Personal portfolio site - Information Architecture

Question

I'm redesigning my own personal portfolio website and I'm wondering whether "About" and "Contact" pages should be separate or together.

My about page would have one paragraph on my design philosophy and my technical skills, as well as a link to my resume.

My current contact page has a small google maps widget showing my location, as well as buttons to reach me by email, twitter, github, etc.

If you were an employer, would it make more sense to have them consolidated on one page? Or would you prefer they be two different pages? Has anybody seen studies about which users prefer?

If you prefer just one page, what should that page be called? How will a visitor to the site know where to go to reach me? Citing some usability heuristics would be great for both arguments.

Answer 1

This depends on the employer's knowledge and experience in using websites / web applications.

Most employers who recruit designers do not always have the experience / knowledge we hope for. They will look for information in the usual places like "contact info under contact, about info under about me/us".

So changing the information architecture from the usual is not always a good idea unless you have a really good idea about who is using your website.

Unless you're planning to have a single page website with scrolling, separate the two.

However I did something like this for my own personal portfolio at one point,

Breakdown your website as

• About me
• My work

About me will be your home page.

• Introduce yourself, keep it short, provide links for the employer to learn more about you like your resume or linkedin, facebook, twitter. Here you can also add your contact info.

My work will be where you showcase your work.

• Here you can have a fixed footer with your primary contact info and social media links.

To get more ideas check these portfolios listed on Speckyboy.

http://speckyboy.com/2013/08/15/creative-portfolios-of-50-designers/

http://speckyboy.com/2009/07/07/50-creative-and-inspirational-personal-portfolio-websites/

Answer 2

If you were an employer, would it make more sense to have them consolidated on one page? Or would you prefer they be two different pages? Has anybody seen studies about which users prefer?

• According to your description you will only have your contact info and a small map of your location. Based on this, if you were to make a standalone page it should be called CONTACT INFO because you are not providing a contact form for the user to send you an email. With just your contact info on the page you would have a near empty page.

If you prefer just one page, what should that page be called? How will a visitor to the site know where to go to reach me?

• I believe you should consolidate these important components of your
  website onto your homepage or in your footer. They are critical elements users need to find and review before hiring you.