greetings all.. first off, I'm proficient in all the requisites, even work in a design house (as a programmer/web developer), I've just got a serious, serious case of "design block".. this is a personal site and as such the budget is around $200-300. What I want is something in the middle of the previous eightface.com site (have screenshot) and something like graphito.net ..I've been fiddling with layouts that included barcodes, insects (ants, flies, roaches), 50's clipart, graffiti/stencil "art" (ala banksy)..you may have other (better :) ) ideas.. primary colors being black on white (touches of red, blue browns..etc). I'm a fan of "controlled" widths, 800-900px+ should be fine, my visitors fall into the webmaster/programmer genre (n00b to l33t).. 2 pages would be cool, home and a full display for articles and such. looking for a "light" design, usable and accessible, easy to read/navigate. please no: flash/tables/horizontals/sifr/non-degradable js type stuff.

about the project:
The site is pretty well established, but it's never gotten any good lovin'.. each re-design and re-org thus far have been half-arsed and "temporary". It's due time for a substantial re-org and I'd like this one to last a while. It's a sort of portfolio, blog, shop, forum for and about code with sprinkles of "street photography" and "guerilla art".. I'll gladly furnish more information on request.

some inspiring designs:
http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/fonts.php
http://www.seanklassen.com/
http://www.filemagazine.com/
http://www.ftofani.com/udr/
http://www.circusmedia.com/v4/index.php
http://www.powazek.com/
http://mattbrett.com/
http://www.reminder-home.de/

sound like fun? There's a 99.9% chance of repeat "business" if all goes well. I much prefer code to design and would gladly contract those portions to a competant designer.

thanks for your time and consideration.. please post links to relative works or a portfolio and I'll be in contact shortly. If your TOS is on the web, please link that as well.. Very much looking forward to seeing what "becomes".

-dhayes

I'm interested as well. I took a look at the websites you provided and I could come with a mockup like that in about a day or two.
You can browse through my portfolio here.

very cool.. thank you guys for your interests.

Ward: I don't mind at all that you're an "amateur".. I saw that you had asked for suggestions and what better perspective than from someone seeking design services :) .. Your site should be better flushed out before eliciting your service, I wondered how long it's been in "production".. I also thought it would be better served as a single "splash" coming-soon/about us thing. For my particular needs, code is everything and code-heads are, by nature, pretty critical of cleanliness and utility.. the dreamweaver template tag in the source of your design was a bummer to see. also, links that go nowhere (at time of viewing. it's since been moved to wordpress), I saw the note first, it's just better to leave them out of the "live" version until the pages are complete. As for the portfolio, I suggest taking a day or two and try to bang out a couple of "mock-ups" that show your range and creativity (which you obviously have).. Some say "no perception is better than bad perception" (or is that docs? lol), I don't agree for a number of reasons, but I'll limit it to "something is better than nothing". I would have liked to be the first client of someone who may someday be one on of the most recognizable "faces", but there's just not enough information available for me to discern your style/qualifications. While you're building your site, think about throwing up a logo concept or 2, I'll be shopping in the next few weeks and will definitely re-visit your site to view your progress. Thank you for your consideration.. best of luck, though, I think you'll do well without it :)

awholeuniverse: obviously very skilled..

josh: love your style

I dropped notes to a few others here.. I understand the budget isn't a gold mine and concessions can be made if necessary (psd only, single page).. I value the service and understand the budget has probably earned a few "hmpf's" and hesitant "I'm in's".. the "bastard pack can be used as a starting point.. just needs a little de-eightfacing, a little color (red,blue,lellowz) and minor layout mods for better navigation and slightly more diverse content..

I greatly appreciate the consideration thus far.. I'll give the thread about a week to "mature" while I prepare more resources and some homepage requirements. thanks.. much.

Hi,

You can view my website at http://www.pixellounge.com.au

Not many web concepts are up there at the moment, but basically most of the work I do is website concepts, which usually are passed onto someone else to develop (I did develop my own however). Also alot of the time clients are happy with the first concept, which I think says alot about a good understanding of what people are after from the beginning. Hope to hear from you soon,

Joanna.

thank you Joanna.. they're all very nice. your logos especially.

I've been in contact with Kenny from FortyEight .. and being a fan of his work for some time, we decided to go forward with it.

I appreciate everyone's interest in helping me out.. I've bookmarked the thread to revisit in the future for referrals. thanks all.