Website: Fixing the layout

It was clear to me that I was not pleased with the design of my website. Therefore, after some research, I decided to change the home page and some elements in my other pages.

This was the initial layout I had. After the research, I realised that I like more simple and minimalistic elements with more toned down and neutral colours. I wanted the image displayed to be of grey tones so that it can contrast with some orange elements. I think that I added too much orange which made it very busy.

Even though Martina said that she found it aesthetically pleasing, I thought that it was too busy and had many colours.

Additionally, my tutor pointed out that once you hover over the portfolio button, the drop drown menu covered up part of the title on the homepage. Therefore, I had to change that location too.

This was one element of my research. I really liked how he used colour and that it was half abstract and half realistic. I though that this would be a great idea for my product design website in order to show the sketching side vs the final side. 

I used an app called procreate and inserted one of my renders from the previous term. 

I used the 'blotchy calligraphy' brush to make it look artistic in order to resemble a sketch. I did not want the lines to be perfect. I wanted it to be messy just like a sketch is to show the contrast between a sketch and the final outcome, and how one designer should always trust the process.

I used the spray paint eraser to remove half of the image and make it fade away. The grey background contrasts nicely with the white on the sketch and I am really happy with how it turned out.

First thing I did was to click on 'change picture' and insert the one I created. Then, I removed the orange rectangle around the product design heading.  I also edited the text from 'product design portfolio' to 'product design' and added my name too by clicking on 'edit text'. Martina correctly pointed out that my name was not displayed properly, therefore, I made sure to correct it.

I also removed the orange background and the weird striped pattern included. 

My aim was to simplify everything and make it more minimalistic.

For the heading, I changed the colour to black to make it fit the colours and the colour of the text to orange. 

As Martina mentioned in her feedback, I did not have any subtitles in the artworks included in my about me page. Therefore, I edited that to make sure that I include a year and a title.

This was the last thing that I changed in the about me page for now. Since I really liked the image I previously had as my homepage, I decided to insert it into the about me page and paste it into the blank canvas. 

The canvas is filled with my creative projects now.

For my contact me page, I did not change much. I changed the colour of the two vertical strips from orange to grey. 

I also edited the copyright logo. I clicked on 'edit text' and changed the date from 2020 to 2021. I made sure that the copyright logo is changed everywhere.

Another valid point raised by Martina was that I did not have clear social media icons. I clicked on 'add', then 'socials' and then I chose my two icons. I inserted the corresponding links into each one and added them onto my home page. I used a vertical orientation as I felt like it was more suitable and visually pleasing. 

I decided to also add some thumbnail sketches at the right side. This sketches were created for my design boards but I thought that they looked good with the website too.

Concluding:  I really like my homepage now. I am very pleased with it and I think that it works great with my theme. I have my social media displayed clearly with my progression route stated as well. 

I think that it looks exactly how I envisioned it with a more minimalistic and simple finish. 

I have only added the small updates in this blog. In the next blogs, I will definitely add the portfolio page and changing the layout. 

The portfolio needs a lot of work which is why I am planning on dedicating one separate blog post for it.

I am glad I completed this as I like the layout much better now and I feel like it looks a lot more unique and professional without being overwhelmed with colours.

This is my website link: https://eldemetriadou.wixsite.com/portfolio