And NO...It is not one of those with a membership fee...Get your mind out of the gutter...
I just wanted to share something quick with you all because I got a TON of help from you dtoiders when I first started working on this.
Note to self: Don’t work on something when you are sleep deprived and cranky and then put it up for critique on a video game website. Actually, all the responses I got on my first - extremely crappy – design helped me to get to what I have today! So thanks for all the help telling me my first design sucked (even though you all were WAY nicer than that).
I just launched
meaganvanburkleo.com. For right now, it is really only my graphic design portfolio. Later, I will be adding a cosplay and modeling section, and possibly a few other areas. This was my first attempt at designing a fully functional website, so it was a learning experience at its worst. I had a friend program things and there still may be a few kinks. Example: for some reason on the Opera browser, you have to click everything twice to use a link. If you come across any other problems, please let me know!
So my portfolio has my graphic design work, sculpture, drawings and even photography on it. You should be able to check out all the nerdy projects I did while in college. Please let me know what you think! I will be posting a much bigger blog soon about my senior ethics project, which IS video game related…LOL
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*doesn't want to click because of that sentence*
I kid, I kid. Your designs are quite jawesome
But nice!
Oh, wait... scratch the last part of that. :p
And advertising is never bad... it's smart. (but I know you were teasing kwaselow)
And I don't think this is advertising because I am not trying to sell anything, I just want to show off all my hard work from this semester!
Anyway, This is the picture my professor would not let me use...WTF? I don't think its THAT bad...
I like both pics. Good luck with the site.
I find that more 'professional'.
but i do think the pic on the site works better in the context.
the pic above just doesnt seem to really fit.
also, if people need to see extra sassy pictures of you, they can just head over to the cosplay section
well, anyway...
nice site. good clean layout, nice color scheme
better than anything i did i school ;p
(which holy shit, i just looked and its still up
http://www.geocities.com/skinnypuppysite/
things atleast 7 years old, obviously i was in my industrial phase then)
(( oh hey, my other failed barely started before i scrapped it site is still up
http://www.geocities.com/mkeoghportfolio/index2.html))
WOW! you really ARE GOOD!!!!
okay, sorry bout that tangent i went off on...
carry on
So there's that.
I think the pic of you on the left Lara Croft (Tokyo Dress) cosplay would have been great for a head shot if you cropped it to make it symmetrical and remove the cleavage.
Well, I guess your cheek is a little dirty in that pic. But other than that, very pro-fesh.
regardless, I'm digging the design of the website. I could see a bit more use of coding based know how to make it really pop (roll over color change on buttons so people know they are buttons. I didn't realize those stacks of words where project links at first ;P) but web code isn't our Major now is it! I've always wanted to finalize my own portfolio page, but could never commit to something i could implement code wise... maybe with this free time I've found?
*drifts off into a starry gaze*
@Jonathan: She told me to stay away from anything glam like. She wanted it to be silly or fun for some reason. I guess it kinda does look like I am starting to take off my shirt...LOL. I was pulling my strap back up in reality. I like that pic because I was not wearing a shit ton of makeup in it...I guess I thought natural was better.
@Kwaselow: Did you see that I also used screen captures of all my promoted dtoid stories on the site? LOL
@Lark: What photos are you talking about specifically? If they are of me I use random photographers that I met back in my modeling days. If they are of my projects I take them with my dads uber nice camera or con a photographer friend into taking them! Also, I would have LOVED to have more coding with rollovers, and flash animations and....I could go on forever. I think it went well for a first attempt, and now I am trying to learn a little more about programming so I can do my own work!
I have no training in design, have done like two very poor websites, and.. well that's about it. I will only point out critism.. you'll get a lot of praise from these guys. Anyway let's begin:
- On first look the colors of the website is flashy.. it's simple but effective. The problem is that I have to read smaller lettering on a bright background which gets old quick, hurting my eyes.
- Reading the graphical design intro.. I think it may have been a little much. Instead of saying that design defines you, you may mention how you view things not as they are but could be... in artsy terms? I was hoping for a little more light hearted reading.. you remind me of someone who is happy.. which may confuse your future employers should they encounter your site.
- The links provided next to the readings are good.. you've provided consistency which makes navigation more seamless. So I lied about compliments... this was good.. even the coloring of the links are easy on the eyes.
- I read the photography read... GOOD! This seems more upper than the graphic design one. Only issue is the word "capture". It's cut in half and confused me upon reading it.
- I've noticed a couple of other words were also cut in half in some of the other readings... again just something that pops out at me.
- With the links.. the design of them being in different sizes.. I am taking a guess here but show your best work with the bigger links AND the first link. I went to both before any of the other links... employers or other interested parties will most likely do the same but tend to skip the other links to move onto the other parts of the site.
