Please review my portfolio site

[bluesky11197]

Hi, I just created my portfolio site. Please let me know what you guys think...

Thanks so much!

http://www.gbcreativedesign.com

[infinityspiral]

The concept is good, using an old-school portfolio case on the site. The corners don't look right on the handle though. This is caused by scaling the vectors on a rounded rect. To fix this in illustrator, create a rectangle and then go to effects>stylize>rounded corners. Now when you scale the rectangle the corners don't stretch. I'd also try out a gradient or texture, something to add some more depth, right now it's very flat. Completely okay, but doesn't have a lot of pop.

The front page bullets look screwy in Firefox because the text drops down to the next line instead of matching the bullet to the line it's talking about. Also the page needs a title, right now your title is 'untitled document' which isn't going to appeal to potential clients or be SEO friendly.

The copy was a little rough. Take another look at it in a few days or have a friend read through. If you can find an editor all the better. I knew where you were going because I'm in this field, but I think I'd be really lost if I was completely new to your site.

The H20 stuff is your best. Don't make people look around for something you know is good, push that up to the front of the list or feature it on your homepage or portfolio page somehow.

The paragraphs seem really crowded try updating this:
.font2
color:#443A31;
font-family:Arial;
font-size:12px;
line-height:18px;
padding:0 10px;
}

Hope this helps :)

[Metreon Cascade]

Overall it's pretty killer.

I would re-do the logo, however. the spines of the g and the b appear to form a capital J, making it look like 'gJb.'

The bowls of the letters combined with the upper spine on the 'b' also take on a rather phallic look when taken together, much like if you had done 'db' the same way. For some reason, this happens all the time in logo design - I suspect nature is playing a practical joke on us by wiring our brains to subliminally draw this sort of shape. And I don't know if you used ITC Eras as the font for the 'gb,' but the letters certainly remind me of it.

Might wanna try re-designing the letters, separating them slightly to make clear that the g and the b have separate spines (though the spines can overlap slightly, perhaps?), or writing them by hand with a tablet or magic marker. You might also want to put the bowls at different heights to break the phallic shape.

Using a solid shape (instead of something complicated with gradients and patterns and whatnot) was a good idea, and generally the rule in logo design as I understand it. I originally designed my logo as a solid shape, and it still translates into one (though the version on my site is currently made of 3-dimensional glass that blends into the background).

[bluesky11197]

Thanks so much for the feedback...

infinityspiral:
you gave some real good feedback and I made a few changes that hopefully make my site more appealing...I took your suggestions and fixed the handle. I also chose a textured background which I think really makes a difference along with some gradients at the top and bottom. You were right about the H20, I moved that up to the front. I organized the home page a little more so I think that made it a little more user friendly. Thanks so much, your advice made for much improvement to my site.

Metreon Cascade:
I'm glad you like my site. When it comes to logos they can sometimes be viewed in a variation of ways depending on the viewer as you know. I never relized the J in my logo, but now that you mention it I definately see what you are saying. My logo is something that will take me some more time to tweak and get perfect (although I'm sure I will never be completely satisfied with it!) so I'll have to work on that maybe in the near future.

[infinityspiral]

World of difference there and I think you've got something with high impact now :) Much better and I like the graphic on the front too.