Comments on: What Is Your Site’s Personality?

By: FPImages

FPImages — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:48:14 +0000

Most designers, if not all, treat color as a major tool to establish a look and create a pleasant appearance for the entire web site.
There are just four personality types and each has its own distinctive characteristics and typical responses to a variety of situations.
You can check

http://www.featurepics.com/Editorial/Colors.aspx – Specific colors and a way to vizualize them.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:41:28 +0000

On a personal note I think this site is a better design than your Oreo CEO one. The latter is difficult to read, especially the hyperlinks and block quotes.

In saying that, it would be nice to see some imagery to brighten this site up.

Keep up the good work.

By: Danny Foo

Danny Foo — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 04:29:13 +0000

That’s definitely a question and perspective I’ve not taken a look into for my website(s). What’s the personality behind all that professionalism?

As a designer, high tendency of being clouded by merely design principles or the conceptual meaning of the design but doesn’t communicate enough of what the personalities are behind the the company.

Great reminder. :)

By: Mike Papageorge

Mike Papageorge — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:24:00 +0000

WRT Apple, the site is nice, but the tabs hit me first and you know what they say about first impressions.

They don’t look clean and cutting edge to me, but then, I don’t use an Apple, so maybe they don’t speak to me the way they speak to Apple users. (Which is kind of why those Apple Guy v. Window Guy ads tanked, no? They resonated to Applers but were annoying to Wincers…)

And that store is horrible. Can’t they do better then osCommerce ;-)?

By: Marco (Griffith) Jardim

Marco (Griffith) Jardim — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:42:25 +0000

Though I managed to achieve the look I wanted with my website, I got too carried away in adding functionality and ended up forgetting about some of the basic design rules I preach about to others.

There’s a serious lack of whitespace, the typography is too “tight” and ~~some~~ many HTML tags aren’t properly defined in the CSS file.

I’m definitely giving it an overhaul soon, and not a 1.X one, I’m starting fresh again from 2.0. And the style I’ll be pursuing will be a clean one, with a good sense of design, but with usability and readability in mind.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:09:18 +0000

I find that “personality” is something that is easier to do on sites where I am the client and designer than when I am doing it for someone else. What we call “personality” is often perceived by the client as “something that makes their site different from others.” Obviously, that should be a wonderful thing, but it scares the crap out a client that is comfortable with the status quo. It is easy for them to say “give my site Apple’s personality” but it is very difficult for them to understand that they should be striving to create their own identity. Does anyone have any pointers about how to convince a client that they need their own personality?

By: Dale Cruse

Dale Cruse — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 17:03:29 +0000

I think my site does a pretty good job of conveying not only who I am (professional, quiet but passionate, funny) but also how I design and develop sites (attractive, clean, no extraneous elements, understanding the hierarchy of information).

But your post is making me consider how to make my site depict me and my work even *more.*

By: Scrivs

Scrivs — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 16:24:31 +0000

Papa G: While writing the entry the thought did occur to me that many times when we first create a site for ourselves we might not be aware of the personality that will evolve a year from now and I think many times that plays a role as to why many people redesign so often. Sure they get bored with their design, but they also might be growing and changing and therefore they want the site to change with them.

Just because Apple uses the same old tabs I don’t think you can call the site outdated considering the rest of the pages. Surprisingly, I think the store page is the worst designed page on their site. Go figure.

By: John Labriola

John Labriola — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:21:40 +0000

Hmm good question I think my design relays who I am for the most part. But I find as my skills increase it allows me to express myself better. I also notice maturity in my designs as I gain life experience.

An issue that I see sometimes is that when a designer designs something for a client that doesn’t portray the clients personality (aka branding). One has to somewhat check their personality at the door to some degree. Apply their style/technique, but not their personality. You see great designers, artists, architects, and photographers do this all the time.

By: Nate K

Nate K — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:15:16 +0000

Excellent question. Personally, for me, my site doesn’t match my personality. This is mostly because my full time job is a web developer for a book publisher. My personal website seems to be what takes the backburner. I don’t do freelance, so my site is not there to sell myself. As it stands now, its pretty much the default wordpress installation – where I could start getting content in place.

Now, as a professional web developer – my own site NEEDS to be a better reflection of me and my personality. I will be overhauling it over the Christmas season, custom framework – new (simple) design – and switching to new servers. It’s tough for me to call myself a professional web developer, and have my own site lack my personality. Believe me, I have struggled for a while – but I devote the majority of my time to barbourbooks.com and the other sites within that domain, that my site simply takes the backseat.

I think your site is a good represenation of the ‘personality’ of the site. Very clean, very serious – and the content is key.