[mbeihoffer]

If a small demo, as you put it, is important enough that you need to show it for your career, it's important enough to either spend the time learning web design basics to make a decent looking demo, or else to enlist outside help.

(This doesn't necessarily mean hiring an expensive web designer or design firm; I regularly consult on projects for cheap or free in order to help clients, business contacts, and friends, and have found that it almost always pays off in terms of establishing better relationships with people, who in turn refer projects back to me, etc.)

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you're not the greatest at design but need design services, then, uh, try to make friends with a good web developer with altruistic tendencies.