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My burning question is how do I make my online architectural portfolio stand out from other portfolios? I found a blog at www.thinkvitamin.com by author Mike Kus that had some great ideas. One of his ideas was to keep it simple and not be afraid of having blank space. I think this is really good input because having a clean and unfettered layout is attractive to potential employers. How the items are arranged on the site and where the blank areas are can also showcase design layout skills. Another one of his ideas is to have a good set palette of colors. Having a specific palette that is consistent throughout the portfolio helps to give the site a coherent sense of identity and character. Also, the color palettes in the example portfolios he gives compliment and contrast with each other very effectively. I plan on doing further research on effective and attention grabbing color combinations as this seems important. Other important aspects that he can make a portfolio stand out if done effectively are imagery and typography, bucking current web trends, and attention to detail. His examples of portfolios are not all architectural but their merits are definitely applicable and are worth taking a look at.

His nav is too try-hard for my taste. The typography is tooooo big and distracting from the content. That and the language he uses isn't always clear what it is he's linking to in the nav. The nav in the footer is much better. Dude's a good poster designer though.

Really simple, beautiful portfolio site. He only has one trade he showcases and that is just fine, allows for simplicity. His site is easy to navigate, has clear definitions of content, and good typography. A good trick he's done for his homepage is shown one strong piece of his that communicates what he's about. He only includes on his site what is necessary. Less is more.

What works for this is that immediately you can see that he is a creative thinker. There is a deliberate effort at communicating this with his background image. His work is strong. But the greyscale design of his site with an abundance of curvy lines makes italic typography (his font face) difficult to read. And there is no navigation system, no organization or hierarchy of information. So if he showed his portfolio to a potential client who wanted a design poster done, they might not get far enough down his portfolio before getting bored. One-page portfolios are cool but he needs nav-links and an organization of content.