- The about me page is done very, very well. That photo is what I picture your personality to be, which is what you want the prospective employers to see. Some suggestions:
- Your accomplishments via some websites like Dtoid and Japanator are voiced. You could use some quotes, endorsement letters, etc from the Staff members of those websites and have them available for download on your website. I don't know what the employment world is like for graphic designers... but being labeled as a person who is easy to work with AND has talent is far better than a person with talent. The business world tends to be the same in every sector of life... and they prefer both qualities. You've let them know about the talent.. make sure they know the latter.
- Your phone number on the bottom... I would put dashes in the appropriate places.. again easier to obtain is what we want.
- This may be a preference thing but you may want to get a new gmail account. Virtualgirl6654 isn't memorable. Maybe something like DesignedVirtualGirl or something of that nature would be more effective/memorable.
- Under Photography you may want to put a picture in there, even if it doesn't keep the pages consistent.
Overall this is a good website, a great start IMO. You and your friends have done well and good luck to you in your ventures.
I really need to get around to making one.
check my myspace link in my profile,
you'll see more i've gotten more since then ;p
but still nothing finished
im lazy when it comes to getting inked
(piercing is so much easier)
hmmmmm
ever thought of trying your hand at tattoo design?
anywhos
keep up the good work!
((looking back at thsoe sites of mine, damn, its no wonder i never made it in the graphic design world))
I hate it when teachers sling that type of bull. It's not only hypocritical, but it's just bad advice. You can't be yourself while doing what some one else tells you to do. It's got to be one or the other.
And you can tell your professor I said so.
and I would LOVE to play that mario-board-game!
Also, "skanky"? Meagan, I have tons of pictures of you that aren't- er, uh, I mean, I have SEEN tons of pictures of you that aren't skanky. Heh. But seriously. I know I've seen plenty of you that would work perfectly for the "About Me" page.
Seriously, though, the site looks very solid (and professional, to boot). I absolutely love the color scheme, and the stylized photo of you in the site’s theme is really cool. But I agree with Electrobes on a few of his constructive criticisms — for one, both the Photography and Other Mediums pages (side note: shouldn’t it be “other media”?) cut off some words (“cap ture”, “posi tions”, “experi ences”, “inspira tional”, “down loadable”), so you should insert some hyphens if you can.
Also, I’m using Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.11, and I couldn’t figure out why clicking the links wasn’t doing anything — until I realized that they led to popups that my browser was blocking. You might want to include a note about that on the first three pages (those are the ones with links). However, on Electrobes’ note about your email address, I would go in the opposite direction: if you’re not going to go with a “screenname”-type email address, you might as well just get something simple — as in, your name (e.g., “m<dot>vanburkleo<at>gmail<dot>com” or “meagan<dot>vanburkleo<at>gmail<dot>com”). That’s the format for my email address, and I find that it looks more professional than nicknames and such (though, as Electrobes mentioned, it isn’t as memorable).
But again, I really like what you and your coding buddy have come up with. Congrats on the launch of the site, and I look forward to the expansion of its content!
P.S. Also, that pic of you that you posted in the comments is smoking hot, but I agree with your professor — a “come hither” look is the opposite of professional, and I think the current photo on the About Me page is perfect.
Wow well if there are more girls like you at the "Main U" then I really wish I would have gone there instead of in Ohio (I'm from Duluth). Gamer girls who are hot and classy? Well I suppose there are a couple examples of that on this site, but wow, yeah, wow. Great job.
www.meaganvanburkleo.com/1girl2cups/scat.mov?
As for all the other fixes, I am adding them to a document to try to fix up ASAP. Do you guys think the site is okay to put on my resume as is? Should I try to fix it first?
@BFeld13: I wish I really did redesign the Disney Page. I can imagine that would pay quite well. It was just a school project...sad panda...
@VampireChrist: I am working on a tattoo for a friend at the moment, and I designed mine, but other than that I have not really thought about getting into it!
@Jonathan Holmes: Yeah, that is kinda how she was acting. Eventually I just let her pick out the photo. I don't mind it at all, it is still a cute picture...lol
@Sharpless: Yes! It is designed to fit my screen! LOL. Like I said, this was my first attempt at web design, there is a TON of technical stuff that did not even cross my mind. I designed it for my monitor, so it cuts off on smaller screens...OOPS! Also, critique is welcome, no apology needed! Also, I guess "skanky" depends on the viewer...I was kidding though, I know I have some decent headshots in there...LOL
@BrOnXbOmBr21: I had no idea that all the browsers would be so different. Thanks for letting me know!! Thanks for the suggestions!
