Portfolio check please, advice needed.

[iblokh]

Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to look. Here's the site:

http://iblokh.110mb.com/

This is my first real experience with Flash, so it's taken quite a while to figure things out as I go along. The end result is underwhelming compared to what I was going for, but as things stand, I can't spend anymore time on this - in fact, I need to wrap things up over the weekend.

Unfortunately I don't have time to fix much, at least for now. So, I'm looking for feedback on:

1) Glaring mistakes/problems - things you see as a "must fix"
and
2) Easy to fix details - things you think could be easily changed to improve the site

Here are the problems I'm aware of:

1) Liquid design. I know the standard now is to make a stage that does not scale and add listeners to resize/move individual components. I tried implementing it, but never got it to work. It's the first thing people have suggested changing, but it'll have to wait.

2) Background. Right now it's just a place holder - I want to add something more interesting/relevant, just not sure what yet. Any ideas? I'd like to add one or two elements that interact with the position of the mouse; maybe plants that bend or a sun/moon that moves, not sure yet.

3) Photo quality. Right now a lot of photos are pixelated because the ones I'm loading are too small - I'll fix that.

4) Jagged/aliased lines. I have no idea why this is happening, but most of the lines appear extremely aliased, even though they are simple vectors I drew in Flash. Any ideas?

5) Arrows in gallery. The scroll arrows in the photo gallery look bad and don't work correctly - I'm fixing them next.

Honestly, the only part of the site I really like was the initial idea of using rolling/unrolling spirals - everything else feels tacked on to me - but for now I have to move on and leave at least something semi-functional. Thanks for looking!

[indiochano]

The concept behind this site is awesome... the buttons system is really wonderful and intuitive.

What's lacking though is a general sense of good graphic design. Typographically speaking, it's not that aesthetically pleasing. The intro also seems a bit over the top (the spinning twirl). Also, colors seem a bit too bland and dull.

I don't wanna sound harsh, but i'm criticizing you only for your benefit as i'm trying to help you with your site :)

[iblokh]

The concept behind this site is awesome... the buttons system is really wonderful and intuitive.

What's lacking though is a general sense of good graphic design. Typographically speaking, it's not that aesthetically pleasing. The intro also seems a bit over the top (the spinning twirl). Also, colors seem a bit too bland and dull.

I don't wanna sound harsh, but i'm criticizing you only for your benefit as i'm trying to help you with your site :)

Hey, no problem - I definitely need the help. With no experience in design, I'm not surprised it falls flat after the concept phase.

I wanted to go with a monochrome design, but I think you're right - it feels flat and dull. Besides adding some elements to the background, which I still need to do - any concrete suggestions on what could be changed to give it a bit more life? I don't have time for major redesign, but adding color in some places wouldn't be hard.

[Freki]

Loved the site! The spiral theme is great, but the intro spiral didn't do anything for me. The spiral buttons? Loved them! I liked the color scheme - why does it remind me of Tim Burton? Dunno, but it works. ;D

The gallery arrows worked fine for me, and the jagged lines - dunno, I didn't see what you meant. Most download buttons worked for me - but the resume ones weren't clickable on my end. The only 'tacked on' feeling I had was in the movieclip that turns around to present the info - and I don't know how you'd change it. I just know it did have a very slight 'tacked on' feeling.

Oh, I didn't really like the site opening with an About Me page - I kinda like a site that has a welcome page that tells me what the site is there for? That's just my personal preference. But great site, loved it! :)

[iblokh]

Loved the site! The spiral theme is great, but the intro spiral didn't do anything for me. The spiral buttons? Loved them! I liked the color scheme - why does it remind me of Tim Burton? Dunno, but it works. ;D

The gallery arrows worked fine for me, and the jagged lines - dunno, I didn't see what you meant. Most download buttons worked for me - but the resume ones weren't clickable on my end. The only 'tacked on' feeling I had was in the movieclip that turns around to present the info - and I don't know how you'd change it. I just know it did have a very slight 'tacked on' feeling.

Oh, I didn't really like the site opening with an About Me page - I kinda like a site that has a welcome page that tells me what the site is there for? That's just my personal preference. But great site, loved it! :)

Thanks! Yeah, I think I'll drop the intro spiral - it's a bit much. Oh and that's awesome - Tim Burton was exactly where I got the original spiral idea. Unfortunately I can't draw at all, so the more elaborate Burtonesque design got scrapped.

I thought about putting the "about me" on yet another spiral/button - but since this is a portfolio site, I figured the contact info and resume should be the easiest to get to.

Anyway, thanks a ton for the feedback.