91 comments

  • Matt SistoMatt Sisto, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    I curse like a sailor, but it's always a pretty big turnoff when I see people try to set themselves apart professionally by swearing. It's not clever nor original. Your Dribbble stuff looks nice.

    22 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Haha yeah I kind of agree with you Matt, but the thing is I do curse like a sailor as well, and I don't like pretending to be someone else.

      I hate when people try to look smart or pretend that they don't curse. My websites reflects my real personality, and that's me; I like these kind of jokes and I'm never rude to anyone (or at least tries not to be), and personally I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

      Other than that I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the language on my website.

      Glad that you like my work. Cheers bro.

      10 points
      • Denis RojcykDenis Rojcyk, over 8 years ago

        It is not about pretending to be someone else. It is about being polite and professional.

        13 points
        • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

          I don't think me saying these words is going to make me look less professional as long as I'm not offending anyone.

          I always try not to offend people even when I'm mad, and that's what's important, no one has to do anything with the way I talk as long as I'm not offending them, because if so, then people will start complaining about my accent and the way I pronounce words and so on...

          1 point
          • Matt SistoMatt Sisto, over 8 years ago

            I don't think me saying these words is going to make me look less professional as long as I'm not offending anyone.

            Acknowledging that you could offend someone with your language then continuing to use that language is even less professional than the language itself.

            8 points
            • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

              I don't think that means I'm less professional. All it means is that I'm an honest person.

              3 points
              • - --- --, over 8 years ago

                [ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ][ᴅᴇʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ]

                8 points
                • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

                  You're right Dominik, you've convinced me bro. thanks for your feedback. I've cleaned it up a bit.

                  1 point
                  • Philip WeberPhilip Weber, over 8 years ago

                    Haha. I hope you aren't taking these guys too seriously.

                    Our design team loves your site. It communicates so much personality. I've certainly been rubbed the wrong way by pointless cursing in the past, but this felt very different to me.

                    Thanks for making us laugh! Added you to our list of freelancers to consider :)

                    5 points
                    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

                      Oh Philip! I love you man!

                      I actually started taking these comments seriously, and started questioning myself if I did the right thing or not! I felt like shit reading these comments and the amount of hate they shared!

                      I'm really happy to hear that you loved it man, I can't express my feeling right now, but thank you so damn much Philip for making my day waaay better.

                      Cheers from Rotterdam.

                      3 points
      • Timothy Kempf, over 8 years ago

        I find it interesting that you say you need to curse on your own website to express yourself, yet your comments on this post are all calm and professional. Do you consider your comments to be pretentious, or is cursing not as important as you thought it was?

        2 points
      • Joel CalifaJoel Califa, over 8 years ago

        I think this is a matter of finding a balance between staying true to yourself and selling yourself to others. A portfolio is for both these things and you need to figure out where you stand in this spectrum.

        1 point
    • Andrew CohenAndrew Cohen, over 8 years ago

      Agree 100%. All I kept thinking was "So his projects are shit that he makes usable...but it's still shit?"

      6 points
  • Joel CalifaJoel Califa, over 8 years ago

    Let me just go ahead and disagree with the bulk of comments here. For one, your use of swear words has already gotten you to #1 on designer news and I'm sure it's resulted in thousands of hits so far. That in itself is some measure of success.

    Second, I wouldn't ever say there is one objective answer to the question of whether to censor yourself or not. It's your site and you should make it do for you whatever you want it to do. What is it for? To get high paying jobs? To get jobs with people you'll jive with? If you want to be yourself about all things (or to help accomplish your goals)—and you feel cursing is a big part of who you are (which is legit, that's how people talk, right?)—and you're also willing to accept that will turn off a good amount of people who see your site, then do it. And don't do half measures like "Sh*t." People know what that is :)

    Your personality can set you apart. I do a lot of this on my own portfolio. And unlike a few people here, I love the fun facts about you. It tells me who I'll be working with, which is often just as important as the quality of work I can expect.

