UPDATED Flash Portfolio Site

I stayed up till 4 a.m. updating my flash portfolio site with recent work, and it's finally done and up. Nothing feels more rewarding than a debugged, working flash site. Check it out.

Kream of the Krop

I haven't been living up to my dailyness, but I promise to make it up with more letters to college. As for all you creatives out there, here's a great online portfolio hosting site and job database--Krop.

I created mine today:

I like the simple layout, apple-esque design and drop-down feature. The only downside is the FREE version only allows you to upload 10 images... bummer right? It costs $9.99 to upgrade to pro. Sites got to make money some how. 10 images will have to do until I get my portfolio site together.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Stripes or No Stripes?

After many rounds of concepting, I finally settled on a redesign for the ELIE TAHARI site; however, I'm not sure what background works best: Stripes or No Stripes?
Click the image to enlarge. Before I turn it in Thursday, I would love any feedback or comments.

YAY for finishing school... 2 days and counting.

ELIE TAHARI site redesign - Round 2

So I finally got around concepting a second homepage for my ELIE TAHARI site redesign project. My two concepts are inspired by two moods, which I had made mood boards for:

Mood Board 1: City Social
I surveyed some friends and this was their least favorite mood out of the two; however, I think the mock-up looks pretty modern, feminine and metropolitan.

'City Social' Homepage Mock-Up
Mood board 2: Bond Girl
I love the high contrast and pop of color. The mock-up is pretty consistent with the current clean style of retail websites.

'Bond Girl' Homepage Mock Up
Which one do you think is better? I need to choose one to pursue and write up a style guide. I would love feedback and appreciate any comments.

HOMEWORK POST: Personal Site Web Promotions

WARNING: This post is a bit different because I'm doing it as homework for my Web Design class. I've missed class two consecutive weeks because of the PSFK Conference and Frozen Four, which you all know are two very important milestones in my life, and I need to get a good grade! So, no funny business in this post.

Assignment: Find two personal portfolio sites that have great examples of "promotions"

SITE 1 | KITSUNE NOIR

Personal website/blog for Bobby Solomon, a design, art and music enthusiast
Reasons why I like his site:

• Great visual hierarchy + organization - The right column begins with a blurb about Bobby and Bobby's website, then leads to his twitter feed and then to a link menu to more content on his site.  Since the links are organized in a solid, grey block, it's easily found on the page.

• Chameleon ads - The Scion ad below the links doesn't look like an ad.  The white background and bright colors is consistent with the overall site's style.  Scion and Giant Robot are also brands relevant to Bobby's interests and audience.  Yay for online display that works.  Oh, and his daily sites section is a great way to increase traffic to those sites.

• Cool Content - Under 'The Desktop Wallpaper Project' and '+KN Mixtapes' are some pretty unique wallpapers and mixes for people to download. 

In conclusion, my realization that L.A. is a hub for cool design and not just a bunch of Spencer Pratt crazies and American Apparel wearing hipsters is growing stronger through Kitsune Noir's design conscious site. 

SITE 2 | TNOP DESIGN

The appeal of this site is its understated simplicity. The only navigation is it's drop down menu at the top:

Rather than promoting work through a traditional rectangle with flashing images, TNOP chooses to list everything in its site in a scroll down menu.  

In each section, TNOP uses one of my favorite new design techniques... HORIZONTAL SCROLLING (I mention this in an earlier post)

In conclusion, this site shows that you don't need witty lines or eye-catching imagery to get someone's attention.  We don't always like to be yelled at.  The drop down menu was so effective it got me clicking on 'shop'.