PSGR is a solo effort by me, Rhiannon, a 23 year old from New Zealand. There's a lot to explore here, so take a look around and have fun!
Name: Elisa
Site: ThroughMyEyes
Review completed on: 17/11/06
SPLASH PAGE
No splash
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It's funny how sometimes one tries to determine one's age by how their site looks. I don't know if anyone else has done this, but I have in the past. When I first saw your layout I figured you must be in your twenties, I'm not entirely sure why I came to that conclusion however. Maybe it is because your layout looks very mature and grown up? To carry on with the pre-judgements I might even go as far as putting a label on your site and assuming that the content is quite mature as well, perhaps even lacking in...appeal or fun? Oops! Don't label me, omg!
LAYOUT
Some interesting and varied effects used here - superimposed, sepia text, vintage transparency...you've got a lot of things going on here. Great blending transitions between the colour and black and white. Whatever effect was used on the dark green area does not match up with the rest of the lighter green, was this intentional? It looks like certain areas of the picture have been burned while others look like they have been dodged to emphasize contrast in the picture. The layout depicts two young girls sitting together on a boardwalk / pier - I've read ahead and discovered these are your cousins so this layout even has a personal touch thrown into the mix.
What's with the navigation? High contrast, low contrast, whatever I try to fiddle with, I'm still experiencing considerable difficultly viewing these series of links. When you created this layout did you not realise that no one could see them properly without squinting or trying to focus, or did you not care because you have visual superpowers? I strongly suggest changing the links to a colour that can actually be seen - brick red or that green you've used in the layout would work well.
The neutral grey colour of your background does nothing to compete with your header image which is a good thing - since your header image is fairly detailed, effect and colour rich, it was good thinking on your part to have a very plain background colour.
CONTENT
My Eyes
Since this page is headed up with your site title, Through My Eyes, I was prompted to believe that this was a site related page, when in fact it is a page about you. OoooOokay?! Also, there are two links here that are "coming soon", yet you've got them up anyway. Why is this? It leads me to believe that you're not really updating your site anymore, especially as your last blog was on September 26th. Dude, don't put up crap unless there is crap to put up, ya feel me? I feel you baby.
About the artist - you've started off this page with a bullet list of information about yourself which is fine, and you've continued down the page with some more detailed information. Goodness me, you really painted a picture in my head about Indiana and how lovely it must be there. Quiet and peaceful too, from how you've described it. Sounds like my kind of place! Following this you have a significant amount of links - profile handles, MB handles and what have you - I think these would be better housed in your Domain section. On the first paragraph after the bulleted list, change definetely to definitely.
Imaging and photography - whoa mama, information overload. This is clearly something directly copied from your courses' curriculum, and after giving it a skim it seems a bit complex, matey potatey. I turned away from academia in 2002 and to be honest this page doesn't interest me in the slightest! I think that this page would only really appeal to other photography students, so count me out on that score.
Awards - how is this about you as a person? This page would be better off in the Domain section, as would the Fanlistings that follow at the end of the page.
And that's that as far as information about you is concerned I guess, although the majority of it was actually site related info put in the wrong place. Some additional pages here would be fantastic - opinions, an autobiography, whatever! Have a think and see what you can come up with. But remember, don't put the page up until it's complete.
Domain
A satisfactory amount of information placed here, providing details on your site name and your current layout, with a few additional sublinks located underneath this.
Previous layouts - I quite liked some of these, particularly the last two versions. On the link summary change recieved to received.
Portfolio
Photography - this opens in a new window and leads to a separate URL, so will not be reviewed.
Photoshop Battles - thanks for explaining in detail what this was! Photoshop tennis, huh? Now I feel a bit better about collecting stamps! Just kidding, whatever rocks your boat. The actual pages themselves are very image heavy - do you use the "Save for web" function on Photoshop at all? If you don't, then I recommend you do.
Textures - hardly know what textures are and don't care, but in any case you shouldn't kick off this page with texture counts and icon counts and what have you - it's about the quality, not the quantity. How many you have to offer should not have to matter too much.
Colorizations - it was disheartening to discover that many of these graphics were of celebrities. Perhaps you should visit Whatiscopyright.org and draw your own conclusions as to whether these celebrity images should remain on your server.
Collages and graphics - 82 items to load on a dialup modem huh - do you think I'd have time to have sex while these are loading? The majority of these were celebrity images so I didn't bother looking at them, but I did enjoy looking at the pieces under "Other Art". Very nice indeed.
Resources
First up, the Link Me buttons should be in your Domain section. Apart from your own link back buttons, the rest of this page consists of bunches of links to various resource sites. There's nothing to say here, apart from the fact you have a variety of sites listed here and the links have been organised in a fairly orderly fashion.
SUMMARY
I'm not much of a photographer, nor am I a Photoshop connoiseur, so I found it hard to identify with your website let alone find something that appealed on a personal level to me. The audience you're looking at isn't really a general one, it's more select - it is other people who enjoy photography and digitally manipulated images. I am not one of these people so unfortunately I could not appreciate your work as much as someone that shared your interests would.
I feel that your content needs to be restructured - certain pages need to be relocated to their correct sections and "coming soon" pages need to be omitted. Make the "Her Eyes" section more personal - it is supposed to be about you after all, so don't fill it with anal presentations by professors and site related information. Provide more information about you as a person. Go on, live on the edge! At the moment I can definitely see the character of Ken Barlow from Coronation Street being a fan of your site, and even Roy Cropper. This is not a good thing! Jazz your site up a bit, make it more exciting, lose the dullness and opt for vivacity instead. Best of luck with your endeavours.