    Some feedback from an employer point of view, under the assumption that this site is indeed to get work: I want to see more of your work, faster. I appreciate the humor and personality that shines through, but unless this is an attempt to compete with Visual Idiot, I want to see you equally as human being and designer. Professional work is more important than non-design-related personal work. It's more important than your labs. Dribbble is not enough. I want case studies. I want to hear more about your experience.

    That tagline about your mom is a great hook, but instead of taking advantage of my attention to sell yourself as a competent design, you continue with watermelon jokes. I almost missed the "Before you go" section, which is arguably the most important one. I dig your voice, but balance it with the point of the site.

    Aesthetically, I love the clean typography and colors, but I think the full-width photography clashes, as though you couldn't decide which style to go with. That's it, carry on.

    And good luck! :D

    11 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Thank you Joel for disagreeing with the bulk of comments here.

      You said it:

      cursing is a big part of who you are (which is legit, that's how people talk)

      I am willing to accept that it'll turn off some people, but it's weird that people wants to see clean "polite" stuff online, while everyone in reality curses and say all these stuff! Why the double standards! This thing pisses me off!!!

      The personality is important because I wanted to express myself to the people/employer in a more human way, I'm fed up with the robotic websites of the majority of designers where it starts with "Hello my name is and I do bla bla bla" and boom here's my work. I know displaying your work is important but all I wanted to is to go a bit creative and create an emotional connection with the visitor of the website so that when we talk he/she feels that they know me more which will make things way easier if we're doing business or just wanna become friends.

      But, that doesn't mean I shouldn't fixes a few things here and there. I totally agree with you that the part "Before you go" should move up, but you've said it, you scrolled all the way down which means you're interested and I got you hooked (I guess haha), still I'll move it a bit up because I agree that it's important and people might miss it.

      And the full-width photography was like a last moment decision which I kind of regret now...

      Thank you so much Joel for your time and your awesome feedback.

      Cheers.

      0 points
    • Philip WeberPhilip Weber, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

      Attention Naysayers:

      See what happened here? Mahdi made a set of bold, impactful choices that were rough around the edges. Another smart person was easily able to give actionable feedback to help dial in the solution based on outcome objectives.

      3 points
  • Richard BallermannRichard Ballermann, over 8 years ago

    There are times in life (many, if not all) when you really shouldn't greet people you've never met with swear words. Everyone is cautioning you against the use of sailor talk because it isn't benefiting you. This isn't about pretending to be someone else, it's being smart enough to know when its socially acceptable to use bad language. I curse as bad as anyone, but putting it down in writing is just way too much effort to spend on making yourself look bad.

    People read a lot from what you write, it's your one chance to take the time and distill your thoughts and speak clearly and with meaning. What you've got now will pretty much boil down to someone who can't control himself and has an abrasive (borderline negative) tone about them.

    Aside from that, the website is filled with random, arbitrary nonsense. People looking to hire you don't have time to dig through all the blabber, they want to know how good your work is. You drown this out by endless ranting about disconnected information. Based on what I saw, I wasn't compelled to dig through anything because, quite frankly, it was a mess and the language simply turned me off.

    10 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      I quiet understands you Richard and I totally respect your opinion. You convinced me with most of what you've said.

      Thank you so much for the constructive feedback. I've cleaned up the website from the bad language. Now I'll try look into re structuring it.

      Thanks again bro.

      2 points
  • Joshua SöhnJoshua Söhn, over 8 years ago

    Okay so besides the copy and the ton of useless content about you which tells me nothing about your skillset as a designer or a developer or whatever you want to be, I have a few points:

    • No client work. I had to go to your Dribbble account to see what you actually can do, although you are a quite decent designer. So what would make me hire you? Some stupid side-projects don't do the job well.

    • I get the idea with the copy, but some things don't make sense. "I love summer The sun & the beach." That's cool but who cares, how does that makes you good at your job. Get to the point.

    • If you want to use 30 photos to present yourself and your workspace, please make them at least a bit bigger

    10 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Thank you Joshua for the nice words.

      If you want to know my professional skill-set you can always check my LinkedIn/Dribbble.

