Designing My Portfolio

I first started off by listing down what I wanted to feature on my portfolio website to which I condensed it to 3 main pages and a home page. I wanted my portfolio to be clean and simple as if I were to have too much going on, it would start to get overwhelming.

original sitemap draft

My original sitemap consisted of the home page along with two other pages: a project and about page. The home page acts as a highlight reel with a preview of some projects so viewers can get an idea of what they will be able to see on my site. However I decided to create two separate pages for my project categories as it would be more structured.

final sitemap

wire frame sketch

Instead of the navigation panel being at the top of the page, I am moving it to the side of the page. I think this allows the images to take up more room. I am also panning on making my logo into a button that brings the user back to the home page. Personally I don't think that the home page needs its own button on the navigation panel as it isn't as important as the other pages. As I mentioned earlier, my home page will highlight some of my projects through a slideshow that moves automatically. Each projects page will have a gallery that includes a cover photo for each project. The photos on the gallery will have a roll over feature that displays the corresponding project title. When clicked, the user will be taken to the project's page where it displays images and a brief description of the project. Both project (overview and individual) pages will have the same layout for consistency.

The overall layout is very sectioned where there are three segments (?). The main navigation, content and the right footer.