ok, i once heard someone in here say something about how some designers can do sites for other people but when it comes down to doing their own, they have problems... it's so true...

it's not that i'm lazy... just a perfectionist =( i have been re-doing & re-doing my site now for over a year. i get so far & then i change my mind... on my logo & colors which changes everything.

so, i've promised myself... this time, i'm picking my colors & no matter what, i'm sticking to them at least long enough to get it up & running 100% & then if i still want to change it again, i can, but i can take my time while the old site is still up & running. can't do that w/a partially done page.

so... i'm here... asking for your help...

a little about me: 28, female web, interactive & graphic designer
favorite colors: 1st-PURPLE!
2nd-black, silver, white & teals
3rd-pinks, blues & yellows

i have a tendency to what to put bright colors (including text) on black background even though i realize a lot of people don't like it... =( i want to project bold/modern but yet soft/classy think it's possible?

here... are some of my favorite palettes that i feel partially portray what i want to, but at the same time, i dont think any of them are exactly what i want... make sense? & just so you know... any of your palettes i might be listing here... are definitely some of my favs... just not sure if i want to go all the way w/any certain colors AGAIN... =) hope you understand.

well... here it goes...

My vote is with Dr. A's "Changing My Mind". I think you'll find the light beige she chose to be very useful when presenting colorful portfolio pieces alongside your interface.


On a side note, if you keep your presentation separate from your content, you can change the look of the whole site very quickly and easily using external stylesheets. A List Apart is a great place to get started.

What kind of clients do you have? Who will be looking at your portfolio? What kind of clients do you want?

To me those are important questions as well.

I assume the portfolio is to obtain work but perhaps that is not the goal? If that is not the goal of the site, what is the goal?

Even though one of my palettes is on your list, this is the one I'd choose too. It's got the colors you love and it's versatile with both dark and light values.

serostar wrote:

My vote is with Dr. A's "Changing My Mind". I think you'll find the light beige she chose to be very useful when presenting colorful portfolio pieces alongside your interface.


On a side note, if you keep your presentation separate from your content, you can change the look of the whole site very quickly and easily using external stylesheets. A List Apart is a great place to get started.

yes, i appreciate the link very much... but i do use it... all the time... i love css... =)
but i have to come up w/basic color & a design before i can motivate myself to fill it w/any content... i guess that's how my mind works... at least the 1st time... once i create it & actually finish, i can't wait to try out new designs... & want to even offer users the option to change them on their own & i think since dr.A's has won you all over, i'll definitely make that palette my next option... but for now...

as for clients, liddle_r... you're 110% right... sorry i left that out. my current & proposed future clients are sole business owners & small companies... most local.... motels, bars, clubs, daycare, insurance agents, restuarant owners, music artists, beauty salons, tanning salons, etc... i'd say the owners are from 25-45 years of age on average... see the thing is... as much as i love drA's chaning my mind... & i do love it... it's on my list of all time favs... i just don't feel it being me...

as much as i like black (dark) backgrounds... even if i do go light, i'm pretty sure it won't be a cream color... i'm thinking either a light barely there purple color or white-white #ffffff.

as much as i love all of the above palettes, i was hoping maybe someone would have a whole different look... maybe using the colors above - even from different palettes... that would inspire me... i guess what i need to do is take the different colors i like & actually lay them out in illustrator w/o content just to give me some better ideas... & make me stick it out this time.... =)

I was first struck by DrA's palette as well. Sounds like a winner! Heres a palette based off of it...



I feel like the brighter the colors the more it takes away from the work.

Ok... good about the clients. That is important info. Ok. I see that you are in the midwest.

So, one thing that is important is to keep in mind the clients you will be working with (or who you want to work with.) For the most part, your clientele (except for the musicians), seems like they will be middle of the road to slightly conservative.

And while you want to portray "you" on the site, another important aspect is portraying your client. They need to see themselves in your site.

So, if you were to do all musicians you could probably go more wild than if you were to do all daycare companies.

Also, I am guessing your clients will be looking for value. Which is another important thing to think about.

What you might want to do is list some adjectives of what your clients will expect *their* sites to be like. That would be helpful as well.

