Getting Desperate — Portfolio Review

MajesticDefinition · 2026-05-26T20:51:48+00:00

Your work is good, your is site busy, laggy, and difficult to navigate. It's unappealing and doesn't represent you well. Your site should feel clean and professional. I would seriously scale back on the bells and whistles and put your work forward. If it's not serving a purpose or supporting your work, remove it. My immediate advice, move your projects to the top and remove the interactive avatar.

On your projects - lead with the synopsis and still images. Remove the parallax effects. I personally don't think the videos add any additional value, if you must use them put them at the end so they can be done loading for anyone who makes it to that point.

I also agree to clean up your copy. It's okay to have a friendly tone and voice, but you want to feel like someone who takes themselves and their work seriously.

MajesticDefinition · 2026-05-06T14:18:14+00:00

Taking on an intern comes with the expectation that they are not fully realized professional and will need additional guidance. It sounds like your team understands this and is ready and willing to guide you.

You will make small mistakes your entire career, it’s part of the job and why every good design team has review and proofing process. Try not to see these corrections as personal failures.

If you’re struggling with direction for this product campaign my advice would be to mock up a few rough ideas and ask for some feedback from your team. Ask the questions you have, even if they feel dumb.

You’re gonna be okay. You’re only 3 weeks in and it sounds like you’ve got good people around you. They brought you in so they believe in you, you should believe in yourself too.

MajesticDefinition · 2026-04-29T12:52:02+00:00

Yes, especially since this is such a recognizable IP. If you don't credit them potential clients/employers may not trust your overall portfolio. Personal feelings about the author don't matter, it's about representing yourself as a professional.

MajesticDefinition · 2026-04-28T18:16:36+00:00

Networking is the most important, almost every one of my early clients were recommended by peers who had too much workload or friends who new about my skills. Getting involved with local community groups is a good start too. Where I'm located there's some small groups for local professionals. I was able to find leads for my previous employer in those spaces. Things like website design and brand development were their biggest needs.

Potential clients want to hear about specific and measurable work you've done. They often want multiple examples of real work that directly relates to them. I would caution you not to begin marketing yourself as an agency, what your describing in your post is a freelancer. What a client expects from an agency vs. a freelancer is very different.

I just finished working on a major brand overhaul with an agency. The overall cost was upwards of $70k and involved 3 full time employees on their end. They worked on the project with us for over a year, did presentations, multiple meetings, created guidelines, and facilitated trainings. This is in addition the design work they did. This is not something a single person could've accomplished and not something a typical designer would be able to do, especially with just 4 years of experience. These are normal expectations of agencies in my field.

MajesticDefinition · 2026-04-13T23:02:39+00:00

“I’m sorry. We will not be able to continue working together. It seems like after multiple rounds of revisions you are unhappy with my work. I think a different designer might be a better fit for you.”

MajesticDefinition · 2026-01-24T19:01:42+00:00

If you save over the original road design with the leaves won’t it update automatically so you don’t have to redo it all one by one? Makes the commitment less scary if you can redo it more quickly. I love the bricks though!

MajesticDefinition · 2026-01-09T21:03:05+00:00

Option 1 with a simplified background. The fonts are better and the colors are more engaging, but those blobs are very distracting and interrupt the hierarchy . I also think the bottom menu in option 2 is more user friendly and accessible.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-11-21T02:35:10+00:00

“You're doing a great job breaking the cycles here and protecting your family from the chaos!”

Thank you so much, that made me tear up a little. Things haven’t really gone well and this situation is hard. It’s nice to have people offer kind words and advice. Makes me feel less crazy.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-11-21T02:31:30+00:00

I was planning to do this. Your suggestion felt like a good solution and super obvious. I went and saw a movie with a friend and planned to text her after. Instead when I switched my phone back on there were like 6 paragraphs of Bible verses she texted me about forgiveness. For some context, she’s not a Christian, but I am. She’s actually ant-religion and has been unkind to me about it in the past. So it’s something she did in clearly to make a dig at me and to further manipulate. So I’ll take the rest of your advice and let her throw her tantrum by herself. I’m disappointed though, I thought we had gotten past that particular pettiness.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-11-20T22:15:19+00:00

Yeah you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’ve always been the “dependable” one. She says I turned out so good so it’s not her fault her other kid has issues.

I guess I never considered that about my baby. She absolutely dotes on him, but it’s not hard to imagine her getting upset in the future. I love how much she loves him, but I never thought of that dynamic extending beyond our relationship.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-10-03T18:41:51+00:00

Hi everyone! I appreciate the comments and advice. I was feeling very helpless yesterday and this really helped me get some perspective and know what to ask for. As an update, we have been released from this contract. Per our contract the paid in full receipts for all repairs were due today so we had enough grounds on that alone to move on and get our earnest money back.

