all done, final critique...

[jibble]

ok...im pretty much done. there are a few more things im going to do. I'm going put in a better intro, maybe. That will be done in After Effects, should be able to get that done tonight, then the 3D section will be going up sometime later this week or early next as well as the rest of the motion section. It's a portfolio site i'm sending off to potential employers...so i guess my main question is do you think it'll land me a solid job? Internship actually...

Well?

www.mww-media.com

[Flash Gordon]

no complaints here. It is what it is. ( but I do find the text a little bulky at times).

Good job!

[cghughes]

You're a graphic design student, so I'm going to be picky since I know you can take it, and I know you'll know exactly what I'm talking about :-) Pretend it's an in-class review and take it with a grain of salt.

First the good. I love your typographic self-portrait. Sharp and clean. Your oxymoron typographic piece is also good. The navigation of this site is very straight-forward. I know exactly where I want to go, and I know exactly how I'm going to get there. Simple is beautiful. Good work!

Now some suggestions that will help you nail that studly design-job you're seeking:

It appears as if some of your titling text has a blur on it. It's distracting from the sharp clean-ness of the rest of the site and your typography. It distorts the typeface just enough that I can't tell if the typeface is supposed to be rounded or straight-edged sans serif. That is quite different from the sharpness of examples like your "oxymoron" and "self-portrait." Keep the unity and go with your sharp&clean aesthetic unless you really had a purposeful design-minded reason for the blur that I'm not aware of.

Your fat title text "print" "profile" "art" etc. that sits above the popup window has it's descenders cut off. Descenders are our friends, but unfortunately it might create an awkward space below the rest of the non-descending characters if you move the whole chunk of text up. Fortunately for you, you can fix this by changing it to uppercase. I know, I know, lower case is chic, but making it uppercase will get rid of those descenders and allow the text to sit more comfortably on top of that window. It will also match the same category text you have below the frame that is already in all-caps...creating more unity in your type. Also, pull the smaller text out from under that shadow underneath the fame. It gets lost and doesn't stand out with contrast the way the rest of your elements do.

The navigation is easy. My computer illiterate mom could probably navigate this. That's good. The problem is that it takes a little too long to get there. I know exactly where I want to go, but instead I have to wait nearly 3 seconds for the animation to complete. The first time around, this isn't too bad. Animations can be good, but giving me the ability to get where I want to go WHEN I want to go is even better. Your future employer will appreciate not having to sit through that same animation every time he/she wants to look at a different example...especially when they have to sort through 6 other applicants! Little things like that will make them impatient...then it's over. Give them what they want WHEN they want. Think of a way to allow the user to navigate straight from one example to the next, instead of forcing them to close the popup, wait, scroll over, click, and wait again. Every time you can eliminate a click from the user, you've held their focus just a little longer.

Your resume pdf (which isn't part of your flash, but I figured I'd make some suggestions anyway) needs some contrast and emphasis work. Particularly with your type up top. I may be wrong here, but try giving your name and your phone number just a tiny nudge of breathing space above the grey bar. The connection between that text and the bar feels awkward. Also, adjust your kerning of the "a" in your name. The curve of that "a" needs to be tucked in just a little closer to the "M." Be careful any time you have a curved letterform because it creates the illusion of more space than there really is. Also, the "W" forms a stronger bond with the "t" before it than it does with the "e" after it, even though it should be stronger with the "e." "e"s are always tricky kerners. Pull him closer under the awning of the W a little bit. Not too much, a little kerning goes a long way, and if your future employer is a typographic nerd, they will notice right away and appreciate it. In fact, they often look straight for the "o" "a" and "e" because those are usually a good sign of how good of a typographer the designer is. Don't worry about kerning those for body text, that would be ridiculous. But anytime you have a title that is getting emphasis, pay special attention to the kerning.

Sorry, I know that seems picky, but in a portfolio competition of equally talented designers, typography will make-or-break you.

One more thing with your resume. Did you open it up on a different computer that doesn't have all of your fonts? You might be surprised to find that not everybody has the font "URWGroteskT LightExtrWide"...did you use that for your body copy? Wherever it is, convert that text to outlines so that everyone can view your resume the way you intended, not with some font substitute that their computer happens to throw in to replace the lost font.

Dude, I wish you the best of luck. Sorry for making this into a book. Just wanted to help you nail a great job and impress any future employer. I enjoy your typography, keep working on that and push yourself into further conceptual (and not just illustrative) grounds!

[jibble]

awsome crit dude!

As a designer i have no feelings lol. We are kind of a "tell me how it is and dont suger coat it" type of people. Anyway, i questioned everything that you said myself, except for the kerning, good eye on that one. When i was making this, there was a kind of special intent of creating it with LOTS of motion, being that is my emphasis; animation and motion graphics. I will address the descender issue today and see what i come up with...In my perfect graphic design world, there would be no upper case lol. The reasoning behind cutting the descenders, most people don't realize we do EVERYTHING for a reason, was to elude that sense of depth and to "preview" the idea that the word will bounce and fall behind. Also, i see your point with the blurs. It was mentioned earlier by another person. I will also address this and see what i come up with. That was a decision i made just to beef up the visuals a bit since there is really very little imagery on this site except for the work, which was very much intentional as a portfolio...


The pdf for the resume has the font embedded as far as i am aware of. There shouldn't be any issues with that. I am pretty sure that pdf's embed fonts so that it doesn't matter if you have the font or not. i could be wrong but am praying that im not as i sent a LOT of these babys out.

[cghughes]

Good, I'm glad you had a reason for everything. I was hoping so. I love hearing that! Oops, I made a mistake about that font. You are right, it is imbedded. I just saw the warning alert that Illustrator gave me when I opened up your pdf saying it was missing the font. It still displays properly. Man, that Grotesk Extra Light looks great! I think it's the best choice out of that entire font family!

Good luck!