Turner Digital Media

can we see a full size image? First time I'm attempting to critique ...

From what I can see tho ...

What I like:
- very clean design
- nice photos!
- minimalist design is cool

Not like so much:
- stuff on the middle part (after your photo) is too close together?
- not eveyone like minimallist design

Hey,

The first thing that jumped out for me in my head was the image of yourself on the home page. If that is the home page. In my experience that might be a bad idea, dont take it the wrong way, but you look like you are about 10 in the small photo I am looking at, and like it or not, people will judge your abilities based off your age. Sure you might have a smoking portfolio, but there are a lot of reasons I have found clients prefer someone with a bit more age and experience under their belt. So, basically, I would avoid it. Not to mention, it is just a little tacky on the home page. Replace it with a "recent works" section or the like. Are you trying to sell your work and services or the way you look to people?

Other than that, looking pretty good.
I agree with Rampy on icreasing your margins / padding to let the elements have a chance to breathe. Other than that though, not too shabby. I like the simplicity of it. Even more reason to put a portfolio piece on the front, it would really pop and grab the user.

It might not hurt to create yourself a more unique logo as well.

I won't re-hash the margin comments from above - though i agree that they are needlessly tight and manage to add a constrictive element to what should be an open and roomy-feeling site. (I'd re-measure and re-align again - perhaps using the rule of thirds)

Anyway - now to the other stuff -

I think that you might want to look at scaling the copy back.. there is just way too much type on this page. Once you've cut the copy back by about 60%, you'll have a good chunk of type to have fun with.

Since you're opting to make typography the focus of the page (not a bad idea incidentally) I'd suggest increased leading and perhaps employing a custom font to give it a strong, professional and minimalist impact. (doing a graphical font treatment like this will add almost no additional download time either if you stick to grayscale) House has a really nice new font face that may just do the trick (it's called Paperback) - though Garamond or something similar may work just as well.

Once you've selected a good font - own it.. do everything in it for a while and you'll have a strong identity going.

The Photo:
i'm going to disagree with my esteemed colleagues here and say that i like the photo of you - you're wearing the perfect outfit for the site. I hate the way it's cropped though.. do something like you've done with your icon and don't cut your shoulder off. If you feel the need to jazz it up a bit (without getting too jazzy) A halftone contrast-y b&w version of the picture would look cool - it would also make the photo look less like a kid.

Misc
other than that.. I'd say indicate on the navigation where you are (maybe do "home" in black).. and steer clear of making the copy seem to pretentious - make it accessible, clever and fun.

I like the up-angle arrow - though it's a bit trendy I still use them all the time - just give it a bit more space and a bit more purpose.. it's a cool symbol but it doesn't seem to have a reason to exist on the page other than to break up a ton of text.. maybe use it in a few other places to?

Anyway - looks like you're off to a great start (for revision 20) :) You clearly know what you're doing at this point and it's looking good!