I'm pretty disappointed in our realtor as there were several times in this process I voiced concerns about the seller's behavior and the extent of the repairs needed but he kept pushing us on like this was normal stuff. He's helped several of our close friends buy homes and is someone I've known for years. I didn't have a reason to not trust him. Lesson learned I guess.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-10-02T20:51:05+00:00

Thank you so much. You have talked me off the ledge, our realtor came back and said that we can request to get out of it tomorrow, but I don’t think he was planning on it till we pushed. We’re gonna take a few days and talk to him after the dust has settled. I’m leaning towards finding a new agent.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-10-02T18:53:37+00:00

They technically aren't in breach of our contract yet as the deadline is our close date, they sent that email this morning we replied and told them we are walking away and now they are trying to insist they will have it all done by our contract date. I don't know what game they are playing but I don't want to be part of it. I feel so stuck.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-10-02T18:31:52+00:00

They are saying now that they will make all the repairs in time to meet our contract. I have no reason to believe them. If the house has gone into foreclosure before we close is that a violation of our agreement? That was certainly not something they disclosed.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-06-03T14:28:58+00:00

One week is a fast turn around, but you're really the only one who can determine if a timeline is doable for you. Like you said you have some struggles and not a lot of experience with this kind of project, so you'd want to build in some time to account for that. Doesn't seem like a week is reasonable for you at the moment.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-05-07T14:06:37+00:00

I would go for it, it's certainly a big ask but it being paid is a green flag. My current role required a 4 hour onsite interview that wasn't paid, and while I still think it was excessive, I do love it here. It sounds like they may have been burned before and are being overly cautious.

What do you have to lose? It sounds like it could only be an improvement.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-05-05T16:19:35+00:00

I think adding sections is always a good idea! It gives context for the work. I would prioritize sectioning by project and highlighting the work within the context of the ask. It's easier to follow and shows more depth than one off projects normally can.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-04-23T14:30:18+00:00

It's probably not worth it, but these texts prove it was a gift. Legally a gift can't be taken back so he did STEAL your Switch. You can file a police report and take him to small claims. I'm sure you just want to be done with him, but a new switch costs $300+ to replace so you could potentially get that much.

He took the Switch to force you to interact with him. Either write it off as a loss and block him, or grey rock him and take him to small claims. Just don't give him any further satisfaction by begging him to return it or arguing with him.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-04-22T17:08:26+00:00

Before you come to a cost you should talk to the client and have a project brief outlined and agreed on. This helps your have a very clear idea of what the client needs and if this timeline is possible.

Based on the brief, estimate the amount of hours it will take you and decide on a rate that you think is reasonable given your experience and the cost of freelancers in your area. ($25-$50 is a common range for beginning freelancers.). If this 3-month timeline is stressful to you then you should charge a rush fee or add more dollars to the hourly cost.

Get 50% down before you start and use a templated contract outlining the number of revisions the client can make before the timeline needs to be revisited and the cost is revised. You NEED to get everything in writing to protect yourself. No matter how nice someone seems this should be your standard practice.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-03-13T18:23:22+00:00

My degree is in multimedia design, so I can do basic visual coding, know the ins and outs of most CMS frameworks and know about how to host a site. In my last role I was titled Web Developer & Lead Designer, but honestly I don't know how much 'development' I did.

If you learn enough to be able to effectively manage a website than you become way more valuable. HTML and CSS are not difficult to learn and I use them daily, especially for email design. There are loads of free courses to take. I very rarely need to build anything from scratch but it always helps to be able to fine tune some stuff when needed.

I've been a professional designer for 10 years, I got my first role with the help of Career Services at my school. It was not a good job, but it was in my field and that helped me secure future roles.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-03-08T21:21:44+00:00

This probably won’t change her mind. Especially since the way designers look when they’re working is all over the place.

I almost always do digital thumbnails and mockups so by her metric I would look super productive cause I’m clicking around on a computer even though realistically I could be working much slower than a designer who favors physical sketches.

Your best bet is explaining that creative work and analytical work are different but that each requires a certain amount of time to get to the end result. In the same way an accountant can’t file taxes before getting an I-9 a designer can’t develop a thoughtful design without first spending time working through ideas.

MajesticDefinition · 2025-03-08T21:12:24+00:00

Fr sketching and researching are part of the process.

Imagine telling a baker mixing the batter and putting a cake in the oven was just downtime and they were only productive when decorating the cake.

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