research

Above is an example which illustrates subtle introduction of colour and imagery in shapes. Both elements I have previously mentioned I was thinking of to push my design forward.

The example below shows images really tightly cropped into shapes which act as thumbnails (exactly what I had in mind) I looked at how these function, and they slightly increase 

 in side upon hover and when you click the go to a full screen where the image is visible full screen (light box kind of function)
This is something I really like and I think this. in combination with the colour coding would work really well to make my site unusual and interesting yet simplistic and subtle.
I am not sure I like the enlarging of the shape upon hover, instead i invasion a semi transparent fill which would appear over the image upon hover this would then reveal the title of the project which lies behind it.
When already on a project page the thumbnails would mimic the positioning and structure (if that doesn't become boring) and upon click the image would expand (almost feel like it grows) out into the new screen where you can then navigate through the images with the arrows or mouse (an arrows would appear upon hover on the left or right [ could possibly make those static])

When more than one page of thumbnails is required I would have and arrow to indicate this and lets say for example there wasn't another full set of shapes required. Lets say only 4. The first four would roll away and they would shuffle along with the four new ones moving onto the end.