      My website is a place where I can express myself freely, and publish my side projects and experiments on the web.

      Yeah some stuff don't make sense because I didn't want them to, like that line you copied, I just wanted to put a smile on your face that's it, nothing else :)

      And about the pictures, maybe you're right I should've made them bigger.

      0 points
      • Joshua SöhnJoshua Söhn, over 8 years ago

        But the goal of the website is to make people hire you isn't it?

        3 points
        • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

          Yeah.

          0 points
          • Joshua SöhnJoshua Söhn, over 8 years ago

            For design-work? And not for being a funny guy right? It would be maybe a good idea to show your work then

            8 points
            • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

              That's why I have a link to my dribbble account in the navigation and also a 3 tiny side projects in the projects section.

              The lab section is where I try different stuff while learning new languages or skills.

              0 points
              • Joshua SöhnJoshua Söhn, over 8 years ago

                Hm, if you want to keep your work on Dribbble and on Dribbble only, the site is quite pointless then. For the side-projects: Only one of them is actually designed: http://www.subsfinder.com/. (What does this btw?, the search exampes show "not found")

                2 points
                • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

                  Don't agree with you on keeping a Dribbble account only.

                  It's a place where you can find substitutes for food, like if you were cooking and found out that you're missing something in your kitchen, you could search the website to find what else you could use.

                  The website is still new, try typing buttermilk you'll see some results.

                  Other websites aren't designed because I didn't think they need to be more complicated, the content is more important.

                  0 points
  • Kyle Greely, over 8 years ago

    Normally I really dislike people who use swear words to set themselves apart, but for some reason this made me laugh out loud. Thanks for brightening up my sluggish morning, and nice job on the site!

    Get me a job in Rotterdam plz :)

    7 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      haha I know, everyone does, I didn't do it yo set myself apart, this is how I talk and I hate pretending to be someone else even online.

      I'm so happy that it brightened your morning!

      Thanks for your comment and have a lovely day!

      If you're looking for a job in Rotterdam there are so many, just look them online.

      0 points
      • Kyle Greely, over 8 years ago

        Sadly, I'm from America, and trying to convince companies to import you is hard :(

        I loved your Photoshop Sim also, btw :D

        0 points
        • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

          Haha why sadly?! America is awesome!

          Photoshop simulator is my favorite app as well, it works exactly like the real one, the only difference is that it's a little bit faster at starting.

          1 point
          • Kyle Greely, over 8 years ago

            It's my dream to live and work in Europe :) America is okay, but it gets old and I'm ready to explore new cultures. Plus I'm pretty good at languages, so the continent fits me.

            1 point
            • Robbert EsserRobbert Esser, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

              And you'll have more than 25 paid vacation days here in Holland.

              0 points
            • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

              Yeah it's because the grass is always greener on the other side haha. I totally agree with you, you should explore new cultures (that's what I'm currently doing). It's Awesome, as you create great memories and meet cool people.

              And since you're good at languages it'll be easy for you, not like me (I'm suffering to learn Dutch haha).

              Wish you best of luck mate!

              0 points
    • Mikus RiekstinsMikus Riekstins, over 8 years ago

      And its kind of ripped from Visual Idiots one. http://visualidiot.com/articles/photoshop

      0 points
  • Delete My AccountDelete My Account, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    My mom says I can design usable shit.

    Maybe not the best tagline.

    4 points
  • Mike MaiMike Mai, over 8 years ago

    I don't understand the hate. This site is fucking hilarious.

    3 points
  • Nandu TangellaNandu Tangella, over 8 years ago

    Love your shitty site and shitty story. Way to go!

    3 points
  • Pixel JunglistPixel Junglist, over 8 years ago

    Good job mate!

    3 points
  • Keiran LovettKeiran Lovett, over 8 years ago

    Zero respect from me for this due to the blatant rip off of others (Visual Idiots) content.

