My Personal Portfolio.

Hey,

Let me introduce myself first. I am a 14 year old web designer in the UK and, like most people on the forum, dream of working at studios like Fi

I would just like to see what you guys think of my personal site.
http://www.harrynorthover.co.uk

Many Thanks, Harry.

[restlessdesign]

Nice stuff, Harry! Certainly you are more advanced than I was at your age, and I think given the practice (and 8-10 years is a lifetime in this business) you could be more than capable of "making it".

After looking at your site, I would suggest the following:
1. Always make sure that you place textfields that use pixel fonts on even pixels (ie, x and y values should be something like 10.0 and 15.0, not 10.3 and 15.1). Actually, this goes for any visual item on the stage, but it is very important that you fonts remain sharp and legible.
2. Bouncing off that point, pick up a book on typography at the library: if you want to do any type of design, this skill will help you immensely.
3. Take it easy on the outer glows

Thanks for the feedback! It is greatly appreciated!

I am currently working on a new version, so I will take you advice on-board! http://www.harrynorthover.co.uk/blog/?p=15.

Over the past few weeks (maybe even months? ), I have been trying to get myself noticed, but not had much success . I emailed a few studios, but only one of them replied, which was needless to say, a little disappointing. This was to be expected though, as I am sure they are extremely busy! If anyone has any tips on how to go about getting noticed , please feel free to share them with me!

Many Thanks,
Harry.

[Lawrence]

Dammit another one of my replies has gone astray.. I wrote a long one explaining that you're very impressive for your age, and I admit not too long ago, I was in your shoes (assuming you have a similar taste in terms of shoes).

Anyway, having read your last response, where you mentioned about emailing studios, that's not the best way to approach it. At that age, you will be assuming that its better to hide your physical identity and email them, but the basis of most employments is not talent, but the way you portray yourself, and your personality. You won't achieve anything near that by email. I have had barely any clients via email while in freelance, the best thing is to approach them. Freelance clients, or design firms work alike on that basis. Also, you're not going to get accepted into places like Fi, because you are nowhere near them.

Working on a website is not going to get you too far either, again, it's word of mouth that will get you the clients.

Overall, start working with the people you know to start spreading the word of your existence as a freelancer. Once you have a few clients, happy with their solutions, and you have some qualification out of school, then you can be accepted into regular employment by a firm. If anything you are too young to form a contract of employment anyway, so freelancing subtly is probably your only option for now.

Thanks for the info!

I emailed the studio's just to get a professional opion, and to get a little bit of notice.

I have never really thought of trying to get freelance work (Well I have, but not to seriously ). The trouble is I am at boarding school during the week so I only have to weekends. The problem lies in hunting round in my local area for clients. I dont have much, if any time during the week.

I would love to get some freelance work as it sure as heck get's boring working on the same old site again I have thought of placeing ad's at local shops etc.. Would this be any good? Or do I need to go a bit more professional (Propper ad's on the net)?

I work on my site quite a lot, because it is my main way to show people what I can do. Do you know what I mean?

Thanks for the advice!
Harry.

[Lawrence]

Get a professional identity off-line. The internet is probably the worst place to advertise for freelance work. Ironic huh?

Shop windows is a great idea. Get your website up and running (remember your target audience) and put a simple URL on the postcard-thingie in the window, easy for people with all experiences of computers to get to. Oh and a phone number if you can. Then use your website as a portfolio, rather than selling-point. Show them what you can do.

Oh and don't focus on redoing your website over and over. The most dangerous thing to do at this stage is to damage your 'brand' (identity is a better word) due to inconsistencies.

Cheers for the advice! I will look around for places I can put local add's.

The reason I am going to redo my site is because I have learnt a lot more in the past and I want to show this to my clients (future ).

Thanks!
Harry.

[restlessdesign]

Yeah e-mailing firms isn't going to get you anywhere I'm afraid. Our CEO at Fi has over 700 unread e-mails in his inbox at any given time and he isn't afraid to tell seasoned designers that their work is bad—so unfortunately you just don't have a chance at this age of getting noticed, let alone remembered.

I would strongly discourage you from freelance work at the moment. You are young, so this is the time for you to continue learning and growing at your own pace. Although it might suck, if you need cash, get a job that gets you around more people—down the road, you'll at least be on the same social playing field as most others, rather than behind, which can tend to happen when you spend more time behind a computer.

Once you are ready for the next step and have a solid grasp of all the software, still do not freelance! Instead, find yourself an internship. You will get higher-profile works to go into your portfolio than you could find on your own and you will develop business skills to augment your social skills (courtesy of aforementioned "grudge" job). More importantly, however, you should get the guidance needed to get your technical/design abilities to their next level. After you get an internship under your belt, this is where you might start looking for other work, or you may just continue doing experimental stuff. In the end, I think you want to get yourself to the point where you can submit a project or two (or three) to the FWA—that is going to get you noticed by the studios you seek much faster once you are finally ready to make the step out into the industry.

Thanks for the advice.

Yer, I have a job in my local village, so I should get a little bit of cash Also I am at boarding school so I tend to spend more time socializing that on a PC.

The head of IT at school is trying to get me an intership during the holidays with some local designs firms. That should get me on my way. As an intership is just low-level work, could I really put work I have worked on in my portfolio?

FWA... wow, that would be a dream.... I usually look at that site for the type of quality I need to try an achieve in my work. This helps me increase the quality of work. Although I end up comparing my work to that on FWA. It can get a bit annoying...

Cheers for the advice!
Harry.

[Lawrence]

FWA isn't really (I'm probably going to annoy a couple of people now) that much. Bear in mind you have to pay to get featured, and it's a daily award. Sometimes only 1 or 2 apply for the day.

Obviously you'll need to make something that stands out, rich media content etc, but i reckon most people here could compete well in the FWA, if they pay to be submitted....

Although an FWA SOTD may not be the biggest award, it would help me get some recognition from some of the bigger companies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the FWA site is pretty popular, so some recognition would be on it's way.

I doubt that I could get an FWA just yet, so as restlessdesign it is best for me to just keep on learning.

Harry.

[Lawrence]

Yeah definitely! You can only get into the FWA if you have a pretty cool, rich client anyway

Anyway I don't deny that restless is more talented than me, definitely do what he says over me, I'm just saying how I got around starting it.

Yer, but I will continue to make sites with an attempt at FWA standards.

I wasn' saying restless was more talented that you at all!!! I just think that is just the right thing to do at the moment.

Thanks for the advice!
Harry.

[restlessdesign]

Always check and make sure that you have the firm's permission before putting work you did there in your book, but 9 times out of 10 you aren't going to have any problems doing so.

[Tool]

the harsh reality of it is that age does matter. so restless is right on the spot, keep on learning and once you are ready for it, it will be obvious to you.