The 30 month evolution of my online graphic design portfolio
I’ve been running this blog for about 12 months now, but that’s not to say I didn’t have an online presence beforehand.
I thought you might like to join me on a journey through my past website designs, where I showcase what used to act as my online graphic design portfolio. Be warned, however, as it’s a bumpy ride through the wonders of MS Frontpage, using tables where none are necessary, and the tale of one man marketing himself as a large corporation.
Phase 1: April 2005 – May 2006
Phase 1 involved rolling out my brand new company name, New Dawn Graphics. This was an exciting time for me, my first foray into the world of self-employment, and for some reason I had the idea that branding myself as a company would be better than using my personal name. Looking back, the logo was a very poor choice, and actually included a photograph of the sun rising within the mark (note to self, never use photographs in logos).
New Dawn Graphics was chosen due to my fondness of the dawn, and how right before becoming self-employed, I was travelling the world, taking in many amazing sun-rises in the early hours. I thought my photography from this time would help to add a personal feel to my graphic design portfolio.
This was my first ever website design, and I unwittingly used Microsoft’s Frontpage for the task, teaching myself from scratch. Frontpage is, in my opinion, a poor piece of web design software, and is a program I’ll not be touching again. It adds some extra, un-needed coding to your site design, but don’t take my word for it – fellow blogger, mercutiom, adds four question marks when posing this: Why are you still using Frontpage????
Every page of my first design included the token CMYK band at the foot, a must for every designer, so I’m expecting to see a lot of you return to your sites and implement a similar style. On the right of the website header, I included the half-naked photo used to perfection by Vivien, of Inspiration Bit, in her article, The Naked Truth About David Airey.
Now there’s a year of well spent brand opportunities.
Even though I look back and cringe, at the time I was quite proud of my efforts at launching a website. Think of what it took to have my site up and running:
- choosing a business name
- creating a logo
- choosing a web host (I got completely ripped-off)
- choosing the software to design the site
- learning to code
- designing the layout
- sourcing images
- copywriting
It was a very new experience, and following which, I was obviously sure I could conquer the world.
Phase 2: May 2006 – September 2006
Phase 2 revolved around the need to present myself in a more professional manner. My logo underwent a radical redesign, and brought the very much under-used ‘reflection’ into the mix. I was still happy to call myself New Dawn Graphics, but reluctantly ditched my vast network of design employees, favouring to operate as a sole proprietor.
Even though the new website design was much smaller in size, I felt it was a step up for me, and was overjoyed at my ability to create a simple navigation ‘mouse-over’ effect.
After a few months of running with the new design, I realised I may have made a mistake by trading as New Dawn Graphics. I began to dislike my company name, and started thinking of my personal brand. How were people perceiving me? Was anyone actually visiting my website?
I wanted to attract more people to my online portfolio, and new that I needed to add content to my site. The current layout, combined with my minimal knowledge of website design, pushed me in the direction of blogs, and I set about creating my own.
Phase 3: September 2006 – October 2006
Phase 3 in the evolution of my graphic design portfolio made use of WordPress.com to draw attention my way, and I touch upon my first ever attempt at blogging in my previous article, top 7 blog mistakes to avoid.
On the face of it, phase 3 failed miserably, lasting less than a month, but it was a very important step towards Phase 4.
Phase 4: October 2006 – June 2007
My new brand, my new logo, and no more New Dawn Graphics. From here, I began marketing myself as myself. It was, after all, just me. No employees, no special business premises… “Just David Airey.”
The logo design process took quite some time, involving many sketches, but I’m relatively pleased with what I have.
Discovering WordPress, with its thousands of free themes, was like opening the Christmas present I really wanted. Now, I was able to choose a pre-made design that suited my preferences, yet without the need to delve into the coding that I wasn’t too familiar with.
Initially, I began experimenting with the default WordPress theme, but after trying a number of others, and toying with the WordPress theme generator, I soon converted to Brian Gardner’s Vertigo theme, which I used, and customised, for around six months. By customising Brian’s pre-made theme, I became more and more familiar with the intricacies of the WordPress code, and thought to myself how important it was to launch my own custom design, rather than using that of a fellow designer.
Phase 5: June 2007 – October 2007
So here we are today.
To launch my first custom theme, I made use of Small Potato’s excellent lessons for custom WordPress theme creation. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
Some people have told me that I’m marketing myself the wrong way, that I should showcase myself online with a more standard graphic design portfolio, and that what I have is catering more to social marketers than the average joe who’s looking for a graphic designer.
