3 likes: Personality from the get-go, you get a sense of who he is right away The background coordinates well with the project images, without overwhelming them or looking too matchy When you click to see a specific project, the project images hover over the background, and there are arrows to scroll through the project 3 dislikes: The project images can scroll all the projects, so its a little confusing which project you are on, especially if you "mis-click" like I am prone to doing There is a lot of text, all of which has "personality", which gets a little overkill The contact info is limited to email, with a lot "No's" as to types of contact (is he a rock star? why so cagey?)

3 likes: the name of the project/client comes up when you hover over the image on the to page there is an instruction to click for more sample images, and when you click, it takes you to a selction of larger images that are easy to navigate I appreciate the bit of color in their top bar with the logo & name -keep it from being too sterile and boring 3 dislikes: their contact info is a bit "hidden" at the bottom (although I like that its on every page) the images load a touch slowly because of the fade in & out Their text portions lack images or visual interest

3 likes: All the projects have an image on the top page, so you can see everything at once and also select projects easily High contrast background to images looks good Navigation highlights where you are 3 dislikes: the different types of projects aren't immediately clear the font is very small the images on the top page look similar, so the breadth of services they offer isn't clear

3 things I like: simple background gives the images "pop" scrolling through project photos is easy text is well-written and to the point 3 things I dislike: the variety of projects is not apparent navigation is not consistent from different parts of the site if you don't move the cursor to the image, you don't know that there are more images

Likes: Consistent Background Easy Navigation Descriptions are personal and include customer feedback Dislikes: Under "Retouching & Photoshop" the before & after isn't immediately apparent. I thought the before was the after, and wasn't impressed with their retouching skills! Bottom navigation has featured projects, but I couldn't tell that right away The "services" tab lists services without example images, separately from the "retouching & photoshop" service WITH images, which gave me the impression that their only service was photoshop & retouching.

Question: How do I choose an online portfolio layout? What do different layouts express about the designer? This website shows a number of Wordpress themes, and outlines the type of design work they are made for and the kind of feeling they present. Even if you didn't want to use Wordpress, I thought it would be useful to have examples of portfolios with different intentions. There are key words in the layout descriptions, like "elegant" or "artsy" that might tie in with the reading, which doesn't really say what these might look like. A few characteristics stood out to me. "Elegant" portfolio theme tended to have a simple, clean layout with understated backgrounds in neutral colors. The work showed well, but was often uninteresting because there was little wow factor. "Artsy" portfolio themes tended to be more colorful or include a decorative graphic elements, but the work was sometimes overwhelmed by the backgrounds. Work-focused themes tended to have dark backgrounds with a dimensionality to them, which makes the work almost "hung" in space. Text seemed a little awkward in these theme however, since they also "hung" above the background (perhaps if the image and text were in the same window above the background?). Photography had a layout reminding me of a magazine article, exciting and narrative, but more confusing if the information is complex. Some general comments while looking at sites: Some of the architectural portfolios tended toward neutral colors and crisp fonts, however, they often left little impression of who the designer IS, and what their approach is. Some of the graphic design portfolios were highly graphic and visually bold, but were a little "loud" and in the interest of being trendy or current, again left me wondering who the designer IS.