10

Thanks for critiquing my old site a month ago! What do you think of my new one?

over 4 years ago from , Director of UI / UX at Brandzooka

About a month ago I posted my old portfolio site on DN and got a ton of great feedback. Now I'm back with my new site and hoping to get some more good, honest critiques.

After reading through all of DN's feedback I rebuilt my site from the ground up in Webflow.

Here's the new site! https://www.garrettcampagna.com/

What does everyone think? Are there things that stand out that you would change / alter?

Thanks everyone!

21 comments

  • Alex R, over 4 years ago

    What do you think about increasing the transitions’ speed in the mobile menu launch?

    1 point
    • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

      Hey there! I was thinking of doing that so your suggestion pushed me over the edge. I sped it up enough that it feels significantly faster but you can still see the transition animation. Let me know what you think of it now!

      1 point
  • Prajwal Rao, over 4 years ago

    Great looking design Garrett. The one thing I would suggest is to not have the gifs autoplay. Because they're so close together (my work), they're a bit distracting. Maybe a static image on load, and then play on hover might work better. Just a thought.

    Also, there's a broken link at "Director of UI/UX at Brandzooka during work hours". Brandzooka leads to nowhere.

    1 point
    • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

      Hey Prajwal, Thanks for pointing out that broken link! I fixed that right away. As for the auto-playing gifs, I'd have to rework how it's built since there's no good way of delaying a gif from playing, that I'm aware of. But maybe I could make them videos! I'll look into it!

      0 points
      • Madison Sadler, over 4 years ago

        Personally, i love the autoplay gifs, for me it brought life and movement to the page. I am also curious how you framed those gifs with the blue and pink frames, was that just through PS? Overall great look and feel, unique and clean design!

        1 point
        • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

          Thans Madison! That's exactly why I wanted to add the gifs so I'm glad you felt the same way! For the frames, each one is a sketch file with a clipping mask that has a black outline and drop-shadow the same color as the background. And the color is a lightened version of the main project color. I hope that helps!

          0 points
    • Adam Fisher-CoxAdam Fisher-Cox, over 4 years ago

      Seconding this point on the GIFs, also because it means loading megabytes worth of images.

      0 points
      • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

        Hey Adam, that's a good point. I updated it this morning so that the gifs don't load on mobile and there is a lightweight static image instead. That way, I wont be forcing users to eat up megabytes on their data plans.

        1 point
    • Michael RurkaMichael Rurka, over 4 years ago

      I enjoyed the auto-gifs :)

      0 points
  • Brandon ZellBrandon Zell, over 4 years ago

    Your new portfolio is a huge improvement. The layout, animations, colors, typography, footer: All greatly improved.

    btw - Little typo in homepage hero text: "Japanese in located in"

    1 point
  • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

    For reference, here is the thread of feedback I got last time: https://www.designernews.co/stories/102025-im-redesigning-my-portfolio-can-you-critique-my-old-one

    And here is a backup of my old site: http://www.designwhatisgood.com/portfolio2016/

    1 point
  • Joseph BarrientosJoseph Barrientos, over 4 years ago

    I'd prefer a bit more space between the pages/sections. There is just a lot of content and could use some extra room to breathe. Otherwise well designed, love the colors and type treatment

    0 points
  • Thomas Michael SemmlerThomas Michael Semmler, over 4 years ago

    I think it's very intelligent to remove references to your spirituality from the content. I am a member of the queer community and people who use their faith as a weapon and social status symbol immediately register as predators for many in our community. Granted this is very different in the US where it's normal to use individual spirituality as trait to publicly sort themselves into a specific social circle, but I still cannot get over it. So I do think it is intelligent that you toned that specific aspect down, because otherwise it might have wrongfully antagonised you.

    You increased the font-size, which was something that I critiqued on your previous version.

    I personally prefer a creative professionals experience to be listed exactly as you do it. I think it allows potential clients, employers or creative/business partners to get a very good look at your experience and your hard skills, which is very rare nowadays, where people tend to blow up their skills and experience out of proportion. You have experience and you are showing it off, like you should!

    I think overall this is a big improvement to your previous version. But I do wonder if you invested time and creativity into your own personal branding - as far as I can see, its elements are that orange tone and the "Metropolis" font. It doesn't need to more that that, but I feel like you held back in a way. Maybe there is more to explore there?

    0 points
    • Garrett Campagna, over 4 years ago

      Hi Thomas! Thanks for all the insight. I'm bummed to hear that's how spirituality can be perceived but I totally get it. There have been a lot of negative connotations / hatred stemming from what people have called Christianity over the years and while I don't identify at all with that (and believe it not to be real christianity in the first place), I definitely don't want to possibly be associated with that by people looking at my design work.

      As for the personal branding, I can see where you're coming from there. Many years ago a former design mentor gave me and some of my peers the advice to not create a personal brand and to just let the work speak for itself. His basic idea was that designers should be presented as people, not brands. Maybe outdated advice at this point, but I still think that way.

      0 points
      • Thomas Michael SemmlerThomas Michael Semmler, over 4 years ago

        Many years ago a former design mentor gave me and some of my peers the advice to not create a personal brand and to just let the work speak for itself

        I think that is one possible decision when it comes to the way you are selling your experience / work in a professional setting. I personally think that this is still valid and good advice - it all depends on how you personally decide. I also don't "brand" my professional identity, for exactly the same reason as you, I wanna let my experience speak for itself.

        0 points
  • Daniel PapeDaniel Pape, over 4 years ago

    This page looks so clean and simple but I can see how much work went into it. Congratulations!

    0 points