Theme 1: Rebalance
I was initially drawn to this theme because I like the aesthetic. I think it is clean and modern, and I appreciate the straightforward nature of the title, tagline, and social media link icons. When hovered over, the posts turn a bright orange, which I think adds an unexpected but not overstated flare to the page.
I have a mixed opinion about the navigation of the page. I think it allows for many different pages to be featured and accessed from the home page. However, it gives the user a lot of options to choose from (if you were to use as many as are included in the example.) Also, it implies a hierarchy that might not actually be there. That is, you might think that “Home” “Readability” and “Artwork” and the three most important pages, but if all pages are equally important this might be hard to glean from the design. I think if used sparingly, it is a good way to guide your users to the different pages of your site.
I like the ability to display posts on the homepage. I think having permanent site pages represented by the navigation bar while using blog posts that represent the most current projects in my portfolio is a dynamic way to use the design.
Theme 2: Espied
This theme was one of the top results for portfolio themes. One pro to the design is that it highlights the visual aspects of the work on your site. This is good if the pieces you are displaying are primarily visual, but may be challenging for the type of content I will be using this site to display (i.e. user grids). One con to the design of this site is that you need to have a lot of portfolio pieces/images in order to make it look complete. The small box icons may not be fitting to display the few assignments that I’ve completed in 203. If I were to add other portfolio pieces from previous or future SMAD courses, however, this design element would work rather nicely.
Another con to the design is that the navigation isn’t immediately evident. Navigation is represented by the small square icon with three lines in the top right corner. To me this does not embody good user experience design. It is difficult to make your way back to where you came from, and without pages or a navigation bar it is hard to tell where you are within the context of the site. This design seems like it would work best if you were using your site as a sort of gallery for your portfolio pieces, rather than a functional website.
Theme 3: Illustratr
This theme is geared more towards a portfolio than the other two. One pro to this design is its navigation bar, which is set up conventionally; all on one line across the top of the page. This leaves no question in the user’s mind about how to get to where they want to go. Also, the name of the page the user is currently on is highlighted in a different color, which again enforces where the user stands in the context of the site.
One con to the site is the way that the photographs behave when hovered over. A small pink rectangle with an x in the middle appears, which could be very confusing to the user, not to mention it isn’t very visually pleasing. Another con to the design is that each page contains pathways to many other pages. I found this confusing when navigating through the live demo, and I felt that it wasn’t the most effective way to lay out a pathway to each piece of information.
Final Theme Ranking
First choice: Rebalance – In the end I decided to go with Rebalance, because I feel like it represents who I am as a designer and human. I had some qualms about the navigation bar, but I believe I can overcome them by using it sparingly (and not having quite as many pages as the sample). I think this design balances a clean design with a little bit of quirk, and will tell the story of my portfolio in an accessible but interesting way.
First runner up: Illustratr – This theme was definitely a close second to Rebalance. They are very similar in a lot of ways. I appreciated the minimalistic aesthetic and straightforward feel of the navigation of Illustratr. However, I decided that using a theme with a little more personality just seemed more fitting for a personal portfolio.
Second runner up: Espied – I decided that this theme wasn’t fitting for the goals I had for this site. While I appreciate the visually driven design, I decided that it didn’t make sense for the content I had to display. Also, I couldn’t get past the elusive navigation feature.
Madi Schultz 