Do I really want to work with the average Joe?
It all depends on who you want to target as a potential client. I’ve dealt with a number of clients who hired me after reading some of my blog articles, and it was a joy to work with them. I also have a number of fellow ‘bloggers’ who I’ll be working with as soon as I complete some current design projects.
Also, and perhaps more importantly, my online portfolio wouldn’t be anywhere near as visible if it weren’t for the content published through my blog. More and more people are arriving through specific blog posts, and not my homepage. This simply wouldn’t be happening if I didn’t publish regular updates.
All in all, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made over the past 30 months. At the beginning, I had no idea how to develop a website, and today, here’s where I am:
- I’ve attracted more than 2,000 subscribers to my blog, who read each article I publish
- Yesterday I had over 2,500 visits to my website, and that’s an average figure of late
- I’ve developed an excellent network of professionals who I can bounce ideas off
- The standard of my design portfolio has increased immensely (you didn’t look at my phase 1 portfolio, did you?)
It’s been a bumpy ride, but I’m not getting off anytime soon.
Have your say
What do you think of the direction I’ve taken? What do you suggest will improve my current phase? Would you have ditched a generic company name in favour of your personal identity?
As always, I value your opinion, and it’d be great to know what your thoughts are.
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David, you are a profoundly successful Web 2.0 designer. Are you sure your marketing is “the wrong way?”
I think you achieved great results in a very short time, and it takes a visionary mind to understand the power of the Web 2.0, as you did.
To be frank, NewDawd Graphics was really a wrong name and both those designs were the wrong approach. Because they were more or less standards.
I completely understand the need of innovative thinking and I am not surprised that you convince your clients through your articles. You are not only a good designer: you are an excellent writer, a good communicator and this is needed in a perpetually changing business environment.
So, if you ask me, David Airey is the best approach. People hire people.
Really interesting post. I’m always fascinated to see the evolution process of websites and the way the development of your site is so intrinsic to the development of your brand is particularly interesting.
Personally I think a blog is the best possible way of marketing yourself. It showcases much more of the author than a standard portfolio can ever do as it is not just limited to the work they have actually done - you have the opportunity to demonstrate your overall knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject. Plus it gives the you opportunity to explain the thinking behind your ideas.
I think there is no room to complain. I have a friend that also offers Webdesign and his site looks extremely ugly. I especially like this sky header. Looks much nicer than the grey thing. In total its very impressive.
Excellent post, and I don’t think there’s anyone of us who can look back without cringing.
I always find those companies (and bloggers!) who talk about themselves in the third person, use the ‘Royal we’ or pretend to have a 100 employees when it’s obvious that there’s only one person, faintly risible anyway, so you definitely did the right thing.
People like to know who they’re working with and would choose that over being fobbed off to a corporate drone anyday.
Coming from you, that’s a great compliment. I’m sure David Airey is a better approach than New Dawn Graphics. Even looking at the two names, the latter appears dated (but maybe that’s just me).
Stuart,
You’re so right that a blog can give much more info than a standard portfolio. It shows how someone communicates. How they respond to questions. Their personality, and their level of knowledge. I’m always learning, and that is in part thanks to the excellent comments that are left here by people like you.
Peter,
Does your friend who designs websites attract much business? Not great for a web designer to have an ugly website, don’t you think? As for the grey header you see above, that was the standard Vertigo colour when I first downloaded Brian’s theme. I agree that it lacks some colour, and actually think he’s done away with that look now, in favour of some reds or blues. Thanks for your compliment!
Chris,
Glad you enjoyed this one. Yeah, I don’t like writing about myself in the third person, so shouldn’t have expected others to. But then, I never really wrote much at all before I began blogging, so it was a fairly fast progression in terms of my budding writer career.
I’d also prefer to deal with one person than a large corporate. It’s so much easier to build a lasting relationship that way.
You can never have enough work, its just the type of work you choose to do. So if people don’t understand your website, then more than likely you would prefer to work with people who do. For long as the bills are paid at the end of the day.
I see that your recent run in with Google has actually created a lot of hype on other blogs!
Well done with your last 30 months of business development.
Jamie
Very nice read.
I think a large part of your success has been your rather “humble” demeanor which comes across in your posts, even after you’ve acheived your popular status!
Keep up the great work, so newbs like me can keep learning,
dave.
