What is the impact of very simple homepage on user?

Question

I am creating prototype of my webdev/design portfolio website and with current design I wanted to ask if I am doing something wrong UX wise.

The website has a simple structure consisting of landing page, page with my work, my blog and contact info.

I'm trying to do something unique with homepage which is the landing page and it has these elements:

• photo of me in the background
• my name
• what I do
• links to my work showcase, blog, social media and e-mail
• two first posts from my blog

Which are written in sentences with links clearly visible. But it's only a little of text on whole page and since I'm not that good with user experience, I'm concerned it could result in higher bounce rate than with uniform site-wide design.

My question is, should I go through with it and after some time examine user behaviour with some analytics tool, with risk of losing potential clients? Or should I give it up and stick to establised layout design?

Thank you for help.

Answer 1

My question is, should I go through with it and after some time examine user behaviour with some analytics tool, with risk of losing potential clients? Or should I give it up and stick to establised layout design?

Ask yourself: "Who is your target audience? And will they care enough about how you designed your portfolio to make it worth your time?" First things first: get your portfolio up, even if it's basic. List the types of users that will come to your site (Headhunters, HR, PMs, designers, etc...) and keep in mind what you need to do to make their job easier.

The more you experiment with layouts the better; the more you practice asking yourself questions regarding defining target audiences and how best to reach them the better. Keep in mind (unless you're unemployed and don't need to learn any new applications) that your time is finite.

It may help to ask friends, classmates, colleagues (not UX.stackexchange) to take a look at your portfolio and give you feedback. It's hard for anyone to remain objective while working on something so personal and so tied into ones perception of oneself.

Take a look at the following link. Try to make certain that your process of discovery is ordered and thought through verses exploring random ideas. https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/junior-designers-vs-senior-designers-fbe483d3b51e