Designing a website

Just a quick note, your portfolio doesn't work in IE.

I agree with Derek. There's no personality in your portfolio.

just to note: there's nothing wrong with simplicity, it's just hard to do well without applying your own personal quirks to it.

after you've been designing for a while - you're past the whole 'let's try each kind of style (grunge, tech, web2, "corporate", whatever style)' phase, you'll notice there are certain things you do similarly throughout each style (type arrangement, form/layout, etc). those are the quirks that give your design that personality edge.

unfortunately you can only develop that with time.

But, once you do get that bit of personality in your designs, don't let it rule them. It's easy to fall into a rut of reuse.

I think the best way is to look at other peoples work for inspiration, not saying to find a design you like and try to make a copy of it, take bits and pieces from sites and put your own spice on it and experiment.

Originally Posted by Blue Ire But, once you do get that bit of personality in your designs, don't let it rule them. It's easy to fall into a rut of reuse.

good point. i've fallen victim to this already. now, there are things that i love, which i hated a couple years ago, and vice versa.

the best advice i have for that is trying to make up personal/mini-objectives when you have the creative freedom to.

for instance, with my latest web site design, i felt i was falling into a rut with shadows/form & layout so, because i had the creative room to, i set out to design the web site like a digital flyer - like it was something i would print in the end (so flat, solid colours, crisp edges etc).

sometimes that is determined by the project specs, but it's a fun way to stay fresh when you get the chance.