31 comments

  • Karl WeberKarl Weber, almost 7 years ago

    My Friend, Your Website and the contents therein are a vision! Good Freaking work! I'm very very impressed.

    5 points
  • Tom WoodTom Wood, almost 7 years ago

    I echo a comment here; I think it's stellar, only real feedback is to use a photo of yourself somewhere!

    3 points
  • Christina FowlerChristina Fowler, almost 7 years ago

    Looks great! I love your industries section, great idea.

    3 points
  • Ryan CarterRyan Carter, almost 7 years ago

    I really like the design, you did a great job there. Icons are great as well as the animations!

    My only real critique is that there isn't any of your actual client work on the homepage. I fear having people click to a second page to see any work might be hurting your conversion. You don't need everything there, but maybe a "Featured Works" or "Latest Works" with a couple of examples would be good. This way, if you're applying to jobs or submitting bids where you might be competing with dozens of other people, reducing the clicks and time it takes to get to your work can be a big step up.

    2 points
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      You are making a good point. I'll track conversions over the next week anyways and will see how people use the site.

      My previous site was using the exact same structure and almost the same copywriting (the new one is in fact more a visual makeover) and people clicked around just fine without a featured/latest work section on the home page. But I get the point and will keep an eye on it.

      1 point
  • Wes OudshoornWes Oudshoorn, almost 7 years ago

    Looks great, really, good work :) I dig the icons of your work. Principles give me a good idea of what it's like to work with you. Congrats!

    Only comment: Your portfolio page with the heading "Sculpted solutions" seems a bit presumptuous (for lack of a better word) and the background with the connected lines has been done a millions times. Do not really feel it connects with the rest of your website. Also, on that page the "clients"block has a different heading than the "industries" block. I don't really get that.

    2 points
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      Thanks Wes!

      Your portfolio page with the heading "Sculpted solutions" seems a bit presumptuous (for lack of a better word)

      Do you mean the wording of the headline, or something more general? If in general, could you tell me what exactly leaves you with the impression that it's presumptuous?

      and the background with the connected lines has been done a millions times.

      Damn that's right. I ported this over from my old site since it was always a part people liked. It's a simple, maybe overused effect, but still impresses potential clients.

      Also, on that page the "clients"block has a different heading than the "industries" block.

      Good point.

      0 points
      • Wes OudshoornWes Oudshoorn, almost 7 years ago

        Hi Ivo,

        I purely mean the headline. I was following a link to your work page, and then you're starting about sculpted solutions. I just have a feeling that you could use wording there that introduces your work in a clearer way.

        As for the effect: it's kinda cool, but what does it say?

        0 points
  • Louis-André LabadieLouis-André Labadie, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    This is a very well-made site, and it implies a lot of good critical sense. Here are a few observations I can give you from my experience on these things:

    Content

    Think about using less "I" and more "You". When you present a selling point, it isn't about what happens to you, but rather how you affect your client's situation. You should be looking at changing the perspective from "I make XYZ better" to "You get better XYZ with me". You don't want to erase yourself from the statement either.

    Spotted "Fussfree". I believe "Fuss-free" and "fuss free" are more commonly accepted.

    There are some statements that you separate with a comma while you could use better punctuation to hone the rhythm. Example:

    Clean code, fuss­free interfaces and expert execution, design as it should be.

    Could become

    Clean code, fuss-­free interfaces and expert execution: design as it should be.

    Visual

    Your header contrast. I'm pointing it out even though I think you've taken a conscious position on it. White on light grey is probably fine for the large title, but it's right on the "eye pain threshold" for the paragraph. This isn't a major concern (and it's certainly aesthetic), but in terms of controlling your hierarchy, it defers importance to paragraphs further down the page. For example, "Great ideas arent't [...]", in the Work page, becomes the most visually important text element.

    In your Work page, the hover states only appear on the bottom of elements, and some of these elements are pretty tall. This means "invisible" hover states when they extend further than the user has scrolled. Any visual change that would also affect the top of your elements will fix this.

    Functional

    I think there'd be a clear gain to preloading the Contact page. Other pages are content-heavy, but this one might deserve a special treatment so it's not delayed if clicked.

    Hope I helped a bit :) This is kickass work. I really like your attention to detail.

    1 point
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      Great feedback, thanks a lot!

      Regarding the content I'll talk with my copywriter. Since I'm not a native english speaker it's always a bit hard to come up with the right words :)

      In your Work page, the hover states only appear on the bottom of elements, and some of these elements are pretty tall.

