posted before is clearly not the right direction. So here's the latest version (note that the text is not final). I can't decide which colour scheme I like best, they all have pros and cons. Any thoughts?

http://friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd18-orn.jpg
http://friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd18-red.jpg
http://friskdesign.com/v/?p=fd18-grn.jpg

[Jan]

Wow, this design does look great!

About the colours: I don't like the the pink / red version; and the dark green one looks odd (at least on my laptop's screen). So from these three versions I would definitely choose the orange one, although maybe it's too dark or deep or vivid. Have you tried other colours - like a lighter green, or a lighter orange, or blue? Maybe the "warm" colours are a bit too "fancy" or "sexy", whereas the "cold" (but lighter) tones might be more "conservative". Or I don't know - these are just my ideas.

EDIT: on the second thought, if you used lighter colours, you would have to change the white text to black, and this would disrupt the design...

[Gambit37]

Cool, thanks

About the red colour: yeah, it's a very "in your face"!!! I love red, it's a favourite colour (can I still have a favourite colour at age 37?) Red is passion and I've wanted to use it boldly in a design for ages. But it's also a sign of danger, and quite intense. I could perhaps try a less pink, slightly darker red, but I do like the way this one "pops"

About the white/black text -- yeah, it's fine balance getting the right depth of background colour for that to remain readable. The balance is probably wrong for the green and orange, they probably need to be darker. I don't want to use blue anymore -- my current site is blue and with this design it would look too conservative.