    Seriously...this whole gimmick is multiple levels of unprofessional

    2 points
  • Alexander LopatyukAlexander Lopatyuk, over 8 years ago

    Man, your website is really awesome. I don't know what people think in the rest of world, but russian designers really love these kind of jokes. I'm and my friends laugh out loud! You are the best.

    1 point
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Haha Alexander, I love you man! I am happy that some people find it funny. I think Russians have a good sense of humor then ;)

      0 points
  • Spencer HaizelSpencer Haizel, over 8 years ago

    Awesome site. And you've clearly earned some exposure even if the majority of it is negative. If you could attach some actual good design to the exposure here, you'd be on to a winner.

    Stay different.

    1 point
  • Abhijeet WankhadeAbhijeet Wankhade, over 8 years ago

    I love your story telling. I didn't care how much swear words you used, it reflects your personality. When I have to hire someone it's really important that I know more about how are you as a person and after going through your website I think we can be friends. ;)

    1 point
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Thanks bro, finally someone understands the whole purpose of the website. Cheers from Rotterdam.

      0 points
  • Nicholas KatsambirisNicholas Katsambiris, over 8 years ago

    Great work Mahdi! This whole comment thread has reminded me of http://www.goodfuckingdesignadvice.com/advice/195/ - For what it's worth i would take these comments with a grain of salt.

    1 point
  • Damien ErambertDamien Erambert, over 8 years ago

    The copy made me laugh more than it should, well done :D

    And the design is pretty well thought of, simple, clean, straight to the point, no BS. I like that.

    GG

    1 point
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Haha laugh as much as you want bro, that's the main idea of the website.

      So glad that you like the design as well.

      Cheers.

      0 points
  • Drake WhiteDrake White, over 8 years ago

    Nice sh*t - except for the typo "Stupid shit I was brave enought (enough) to share with the internet."

    I do appreciate that you don't capitalize internet ...

    1 point
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Ouch that's embarrassing! I fixed it now. Thank you so much for telling me about it bro!

      Haha do you think I should capitalize "internet"?

      0 points
      • Drake WhiteDrake White, over 8 years ago

        happens to the best of us

        we don't capitalize television or network or telephone or book or - you get what I mean ...

        0 points
        • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

          True. That's why I'm the worst and most hated today on Designer News...

          Yeah, exactly! Finally someone agrees with me not to capitalize everything!

          0 points
  • Savelle McThiasSavelle McThias, over 8 years ago

    That butterfly design had an impressive amount of lines.

    1 point
  • Simon O’SheaSimon O’Shea, over 8 years ago

    Refreshing to say the least. I had a good laugh, so thank you. Forget everyone who says it’s not professional, it’s your website, not a client meeting, you can put whatever you like on it.

    0 points
  • Blaz Kranjcev, over 8 years ago

    Haha. Maybe you should also consider a career as a comedian. Awesome stuff on Dribbble.

    0 points
  • James FelkinsJames Felkins, over 8 years ago

    I think some degree of swearing is attention-grabbing and authentic, but what really stands out is where you are personable and vulnerable-- something that shows real courage. The best example of that is when you say that you were fat. You earned a genuine laugh from me and I felt like I understood you more as a person.

    Vulnerability = good. Authentic = good.

    The density of humor is probably too high though. If you scale back a few of the riskier jokes, you will probably see a more positive response while still achieving authenticity.

    There's a typo here: "I'm honoered for getting the highest grades"

    0 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Thank You James. I wish people could understand what I am sharing in here like you do man.

      The humor on the website is meant to be risky, I fu*king hate rules (yep I'm swearing), and I think people should express themselves on their websites the way they want, not the way the community wants to see them.

      I fixed the typo, thank you so much for letting me know about it.

      And again thank you a million for your awesome comment.

      0 points
  • Abdul WahidAbdul Wahid, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    Loved it Mahdi F.... :)

    0 points
  • Crampa ...Crampa ..., over 8 years ago

    I didn't really care about the tone of the website. If your work is good, then the portfolio doesn't matter. It's just for creative expression and you've clearly succeeded at that.