I enjoyed that little journey David. Seeing the progress you’ve made, and the knowledge you’ve gained along the way.
I can’t speak for others, but if I was looking for a qualified graphic designer, there is no way I’d be going for a corporate set up, I’d be contacting the lofty one; the one in the clouds ;)
I love the experiences I’ve had, and all I’ve learnt over the past 10 months.
That was a very impressive evolution you had, David. Really enjoyed reading about it, your look at the past, your helpful for others self-critique. I think you’re going in a right direction, and I see your website going through a few other phases, each one would be showcasing who you are, what you feel and what direction you want to go at that moment..
Thanks for the mention, btw. You’ve achieved a lot in this 30 months, and I’m sure you’ll climb even higher mountains. All the best to you. Just stay true to yourself, your passion, the way you are now.
A great entry, funny to see how you actually kept all your previous designs at hand :P. By the looks of design things truly started kicking off at phase 4, especially with phase 1 to me looking like some sort of cheap holiday resort/medicine spam site you’ve come a far way to say by the least, haha.
It all definitely appears to have become a lot more personal as well, something which probably is very important not only from a bloggers standpoint but also from a business standpoint. There’s just no way of giving the wrong impression of being with an entire team that way.
Now let’s see what the next 30 months will be like :D.
Even though I became quite anxious when Google penalised my website, there have been an influx of backlinks over the past week, all regarding my penalty reversal. So it’s not all that bad really. Thanks for the ‘well done’. ;)
David,
It’s great that you think I come across as humble, because I’m the first to admit when I’m wrong, or if I don’t know something, and a lot of you can certainly help me achieve my goals. I want you all to stick around a while, because I can surely learn what you have to teach.
Armen,
I’m very glad to read that you love what has gone on in your life these past 10 months. I noticed on your blog that you’ll be leaving Australia for your wonderful home country in the near future. Is there any temptation to stay on there?
Vivien,
You’re very welcome for the mention. Thanks for interviewing me! Your comment is definitely interesting, in that you already see my site progressing past what I have now. I do too, but as of yet I’m not sure where.
I’d thought about moving the blog back off the frontpage, but with so many visitors arriving online through individual blog posts I wonder if that’s really necessary. Perhaps just making more use of my portfolio, showing more design projects, and highlighting it’s location would be helpful. Hmmmm.
Slevi,
Thanks for your honesty. ;) I really don’t like my very first website design, but then I wonder what designer does?
I didn’t actually have my previous sites online, but found the files recently and thought it’d be interesting to upload them, and showcase the progression. It’s a nice way for me to keep track of things too, as we can learn a lot from looking at history.
I think it is great that you are able to learn from your evoltution rather than hide it. I tend to hate people seeing what I did “back when”.
Wish I could use my real name- but elizabeth jackson is a dime a dozen around here. That is why online I pretty much go by zabs or mommy zabs. :) Gazelle is symbolic for me.
I like the way you display your online portfolio.
Hi David
It’s an interesting question you ask about whether your blog is the right format for ’selling’ your portfolio. I’m not in the business of buying design anymore, but if I was and I stumbled came across your site I’d be MASSIVELY impressed - but this is based purely on the quality of your writing and the way you speak/write about design.
But to be honest, I’m not sure the ‘Portfolio’ section of your site is ideal. I appreciate the benefit of having you portfolio content within your blog-site is huge in terms of search engine positioning etc, but having the the portfolio content ‘framed’ within the blog furniture is not ideal. It’s a very narrow column and whilst your background detail for each project is very interesting and useful, it is pretty text heavy. If I was looking at your portfolio content I might be comparing it with someone else’s portfolio which is a lot more ‘visual’ and maybe that immediate ‘visual impact’ might just clinch it because that’s what I’m paying you to do.
I dunno, sounds like I’m suggesting a way not to dissimilar to how you used to have two sites side by side. What do you reckon?
It must really be something to be able to look back at the past few years and see how much you’re progressed. Congrats on all the hard work, and well earned rewards!
Going personal with it seems to have worked out very well for you, so I wouldn’t even waste time considering what else could have happened. You’re doing really well, and your the master of your own success now. What more do you need to know? :)
This post makes me wish I’d kept my earliest projects to reflect upon. I’m surprised to my tutorial series has helped you along the way.
hey david,
I am new to your blog and I stumbled upon your site through google, looking up words like “creative inspiration” in the search for whats out there and to take a breather from my 9-5 design job.
