new member :: new website

hey everyone.

i've been designing for 5 years, started as a hobby, now i'm currently enrolled in a multimedia design course @ Fasnshawe College in Ontario (for those who know where that is) and hopefully i can turn it into a career after i graduate in april.

on to the design:

it's for a school assignment worth 40%of my final grade. the goal is to brand ourselves as designers and create a commercial quality web-based portoflio for ourseleves, integrating all apects of this semesters' courses (xhtml/css, php, JavaScsipt, flash, and 3D animation)

i've soent about a month conceptualizing this new concept, and i've reaached a stage i'm happy with, and now i'm loking for feedback on it.

** Main / Home Page **

* this is the only page so far; tier 1 pages follow same basic structure w/ unique flash elements.
* i still want to tweak the flash to it runs smoother / cleaner

best regards,
derek lapp.

** I'll do some colaborations for NON-PROFIT if anyone wants to. contact me if you're interested.

Looks good for a student portfolio. A few initial thoughts though:

1. Dictionary entries for your name...This is the first thing every student does to add an element to a page. At least you didn't do it as an intro/splash page. I'd personally spend a bit of time thinking of something a bit more creative to go there. It's just gone beyond overdone...amost to the point where it's a staple design element to students (and some professionals).

2. The type is a bit skinny and in my opinion is not attractive enough to suit your site. It's close, but look at your real name, it seems squished, and not through leading.

Otherwise, nice start. I'm no web designer and that sure as hell blows anything I ever thought about building in school.

Nice work, the flash runs very smoothly even on my mac which never usally happens perfectly. I enjoy the colors, soft and relaxing.

well done.

welcome to tps.

yeah very soothing colors. blue is good. i agree with an earlier comment on how smooth it runs. also for some reason the name logo is appearinga bit gritty on my monitor cant imagine why but that might be something to look into. also it does look a bit squished but good stuff man. ull get better at school no doubts about it.

cheers
MEL

thanks for the comments guys; appreciate 'em.

i knew the dictionary thing had been done before, but i didn't know it was that over done. we're actually required to have a splash / intro but i tried to incorporate it into the home page to eliminate the splash page - but i really wasn't sure what to do as far as an intro. another idea i have is to extend it, so it brings up each service (web design, identity etc) individually and has some witty "brandng is more than just a logo" caption. i'm not sure how long to make it, since it's really supposed to be a sub-element to the page, so i do'n want it hogging all the viewer's attention.

all the graphic type is arial narrow. i don't know, i really liked the way it looked on another project, so i've been using it recetnly just to mix things up; i don't see it in use too often. i'll look into the type a bit more.

tanks for the comments on the flash btw, it's my first effort really incorporating it into a design. i usually think of flash as a presentation element rather than a site element, so i haven't touched t much outside of class.

did you see what the site looks like with maybe a maybe a darkgrey -> current color as a background ? meh just an idea might give it an extra bit of depth or something..

hey man if ur interested in doing colaboration work im up for it. send me a message id love to get some feedback from a student and see if i can offer u something as well lol.

send me a PM

sure thing. i'll send a pm over when i get back later today (home for crazy canadian thanksgiving).

Gave it just a quick glance and here's a big issue: the rectangle on the right and the logo on the right compete with the main site for the visitor's attention. Asa a user I keep asking myself what that is, should I click it...etc. There's no reason for that box's existence.
I also don't get the logo that's "out of site". This works with a layout that flows across the page, but when you have a clearly separated background and layout, you'll want the logo to be part of it. It makes sense both graphically and intellectualy.