    I'd only suggest improving the actual work you're displaying on the site. I have no doubt you're a good designer, but everything under "person projects' needs to be removed. Substitute finder literally does nothing (despite using the example terms), and your blog/photo roll should be a minor footnote on your about section.

    When I saw "Photoshop simulator" I almost shit my pants. But again, it was nothing.

    "NIght Night" is the only project on your portfolio that looks like you spent more than an evening on.

    It's true that most freelancers rarely get inquires because of a portfolio design. But I'd be so weary of showing potential clients this because the work attached to it is so insignificant.

    0 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Thanks Micheal, Yeah I should've displayed some work on the website, and also improved what I already have.

      I appreciate your constructive feedback mate, wish others are like you. Thanks again.

      0 points
  • Du HoangDu Hoang, over 8 years ago

    It's juvenile to swear in a professional context.

    0 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Yeah I'm a kid. I'll stop swearing when I grow up.

      2 points
      • Dan SherrattDan Sherratt, over 8 years ago

        I agree that it's juvenile, if you've written the copy on your site to appeal to the sorts of brands and companies you'd like to work with then that's fine, but I aspire to work with the kinds of companies that would find swearing juvenile, and that's not just 'boring banks' and the like, it's pretty much every successful company.

        While I might swear as much as the next sailor, I wouldn't dream of swearing while in a client meeting, if that's 'just who I am' or otherwise.

        Your straight faced honesty regarding the whole tone is admirable, but you should appreciate good advice.

        1 point
        • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

          You're right Dan. That's the reason why I wrote the copy on the website.

          I'd never swear while in a client meeting because I know that people might feel offensive, and I usually don't curse at work, but this is different, we're talking about my own personal website which is my own space to express myself, and I believe I didn't offense anyone by what I wrote on it, it's just my casual way of talking. I am fed up with all the normal designer's portfolio's/websites, I wanted something different and honest, something with a bit more emotions, and cursing is part of that.

          Of course I appreciate feedback, and I love reading it because it helps me improve everything I do, but it has to be constructive, people here were talking to me like I've killed someone in their family!

          If my tone in the website sounds offensive to you or to anyone I apologies, although I'm pretty sure it's not.

          0 points
          • Dan SherrattDan Sherratt, over 8 years ago

            It's nicely designed.

            Although viewing it on my portrait screen messes with the whitespace and results in massive gaps between sections.

            0 points
            • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

              Could you please share a screenshot with me, and tell me what's the device you're using and the browser.

              0 points
  • Mitch De CastroMitch De Castro, over 8 years ago

    I guess I can't hate on your site because idk how easy it is for you to find work but yo...

    I never knew Merriweather Bold looked that nice.

    And that watermelon red!

    0 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Haha I actually have a full-time job and I'm only looking for freelance stuff to do on my free time.

      Yeah Merriweather is a beautiful font. and anything related to watermelon is awesome.

      1 point
  • Sarah NewmanSarah Newman, over 8 years ago

    After a quick run-thru I noticed two typos among other grammar mistakes. Maybe you can have a second pair of eyes read over it closely.

    0 points
    • Mahdi Farra, over 8 years ago

      Oh embarrassing... Do you mind telling me what are they so I can correct them? I'll also ask my friends to run-thru it as well.

      Thanks.

      0 points
      • Sarah NewmanSarah Newman, over 8 years ago

        horrible-low-paid job should be horribly.

        I have a 10 years old kid inside me, should be 10-year-old.

        Married - this seems an odd title when all others begin with I.

        Honoered is misspelled and same comment as above.

        confess about stupid things should be just confess stupid things.

        litteraly is misspelled

        I can use a computer and I know how to draw stuff - two independent clauses need a comma

        Portugues is misspelled

        humer is misspelled

        So it's been about five minutes, but you get the point. I'll get back to work now :)

        1 point
  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, over 8 years ago

    bald is a good look for you.

    0 points
  • João Pacheco, over 8 years ago

    Awesome job man!! Love the story at the bottom! ;)

    0 points
  • Juan RiosJuan Rios, over 8 years ago

    Finally! Look pretty good

    0 points