http://www.zwartekoffie.com/
Timo is a designer from the Netherlands and has created a dynamic Flash powered folio. The site uses the full power of flash to provide animations a menu system that other scripting languages would not be able to achieve (at least not without extreme difficulty.) The site is not only designed to show off his portfolio to clients and potential customers, but also to fellow designers with an almost over the top folio to help set himself apart from the other designers. Because the site is in flash, it won’t work on some mobile devices and this limits his ability to expand and show case. While I’m a supporter of flash sites I don’t think this is a path I’ll go down.
What I like most about this folio is although the mechanics are above me; the design is clean, simple and flows together well. The use of a gradient background and solid graphic elements is a style that I follow with my designs. From this folio I can only gather design inspiration, however the navigation system is something that can be achieved in jQuery and javascript and something I’ll implement into my own site.
Zach Bush is one of my favourite illustrators and his portfolio follows a style I enjoy. Zach’s site is plain, simple and to the point. His folio is basically a one page site. He could have made it one with the help of jQuery, since the second page changes only small detail. Aside from this the page is his portfolio with a lightbox gallery with nothing else. The images and work he’s done is front and centre with little to no text anywhere. His style and design is a simple grid layout with everything squared away neatly without any fuss.
What I like most about his folio is how simple it is. Like the other site I’ve listed here its designed to showcase his works rather than himself. The idea of using thumbnails of the images that then are displayed in a pop out is something I’ve put in my own design. The contact page is simple and navigation is even simpler. It makes the whole page and the ability to view his works and get in contact so very easy. Using his folio of works as the pages design elements helps it to all follow together and create the Zach Bush experience
Peter Jaworoski has an amazing portfolio and his method of displaying it is equally as good as its content. Like the other sites, it is simple and clean. The site uses a grid system for displaying his work and text. The site uses a gradient background that flows onto the graphic elements itself. Selecting each work brings up a new page with zoomed in details and sometimes his process of creation. The navigation system is dead easy with a sidebar for all the links with a more graphic representation on the home page. It makes getting his folio across easier for the view over all.
What I like most about it the use of colour in the design. It’s something I’ve used myself, although not to his extent. The way in which Peter displays his contact and about page is a little hard to see at first glance. The simple design and use of thumbgrid is once again something I’ve used as I stated. His folio is much larger and more developed than mine so He can experiment a lot more with the gallery page than I can, however as my own folio grows this is a method is displaying it, that I will use.