Its been two days so far and the information you have provided is indeed a great source of inspiration for upcoming designers like myself. I am in the process of creating my identity and with each of the articles you have written, its thought me to look before I leap in the direction I am headed.
I love the way you have showed your thought-processes and the evolution of your latest identity. Your current identity speaks volumes of your individual style rather than the so called corporate look.
Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing! :)
Only two and half years? Fantastic journey through the timeline. Thanks for sharing (and for the linkback)!
You’ve come a long way in a relatively short time, and what you have now is impressive.
I’m with Aaron on the portfolio page, and I can see the third column disappearing on that page and the portfolio spanning columns 2 and three — perhaps.
Thanks for sharing!
I did a similar thing, which needs updating (thanks for reminding me). However, I’m still a small personal blog where as you’ve become a well known entity and perhaps an authority in the field.
I’ve got to hand it to you that despite MS Frontpage and all the other stuff, your old designs (while in retrospect not great and not effectively promoting your work) are not horrible. They’re still fairly minimal and easy to look at etc.
I don’t think we should really look back and cringe because it’s a learning process, everyone has them, everyone needs them to appreciate how they’ve grown.
I guess it depends on how successful your criticisers are, but I wouldn’t pay them much mind. You’re promoting yourself well here and your blog is an excellent resource for design information. People don’t know what goes in to designing or how to interact with their designers. You’re providing valuable education while attracting customers.
BTW did you use a font for your logo and name in the header or did you come up with the shape and make the letters around that?
I wish I kept a evolution portfolio like that, covering all websites I ever made for myself.
If I remember correct, my first ever site was with a yellow background pattern and the comic sans font, in MS Frontpage and with frames.
I’m not going to elaborate more, I die a little every time I tell people this …
Nice post David.
Interesting to see what adding a blog can do to a portfolio
Great to see this, am embarking on a similar process myself. Have so far thought of a name to go with my “company” but thinking about how keeping it personal attracts some people (according to some comments here). Going by own name would either a) infringe on a large fashion design company or b) be very difficult to spell if I used my full name as it’s hard enough for people to pronounce let alone spell.
I hope my chosen brand name will go well, as its not too corporate sounding. I’ll be sure not to be a “we” but an “I”. There’s no team in i.
Glad you like how I display my portfolio. I know it can be improved, but at least it’s working for me. Elizabeth Jackson is a great name.
Aaron,
It’s very kind of you to say. You’ve got me thinking, as has John, about how I can either run my portfolio alongside, or switch it up a little here. The idea to expand the portfolio column by removing the right sidebar sounds great.
Michael,
Thanks for the input! It’s good to look back and now that I’m on the right track, even if I’m not proud of the previous designs. I’m proud of the journey.
Small Potato,
You shouldn’t be surprised about your tutorial series being of help. It’s very well put together! Thanks buddy.
Sandhya,
You’re very welcome! I appreciate you reading my blog posts.
Michelle,
That’s quite the manly avatar you have there. Linking to you was my pleasure, no problem at all.
John,
Like I mentioned, that’s a good idea to stretch the width, and probably the most straightforward way of making an improvement. Cheers.
Kristarella,
Check out the Danube typeface, and you’ll see how it’s shown in my logo. We shouldn’t cringe, you’re right, but in my case it’s hard not to.
Stefson,
Shame you don’t have that Frontpage site anymore. It might make me feel a little more at ease with my first offering.
Dache, Valentino,
Thanks for commenting. Valentino, there’s no team in ‘i’, for sure. Not much in ‘i’ but ‘i’, though I know what you’re getting at. ;)
Ha! Dave, I am loving the evolution! I actually remember when you were pushing the New Dawn Graphics stuff in the MS group and I have to say the evolution has been quite interesting. I think that is a beautiful facet of design, the fact that you can reinvent and change many times over, creating a new persona for yourself each time.
I would also tend to believe that the blog format has been adopted by a lot of designers lately and you certainly were ahead of the curve. I think it is an attractive medium only because I think designers are very intelligent people who have opinions on how the world should both work and look. It shows that designers are more than just artists, but also people who provide social commentary on things visually. A blog is a wonderful extension of this, so kudos to you and everyone else who has a voice and and vision that are equally great.
