Japanese style

check it out, let me know what you think. its just a preview untill i find a host(stupid ad banners :mad: ). the link is in my sig.

Yeah, you are really in need of a host :P Check the resources section of the forums, there are some good free hosts in there I think.

About the site. I think it looks ok, but it is kinda bland/simple, maybe thats what you were going for I dont know, thats just the feeling i get from it. Also I dont know if its because of the banners or what but when you get a better host make sure you make it expand to 100% of the browser height, I think that would look pretty good. (didnt know if thats what your doing or did), but none the less i think it looks pretty good.

I would change your email address to something like BrandonJ1289 [at] hotmail [dot] com or something along those lines, spambots look for emails in tact like the way you have it, just a suggestion ;)

im going for the simple look cause its my portoflio site, but it is in need for more style. i dont know about extending it; ill see how it looks, but i dont have much content to put in as of now so i think i might just leave it the size it is.

ill check the host and thanks for the heads up on the spam bot thing(i did not know they did that, as you can tell im still learning more about the web).

yo its got more to it now. please check it out and let me know of anything bad(except the ads).

I could have my company host your stuff for now, just catch me on AIM.

the tripod banners really hurt the website. It feels that the bamboo is supposed to stretch the whole length of the page, but the banners are not allowing that so it just looks awkward. I would search around for other free host sites that don't have the banners. I dont know of any off the top of my head but I know they are out there. I believe that the "resource" section of this forum has a whole thread on host sites. Id recommend looking at that.

In your home page you talk about how you enjoy the simplicity of Japanese design, although your site doesnt really scream that to me. You do have the japanese aspects (bamboo, lettering, and the flower) but it would be nice if you took it a bit farther than that. It seems more to me you just included those elements into a somewhat simple design to spice it up a bit. Start with japanese styling and keep it simple, instead of starting simple and adding japanese elments.

Overall the site works well for what it is, but if you only do one thing, move to a different host =). It will look and feel so much better.

Nothing really screams Japanese to me. I see the attempt with the pseudo-japanese text (which is more Chinese-esque since it's a solid block of kanji) and the bamboo, but apart from that there really isn't anything else to add to it. The style of text for portfolio, Brandon Jones and Welcome really clash with the idea you're going for. Serif fonts do take on the concept of certain angled beginning and ending of strokes in Chinese/Japanese characters, but the font you're using now is a bit on the comical side, probably you can use it if you decide to start a webcomic. Drop the psuedo-japanese text, that'll confuse the hell out of your viewers since you have to hover over them in order to view what they are. If you are determined to use Japanese text, use translation services like babelfish - or better yet a real person.

If you really want to stick to the Japanese theme, I have a few ideas you can try out. For the banner, find a suitable font and instead of doing a drop shadow, have it appear as if it were written on rice paper with a brush, maybe play with the default PS filters. Never have gibberish text, it'll annoy the hell out of people who can actually read it or know the intended language (personally, I went "wtf ...").

I had some more notes I wanted to put down in this notepad file, but I ran out of steam. If they come back to me I'll just edit this thing. I do think you made quite an attempt, but always do extensive research before any jobs (this applies to countless other situations as well). Good luck. ;)

I think for your banner you should consider a font more like the font used here with the word Kayuga. Same thing goes for your page headers.

Link

Edit: If you look at Japanese writing, what makes it a little different than western type (aside from looking different) is how it sort of resembles brush strokes. Your type face is too western.

MS Michi is the best for Kanji IMO. Try that.

One solid block of advice that i've always followed is to never confuse viewers with "hidden navigation" or "hidden links". For example, your links are in chinese characters or japanese characters, I know not which. It's hard to even tell those are links because you cant recognize familiar words ilke "home" and "contact" that would denote different sections of a site. Also, once they are recognized as links, it becomes a guessing game. If a viewer wants to get to the resume page they have a 1/4 chance of hitting the right button. It's just really annoying, and I suggest changing that to regular text.