I know I keep threatening to redo my web site but this time I mean it. I really want to trim it down - go for a somewhat minimalist approach.

Here's what I'm thinking so far.

I'm dividing everything up into words and pixels (books, magazines, etc. and photoshop], motion graphics, etc.) Clicking on one side or the other of the landing page takes you to that section.

The site will sit centered on a dark background, and look more-or-less like this:

I really like it.

I'd have something more explicit on the home page -- no, not pr0n but something that describes clearly what it is that you do, like "3d graphics artist and technical writer" or whatever.

Instead of a half-and-half addition symbol, how about an outline, or a solid grey? It also seems funny to see what is effectively a header at the bottom - if it's really that unimportant, leave it out. You have a nice, clean layout without it. You'll have to figure out your nav, but I'd go even more minimal in that regard... and keep it in the same font.

Two points from my end.

1) I don't think you need the addition symbol as it is. The site's already divided up into quadrants. What if you emphasized the borders between the quadrants such that it became the addition symbol?

2) The glossy finish on Mr. Blue doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the page. What if you gave him a matte finish and harder edges like the grey dudes off to the right?

Other than thay, I like it very much, beardypants.

here's a thought (sorry if it's not gentle) - instead of covering both aspects of your work in one site, why not create a site for each? I'm guessing that people interested in your Pixel skills aren't really bothered about your Words skills, and vice versa. So it would be clearer to both what they could get from you if they each got a site dedicated to what they're after.

I'd like dwadee's suggestion if the like button worked for me

Complaining that the internet doesn't work right on your cell phone is like complaining that freeways aren't optimised for bicyclists.

But yeah, that's a good point about splitting it up. I keep a separate site for my illustration work and my more general portfolio/resumé site.

Next time I'll just say seconded or conifers.

I'd edit my post but I can't :P

Thanks for the input guys.

At this time, I'm not interested in setting up two sites for various reasons, but I appreciate what you're saying.

ari - it hadn't really occurred to me that that could read as a header at the bottom. I was thinking of it as sort of a job title. Like, "Mark Clarkson, Media Evangelist;" "Mark Clarkson, Mechanical Systems Lead Engineer;" "Mark Clarkson, Deputy Sheriff"

"Mark Clarkson, Words & Pixels"

Something you might see on a business card. Maybe I'll experiment with it at the top; this is just the way it came to me.

I also hadn't been thinking in quadrants at all, but in halves. Left half: pixels. Right half: words. Essentially, the entire landing page is clickable and takes you to the words or pixels page, depending on where you click.

I still don't see the quadrants.

nice work, sir

I like the split and I don't see quadrants either. And I see the contrast between the flat and the glossy 3-d as a positive.

But I'm not a designer.

I much prefer the ones above - the 50/50 look.

those quadrants are really annoying me, I thought you were going to get rid of them?

*runs*

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I preferred the first version with "Pixels + Words" at the bottom. However I do feel that it's not very clear that I can click anywhere to get into more content - the only thing I'm clear about is that I can click Contact to get there.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Don't do a top to bottom thing, just make a floating rectangle (960x560 pixels) with a nice shadow effect using the same combo from whit/black on dark background. That way you can have a nice intro (mark clarkson - pixels and words)
2. Make a nice little minimalistic navigation menu on top of that floating rectangle, because face it, people are still stupid
3. Go minimalistic on the portfolio and make them click items so it opens a lightbox kinda thing where they see more detail or video and such
4. Do the whole twitter-facebook-google+ thing integration so people can follow you, on these pages you can add extra content which didn't make the final portfolio selection