I think the direction you have taken is probably the best you could have taken. Since starting up, most of the new businesses I have come across have disappeared in or very shortly after their first year. Opperating in the same industry as yourself I know that this industry is particularly difficult to survive in. When there are 1,001 talentless designers and developers working from their homes and clients generally opting for the cheapest option oblivious to the fact the you pay for what you get, being a designer is a hard way to pay the bills.
As you have mentioned above, your blogging has helped bring new clients to you. Last week I was thinking of asking if you would do a logo for some company, only to find out that their budget was £25. Being from the same industry, I would be more reasonable than your average client who has just found you on Google or though the Yellow Pages; i.e. I would not expect you to do £2,000 worth of work for £200 and keep adding on things to my project expecting you to do them for free. You have also built up a lot of industry recognition, which will probably allow you to price higher.
A suggestion on how you could make your blog better is to add nested comments. I think this build up a better sense of community on your blog. I only ever read comments on your blog if they were posted by someone I know. If you add nested comments people are more likely to ‘bump into eachother’ and come back to your blog to see what that person is saying. If you don’t know what I mean by nested comments, check out the comments here.
I think having a blog in addition to a portfolio is actually pretty smart for a designer (I think you may have mentioned this before on one of your posts). Not only does potential clients get to see your work, but also a bit of your personality through your blog posts. And using yourself/personal name as your own company is definitely better I think. It’s direct and clear to the client who they’re dealing with.
wow…I didn’t know that you evolve that much within 30 months. I think its not always necessary to use a generic company name in favour of your personal identity. It’s all make sense because your personal name already received good recognition and stated as personal brand positioning to your future client also to loyal clients.
Your 30 month retrospective is quite enlightening; thank you for sharing. It is clear that through the course of your redesigns you have become successful in driving traffic to your site and obtaining/keeping readers. How has this success translated to your bottom line? Ultimately you are paying the bills through graphic design, correct? Does your current site get you more clients, or do you spend more time writing and less time with income generating activities? Thanks for your excellent content and personal attention to each commenter!
I just subscribed to your blog, and good move with the big and beautiful RSS icon. Can’t miss that one.
Designers do provide a great commentary, although it’s not so straightforward finding good quality blogs. I have my favourites, and subscribe to quite a few, but it’s rare that I find new ones these days. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, or have been too busy to look at all – probably more likely.
David,
Yep, there’s certainly a never-ending flow of competition, but if you set yourself apart, and focus on what’s best for the customer, there’s more than enough room for the dedicated ones to make a success of it.
Thanks for the nested comments suggestion. I actually tried it out before, very briefly, but didn’t like how it kept pushing the comments further and further to the right. I can understand what you’re saying though, so will give it another shot as soon as I have some time on my hands.
PG,
A blog is an excellent way to show how you communicate, and I’m sure it has helped me attract new business. Thanks for your thoughts.
Kukuh,
I’m still very new to the online world, and know that I have a lot to learn. It’s been a fun process, and I’m sure will continue to be enjoyable in the future.
James,
That’s right, I pay my bills through my design work, and with this phase of my evolution I’m doing better than ever. I do spend more time writing, but it’s my marketing tool, and very little offline marketing is needed for me at present. Word of mouth is where most business comes from, but traffic here is also great.
Thanks for the kind words!
Hi David,
Thanks so much for showing us the progression of your website designs. I am in the early stages of redesigning my website (which first went live in February this year) so it’s encouraging to see your experience and your achievement.
The link to Small Potato’s Wordpress theme tutorial is a fantastic bonus; I intend to use a CMS/blogging format for my new site design, but until now I hadn’t found a satisfactory guide for modifying Wordpress themes (I am comfortable working with CSS and HTML but am new to PHP) so I look forward to going through the tutorial.
I agree with Aaron about the issue of putting a portfolio into a blog column layout; it’s not a way I feel is ideal for presenting work, and that’s one of the issues I’m dealing with at the moment in working out my new site design.
I actually enjoyed working my way through SP’s WordPress theme tutorials, and I’m sure you’ll learn from it.
When do you think you’ll have your new design launched? Looking forward to that.
Wow, I can’t believe you managed this success in just 30months.
This is an outstanding blog that I visit regularly even though I’m not subscribed, I can only dream that my blog might be even half as successful one day :)
Congratulations and don’t listen to the naysayers, there is always someone saying you are doing it wrong, when clearly you are doing it very right.
That’s great that you visit from time to time, and I’m happy to provide some content of interest for you.
Best of luck in progressing your own blog, and if you think I can be of any help just let me know.