      You're right. I haven't noticed that since I'm working on a large screen but on something like a regular 17" that becomes a real issue. Will work on that.

      I think there'd be a clear gain to preloading the Contact page.

      Not sure if the gains are really worth the effort to make this particular page preloading. It would mean adding a good chunk of js to just to save maybe a second of loading time.

      Thanks again, really appreciate it!

      1 point
  • Johan Ronsse, almost 7 years ago

    Looks great man. This is the sort of quality we need at Mono.

    0 points
  • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, almost 7 years ago

    Great stuff - the only thing I would love to see is more explanation on the work pages as to why design decisions were made. The work looks great, but why that style? Who is the audience? That kind of thing.

    0 points
  • Bjarke DaugaardBjarke Daugaard, almost 7 years ago

    Awesome site! Did you use a tool for the animations or did you code them yourself?

    0 points
  • Surjith S MSurjith S M, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    Impressive Website.

    One Question, How do you get clients?

    I can see the lowest price in your budget is $4000, so do you receive offers less than that price? Do you work with those projects?

    0 points
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      Thanks!

      $4000 is usually the minimum required budget for new projects. This select in the contact form works a bit like a filter: potential clients with budgets that I do consider as too small to deal with do usually not bother to contact me when they see they can't select a smaller amount.

      2 points
      • Surjith S MSurjith S M, almost 7 years ago

        Great!

        So, is this website is your main source of leads? or do you have any other ways?

        0 points
        • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

          It's pretty much in this order:

          1. Referals from existing clients
          2. Website
          3. Dribbble
          4. Twitter

          However, I consider my website as a connecting dot. For example, when some existing client tell a friend that I'm doing good work, this friend most likely still checks out my site and often even contacts me via the site then. Probably works like that for potential clients coming from dribbble/twitter as well.

          0 points
  • Alvaro Ruiz, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    Really nice work! I would just point to the image in the footer that it is not related with anything else... I don't find the meaning of it. Why not to use more similar to your logo?

    Could you please share with us a little bit about the frameworks and your workflow to create your portfolio?

    0 points
  • Stephen SulistiawanStephen Sulistiawan, almost 7 years ago

    Super nice! The only thing I would do different is make 'Work' the homepage and 'Profile' the 2nd page. I set up my portfolio in a way that my designs would literally be the first thing the user sees.

    0 points
  • Dan GDan G, almost 7 years ago

    Biggest issue I have is the amount of different type sizes you have.

    On the contact page alone I can see 13px, 14px. 16px, 18px, 20px, 22px and 56px…

    I would try and cut that down to three (four at a max) and use varying weights / colour to better sort the hierarchy.

    Currently it's nice but I don't know where to look.

    0 points
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      Interesting. I haven't really noticed that this would be a problem (granted, the contact page is a prime example since there are really lots of different sizes).

      I will try and see if I can unify it a little more.

      0 points
      • P GBP GB, almost 7 years ago

        I'm with you, I don't think reducing the amount of type sizes to an arbitrary number has any value - I don't have a problem with your visual hierarchy - I certainly 'know where to look'.

        Using the same type sizes for the same elements on a global level is what's important, and you seem to do that.

        2 points
        • Dan GDan G, almost 7 years ago

          Consistency is all. Especially across something with so few screens.

          But yeah, agree to disagree.

          0 points
  • Robbert EsserRobbert Esser, almost 7 years ago

    I would start with a photo about yourself in the introduction instead of a photo that shows a Macbook and table. The rest is super well designed.

    0 points
    • Tristam GochTristam Goch, almost 7 years ago

      Aren't we all getting a bit tired of the designer vanity shot?

      I think the photo here does a good job of setting a vibe, more so than the usual heavily processed 'THIS IS MY FACE' photo

      7 points
      • Robbert EsserRobbert Esser, almost 7 years ago

        I don't agree. It's your personal website, I want to know who the guy is behind the website. Especially if you want to hire him for work.

        1 point
      • Stephen SulistiawanStephen Sulistiawan, almost 7 years ago

        I agree, my portfolio site purposely has no photo of me. Showing your face doesn't add any value to your site, in terms of getting a job or clients.

        3 points
    • Ivo MynttinenIvo Mynttinen, almost 7 years ago

      I do somehow agree, but...

      Personally I find it kinda pretentious to have a huge "model style" shoot of yourself directly on the home page. To me it feels like it's putting the focus more on the person instead of the work.

      If I get the chance to produce a high quality photo of myself I might add it, but probably not as the first thing the user sees on the home page.

      3 points