@DynamicSheep: first, LOL. Second, I have a Jeannie costume!!! Hahaha
Oh yeah, one more suggestion: all of your Project Links pages currently have some images of content (sculptures, drawings, photos themselves, etc.), as well as “Title” and “Description” fields. Personally, I’d do away with the field names — to me, they make it seem as if you put the actual content of the title and description into some sort of software with fields (which is, of course, fine...but I feel like it shouldn’t appear as if you did, you know what I mean)? In case I’m being obtuse, here’s an example:
Current layout:
Title: Color Project
Description: A photographic study of color focusing on attire and location
My suggested layout:
Color Project
A photographic study of color focusing on attire and location
But yeah, the site as it is should be just fine to put on a résumé. Then again, I haven’t graduated from college yet, so what do I know about such things?
I also use Firefox and I had the same pop-up issues he experienced. I dunno if it is because my browser is pretty blunt in telling me that it was blocked, but it was an easy fix for me. Who knows how potentital employers think, but always remember: They are lazy and confusion only makes them less interested.
I would wait till you make that site your "resume". You want it top notch should ANY prospective employers encounter it.
Your teacher is right IMO. I am guessing you meant for that photo to be in about me section? Your teacher knows more about the real world than most of her students. Again I do not know if there was sarcasm in using that picture but you are now a professional. Cute pictures will get you far more respect than a picture that emits sexualness (Is that a word?).
Classy stuff, well done!
i've designed all my stuff, for better or worse
started thinking i need input from other artists ;)
anyhow, wow. it must be nice being a beautiful woman...
look at all this attention! ;p
@Electrobes: Yeah, Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 both have an “Information Bar” that pops up (pun not intended) right below the address bar to let you know that a pop-up has been blocked, but I found it overly intrusive, so I turned it off in lieu of a small icon (a red X in a window) that shows up in the right side of the browser’s status bar. I just didn’t notice the icon at first. Also, I believe the word you were looking for was...
sex·u·al·i·ty n. the quality or state of being sexual
—courtesy of Merriam-Webster OnLine
@RivaOni: Um, try right-clicking anywhere on the site. It’s already in Flash. But I see what you’re saying — the pages did take a little longer than expected to load for me, and I’m on a Verizon FiOS (fiber optic) broadband; SpeedTest.net says my download speed is over 10 Mbps (from a server in NYC, anyway).
Well...I thought I was done, Meagan, but I have two more suggestions for the site. Since it uses Flash, I would recommend that you have a note on the front page of the site that mentions that to users. Also, going off of Sharpless’ comment about how the site displays, there should probably be a note about that as well. You could incorporate both of the things in a standard statement at the bottom of the intro page, like this: This site requires Adobe® Flash® Player and is best viewed at a resolution of 1280×1024 (or whatever resolution you designed it for). Then, you could use Adobe’s nifty “Get Flash Player” button to direct visitors to the download page:
I mean, obviously, almost every computer out there has Flash on it, but it can’t hurt to have the note there, just in case... Also, I would suggest doing the intro page in HTML as opposed to Flash, just so people can at least view that even if they haven’t yet installed the Flash Player. There’s also an alternative, but it might require some more advanced coding (that’s just a guess on my part; I know nothing about programming in Flash): you could leave the intro page in Flash, but have it detect whether a visitor’s browser has the Flash Player installed. If the visitor doesn’t have Flash, he/she obviously won’t be able to see the page, so then you could have the intro page redirect the user to a “no Flash” page (in HTML, of course), where you would provide links to Adobe’s download page (again, use the pretty button!) And I like to use examples to illustrate my often confusing points, so here’s another one:
Muse’s website is located at http://www.muse.mu, but that page serves simply as a “Flash detect” — if the site detects that the visitor does indeed have the Flash Player installed, he/she is redirected to the main website at http://www.muse.mu/index.php. However, if the visitor doesn’t have the Flash Player installed, he/she is redirected by the detect page to the “no Flash” page at http://www.muse.mu/noflash.html. See what I mean?
Hopefully, you understood all of that — if it looks like I’m bashing the site, I’m not; I think it looks great, but as Electrobes mentioned, potential employers can be very finicky, and the slightest mistakes can turn them off to you, regardless of your merits. Anything I’ve mentioned should be taken as constructive criticism: I just want to help you succeed. If you have any questions or whatnot, feel free to drop me a line at samit <dot> sarkar <at> gmail <dot> com (see what I meant about the name-as-email-address thing?)
@BrOnXbOmBr21: I am not sure how much of it is done in flash. For the most part the developer took images I made in photoshop and cut them up, then programed them with html. I will need to chat with my web guy. WOW, this is much more complicated that I thought it would be. I am good at the design stuff, not the programing stuff...lol...I need to fix that...
@VampireChrist: My tattoo is on my back and I really only have one picture of it, otherwise you never see it. There is NO way I am posting the picture on the site, but you can see it in my flickr account..
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/1260693778_7c070d0413.jpg