Thanks :)
Great job on all your accomplishments!
I think for any designer the most 2 important elements are great work and time.
If you do great work and have time on your side, the business will just keep growing and there would be a point where word of mouth will replace any advertising with better results.
Congrats!!!
Hi David
This is quite refreshing and inspiring to find a designer/design company who is so tranparent in its approach and even showing its ongoing learning and experimentation. Truely inspiring and food for thought and its making question my whole approach and website.
Continued success to you!
Gareth
It’s an aim of mine to be as transparent as possible, and I feel it benefits the relationships I build with clients.
I’m glad I made you question your own approach. Continued success to you too.
Hi David,
I had a few minutes to do some reading this morning, and found this post. Very cool to see your progress. Since I started doing this, I have had about 6 different websites through the years, and I too started off in Frontpage! (”Yikes” is an understatement”).
Your first website attempt is pretty amazing! My first attempt included one big jpeg image as the entire page, and many image maps for the links. I hadn’t quite figured out the html thing.
I think your current logo is excellent, and is a nice personal brand. It is comfortable yet profressional.
Im not sure if this question has been covered somewhere before , but I am wondering if you have ever been tempted to get into web design and development, coding languages etc? (Forgive me if you already do this). I personally couldnt help myself once I got a taste of HTML, and just over a year ago, I learned how to create fully css websites, and even more recently, I have played with asp programming and understanding the basics of queries, databases etc..
Your switch from branding yourself as a company to “just David Airey” is also interesting. I have struggled with this whole issue recently. I am trying to build a company, where we are a full time design/marketing studio, with a great team. Right now, I have two programmers (freelancers and friends) for the more difficult web stuff…but I do all of the design work. Ive struggled with how I want to brand myself/the company and which way I should really go. I would be interested to hear more detail from you on this subject sometime. Perhaps some of your other subscribers would too as I presume a lot of them are in the same position or will be in the future.
Brian Yerkes’s last blog post..Eulda Award Winner : Best of Sweden 2007
Glad you enjoyed viewing my progress, and that you, too, see the error in the FrontPage ways. I guess I took a step backwards from my first site to the second, because those huge images you mention you had in your first attempt, I employ in my second!
Web design has tempted me, and I’ve produced a few sites here and there. Nothing special though, and nothing I feel I want to display in my portfolio. To be honest, branding is where my main passion is, and I enjoy creating logos / corporate stationery more than any other aspect of my job. Because of which, I tend to pass web design projects on to my contacts.
It’s worth a blog post though, the whole “should you specialise or branch out area”.
David - a great insight to the evolution of your website and blog. I personally think you are marketing yourself excellently - the blog says much more about you and your process than your portfolio ever could. I also think it gives the clients an insight in to the work carried out by graphic designers (which I feel is often overlooked).
I also think you made the right move from ‘New Dawn Graphics’ to your personal name. It is a bit different for us as we are a partnership and as such came up with a name to represent this.
And finally, just want to say thanks for giving me the nudge to move our blog to Wordpress. I have always been a bit hesitant to make the switch but being a regular reader of your blog made me think - go for it! We have just launched our new wordpress based blog and would love you to have a look around and let me know what you think - http://www.eightyonedesign.co.uk/blog
Steve
Thanks very much. Your business name is a different scenario, for sure. I knew my business would be me alone for a fair chunk of time.
I’ve taken a look around your WordPress blog, and left a few comments. A couple of suggestions: Are you sure you need to list ‘archives’? I notice in some cases there’s just one article per month. I’d prefer the body text to be a slightly darker shade of grey, improving legibility. Overall though, nicely tied in with your site design.
Hi David,
Thanks for your comments and critique. I see your point about the archives links - I have removed these although I do hope to be posting more than once a month from now on. I have also changed the font and nav colour to a darker shade of gray which is much better.
Thanks again fro taking a look.
Steve
Steve’s last blog post…Graphic design resources
Hi David, I’m just beginning my journey as a graphic designer, and I’m about to embark on a BDes Design for Visual Comms at the Uni of Ulster, Belfast campus. I often look at the work of experienced designers and almost feel intimidated by their superb work! So it’s very encouraging to contrast the work in your ‘phase 1′ portfolio, with that you’re currently doing, seeing your progress from ‘ok/mediochre’ in phase 1 (don’t take that the wrong way!) to ‘great and superbly professional’.
I hope your design course goes well, and prepares you well for a future design career. Thanks for the compliment!