pixelv7concepts.com Professional Graphic Designer!

[cheesy4skin]

You may have seen my work around If not I'd like to show what I can do for you.
I am a self taught graphic designer from the UK, I have been designing for nearly 4 years and don't plan on stopping. I have recently been lucky enough to do some work for 2 streamers:
http://www.twitch.tv/itszdan
http://www.twitch.tv/bruisedlee01

And have finally got round to building a website:

http://www.pixelv7concepts.com

Even if your not looking for graphics I would really appreciate any feedback on the site, thanks in advance.


Preview:

[ATTACH=full]540[/ATTACH]

[Kiratze]

Very cool! Looks pretty sweet! Keep it up.

As for the site, I'm a bit of a nitpicker so hope you don't mind real critique! This is just personal thoughts/ideas about the sites but since this is a business for you essentially I'm sure you'd like everything as best it can be.

- Grammatical problems and wording: I would take the time to rewrite your About section. Lengthen it with things such as; how you got into graphic design, any education relating to design, and why you love doing it. Those are just some examples. Since you're doing business on a personal level with people, it's best to make yourself sound as attractive as possible. Including a picture is a possibility too so they can attach a face to the business. I would also change the font choice in the About section. The way it's displayed now makes it seem like a run on sentence.

- Consistency: The font choice in the about section and the font in the prices section is quite different. I would try and keep that Large Silver font as your Major headers, the basic White font as minor headers, and the dark grey font as the bulk (Such as your bio).

- Redundancy: I would take out the sentences that direct people to the Contact page. It's sort of redundant since the "Contact" page is easily visible and accessible should anyone have any questions. If you still keep it in I would just write it once at the bottom of the prices page with something like "For further inquiries, visit the contact page". In the Contact section I would take out the "Fast Reply Email" section. It's sort of redundant since if it's faster, why bother with the primary e-mail? Change it to something like "Alternate E-mail" or just take it out completely since it looks a bit out of place. The sentence underneath also doesn't really make sense grammatically.

I hope I didn't come off as mean. Not what I intend! Those are just some things that stood out to me.

[cheesy4skin]

Thank you so much for that, I will get to work right away. That really helped me out!

[Kiratze]

Very welcome . Small changes can make a big difference! Keep up the good work.

[cheesy4skin]

Thanks man really means a lot!!

[Disparat]

As a designer myself, your work isn't bad at all! Not really too much my taste, and there is of course room for improvement. I feel your strongest point is how well your gradients are and the additional lighting on top of that!

But what you need to study some more is typography and branding. Branding as in more in depth logotype design and how to make a brand stand out for it's purpose.
Another note is that the site isn't that good, it needs to be more clear in how to navigate the site, and presentation of your work needs improvement.

[Disparat]

Also a super important notice, as I recognize the fonts a bit; make sure the fonts in your paid work is free for commercial use, for the love of god. You don't want to sell anything using work from someone else without permission to do so.

[cheesy4skin]

all my fonts are free for commercial use all 1000+

[cheesy4skin]

also I'm confused as to why my site isn't clear to navigate, It feels as though your just nit picking, it's the first time I have even built a site it's very new to me and I would appreciate constructive criticism not pointing faults, thanks.

[Kiratze]

Cheesy, I don't think it's nitpicking. There was no malice behind what Disparat said.

I think the main problem in terms of navigation/aesthetic is your home page. The slideshow is very large and when you open it it takes up the majority of the screen. This also makes it so you don't notice the Featured work which, if it is in fact featured it should be a highlighted part of the page.

If it were me, I would take out the work off the home page completely other than the Featured work, since I'm assuming that'll change every once in awhile. Make a separate page for your work and have the Homepage as sort of a Hub so right when people visit they can choose where to go on your website depending on their interests.

Take a look at my sister's website for an example. She's an animator so she's in the Arts like you.

http://www.saganyee.com/

Notice the way you can navigate the site and especially when looking at her work you can see it's nice and categorized as opposed to yours which is just a long page of scrolling with no real direction if that makes sense?

I'm glad you touched up the "About" section as well but you still have quite a few grammatical errors throughout the website that you should tend to.

[Disparat]

I didn't go into detail about the site as I saw Kiratze already mentioned it, even though I skimmed over the thread and didn't pay attention to what was said by Kiratze.

And yeah, from a non-designer and purely customer standpoint, your site is "good enough" so to say, but I've been working with web development for about 7-8 years so I don't even have to nit pick to see faults.

I'll summarize as it's late and I'm a bit tired.
1.Too much gradients on the site elements, solid colours are enough for a site, no need to add gradients.
2. Logotype could be nice, rather than just text.
3. Top navigation should contain all links
4. Main page is the portfolio page, you could make the main page a landing page with a collection of info and just a slider.
5. Sizing of the top navigation is too big, and simple css with hover states could clearer show it's links.
6. I recommend a 2 or 3 column layout for the portfolio rather than a long list.
7. The padding/margin (spacing) between elements are very different for things and vary per page, you want it around the same.

[Disparat]

Now, don't see this as shooting your site building down, it's just a second observation on what you could think about.
But in general, think simple, and keep things even and don't overdo or oversize things.

[cheesy4skin]

I have issues with 'over doing' stuff bearing in mind the type of designer I am, going get to work and prove myself!!!!!

[Disparat]

It's okay, I used to be the "over-doer" myself, even though my work was borderline abstract, it was too much. Now I'm more like the professional freelancer and studios you see around, with minimalistic design and so. I do however still experiment quite often!
You just need time to learn the underlining things of design, and it just takes time and practice, and don't be afraid to ask for critique, and strive to get and do better work and not just more work.

[cheesy4skin]

working on a logo what do you think ? [ATTACH=full]535[/ATTACH]

[Disparat]

Hm, now the swirls could use some combining to be more of a one entity. And filling in those gaps inside the letters as it doesn't really fit the style that much.
And that small symbol above the last part looks very out of place, but general idea looks good.

The typography is a bit confusing though, hard to read some letter, not sure if the first is an R, B or an P, and the last I don't know at all

[cheesy4skin]

I suck so much at logo's second attempt [ATTACH=full]537[/ATTACH]

[Disparat]

Looking better! liking it a lot more, now I can actually read it!
Notes this time is that the dot above the "i" could have a tiny bit more spacing from the P, not required though. The "concepts" part is too distorted, try to shape it a little bit after the P rather than that much distortion.
And lastly, but most important, the X looks to be sideways, turn it 90 degrees and you'll have a much clearer X.

Good improvement!

[cheesy4skin]

the x is like that cause the font :/

[Disparat]

Yeah I understood that, what I mean is that if you just separate the x from the rest of the text, you could rotate it and it'd be a clearer x.