I have been researching many inspiring portfolio sites of which I must say http://www.serialcut.com/ was beautifully designed with vivid breath taking pieces filling the entire screen with individual examples. However, because of these large files the site had issues loading its homepage. Then you have to click a link to their old site and after that you can finally view their creations with the load time for each click lagging. This would aggravate and defer many viewers in my opinion.

The next portfolio site I reviewed was a very innovative approach at http://smallstudio.com.au/ where their logo was in the center of the page with a floating orange balloon that right of the bat, makes the viewer interact with the site, by making them cut the rope to the balloon. It floats away and brings you to the homepage. I could appreciate the way they tied in the simplistic circular balloon not only in the logo but throughout the site with iconic circles strategically placed giving a sense of harmony. They also maintained unity by incorporating the contrasting orange and black. I did find some issues with this site however. In my opinion their creativity causes unnecessary confusion in the navigation at first because of its placement. And most importantly without the use of a header or footer in their site their logo and contact information gets lost in the shuffle after you cut the orange balloon.

I liked the concept of the unique balance between designer and coder used in http://www.adhamdannaway.com/. This was an interesting site because they say you usually sway more one way then another either as a designer or a coder depending on your creativity and logical thinking. Yet I find myself much more like Adham's interpretation of a more equally proportionate comparison between designer and coder. With that being said I believe his site is a tad too playful (example: contact info displaying him as an avatar) and could wrangle in just a little more professionalism.

I absolutely love the simplistic approach Marc used with the infographics, excellent use of white space, with an overall balanced site displayed at http://mrcthms.com/. Simple yet effective.

Now for the two over the top sites you must check out:
1. I found this Robby's portfolio a couple years ago and I still love it's interactive qualities not to mention his prior work experience with big name company's like AOL and Fox News at http://www.rleonardi.com/interactive-resume/.

2. This is a company portfolio rather than an individual portfolio but I just have to post it because it's visual awe inspiring effectiveness demands attention at TecRoc http://tekroc.com/. This is a top notch site in my book with it's use of all the elements and  principals of design bursting at the seems!

Hope these sites will inspire you as much and they did for me!