It will be a fine line to fine good colors for your range of clientele while still keeping you in the mix. I am going to try a few things and then we can go from there...



This one is probably too soft... but I am seeing if there is anyway to do purple.






So, maybe you could give some feedback on those. What you like and/or don't like.

i love your palettes liddle_r.... this is my thinking...

for the music artists, which are mostly rap & rnb (so far):
i could go w/bright bold colors on black

for the daycares:
pretty pastels & primary colors probably on white or pastel color

for salons, etc:
muted more natural tones on white or ivory

for the bars, night clubs, restaurants:
it really depends on their style & clientèle

in the end, i want to do at least 4 different style sheets based off these categories, although i will probably not explain how i grouped them.

now, my reason for my 1st one & hopefully my main landing page to more based off me/my style, is that it will be very hard to suite each of these groups all at once. i make more money off the bars, night clubs, & restaurants right now, but i love working w/the musicians more.... more my style & i usually have a lot more freedom when designing for them.

that's why i'm thinking about my main page having the white background... even though it's not my preference. but i definitely want some type of purple(s) included... =)

i realize the bright colors can distract from your work... but here's my thinking...
i want to make my 1st page part of my work... i want to show my style a little since it's more middle of the road than any one group of the people i currently work with or want to in the future. no other work will be displayed there, except maybe some icons i created for sub-navigation & my actual main-navigation buttons i created w/css.

the site will be consistent, but the actual portfolio section will be more muted (grayed) colors, but other wise the same, since art usually looks best on grays.

if it matters, the main-nav will be:
home | resume | portfolio | extras(not sure of name yet) | quote | contact me

I love liddle_r's for ks 2, which I think might work well for your daycare and salon customers. But, given your wide variety of clients, maybe you could have four "home" pages underneath your home page. with the actual home page normally inaccessible. You could have different business cards made up pointing to the different subpages, and give your potential clients the card that you feel is most appropriate for them.

GreenMyEyes wrote:

I love liddle_r's for ks 2, which I think might work well for your daycare and salon customers. But, given your wide variety of clients, maybe you could have four "home" pages underneath your home page. with the actual home page normally inaccessible. You could have different business cards made up pointing to the different subpages, and give your potential clients the card that you feel is most appropriate for them.

yup, basically.... that's kind of my intention... really they're going to be the exact same, but just w/different style sheets attached to each...

well, i've been thinking... like crazy... & here's just some of my own ideas:



I appreciate all the help from you guys... you've been great... i love all the palettes, but they're just not me or my style... i want to show just a little bit of my style, at least, not all of it on the main home page... since there will be no art displayed there except icons & navigation.

so, i'm really stuck on a palette w/some type of purple(s)... not picky which shade or how much... just at least some...

Hey... thank you each & every one of you... but i just realized something...
and came to a perfect solution for me & my site....

i've planned since the beginning to have a few options available as for trying to fit my variety of clients...
& i was getting stuck trying to figure out which to do first or as my main... but i just realized i can do it w/the colors i want to first & then from there, changing the css for each page will be easy since i have a lot of other ideas....

this is what i'm going to do... instead of just offering the users the option of choosing a different layout of other colors in some corner off to the side of my site, i'm going to push that... =) not only as it being an option, but really showing ALL my users what a wide variety of styles i do have... to fit each of them. i'm going to really encourage them to check out each of the different styles i end up with.

that way my favorite can still be the default... to encourage brand recognition.

& yes, i will even make a style sheet for Dr.A's & at least one of liddle_r's palettes =)

wow... this is going to be fun... kind of like myspace - only better & w/standards. =)

thanks again for walking me through this process & for helping me realize this is what i really want to do.
i'm actually excited to get working on it now...

Very cool! No worries about including my palette though it would be cool to see. I am happy you've come to something that works for you and glad to be a part of that process!

liddle_r wrote:

Very cool! No worries about including my palette though it would be cool to see. I am happy you've come to something that works for you and glad to be a part of that process!

no, i want to include at least 1 of your palettes, maybe two.. i liked them & obviously so did other people.

but it's going to take me a while... but when i get it done, i'll try to remember to let you know to stop by & check it out. =)