Website Review and Suggestions

**TripleMoons** · 08:32 PM

Hello! I'm one of those naughty designers who is never happy with her own work, so I'm looking at another redesign for TMD. I want more modern with a touch of punk rock or grunge.

Pink, pink, pink...It's all about the pink with me (they don't call me "Pinky" for nothing!)! So, yes, the pink's got to stay! I choose green because it's one of those common "web 2.0" colors and I think compliments the pink fairly well. Makes me think "watermelon."

My little chickadee in the right column will be staying no matter what as well. She'll be used for little announcements. If you think she has too much cleavage showing, let me know, we can move that footer on up.

Attached is what I've come up with and what I would like some feedback on based on the following individual items. I want to pinpoint the design before I start coding.

Rate These Items, Please:
Colors
Fonts
Graphics
Logos
Layout
Navigation

10.0 Perfecto!
9.5 Virtually flawless - among the best on the web!
9.0 A "must-visit" site!
8.5 Exceeds all expectations!
8.0 Excellent website - all expectations met.
7.5 Great - considerable effort put into website.
7.0 Very good - meets most expectations.
6.5 Good - better than most on the web
6.0 Average
5.5 Fair - improvements needed but not too bad.
5.0 Below average. -- noticeable lapses in design or functionality
4.0 Needs improvement -- major lapses in design or functionality
3.0 Needs much improvement -- major lapses in design and functionality
2.0 Should consider reworking of almost all of the website.
1.0 Should consider total redesign

**TripleMoons** · 09-29-2009, 09:09 AM

Well, it's either really bad or really good that no one's responded!

**PBScott** · 09-29-2009, 09:46 AM

Its not bad but I'm going to give some suggestions I think might help you.

I wish the website going through an update girl would go away after 5 seconds or so.

Pink and flowers aren't exactly unisex, if your niche is women thats fine i guess. Navigation buttons could highlight or something on a mouseover.

I would say just keep working on it, longer you play with it the beter it will get. Doesnt look finished yet to me.

**TripleMoons** · 09-29-2009, 09:57 AM

Of course a hover effect would be put in when the layout is completed. Can't show that in a flattened PNG.

Their are also no flowers in the new layout? I think you're looking at the wrong thing.

**MDwebdev85** · 09-29-2009, 09:59 AM

I agree with PBScott... seems to be targeted towards a female audience, however I think the fonts and layout are perfect. It's different, clean, and catchy. I also agree with him on having the girl at the bottom. Maybe make her disappear unless there's something to be posted.

**TripleMoons** · 10:07 AM

There will always be something to be posted for her, so don't worry about that.

I'm also pretty sure PBScott didn't look at the correct layout. No flowers are in the new layout.

I am female guys. Thus the feminine colors.

**MDwebdev85** · 09-29-2009, 10:12 AM

True, yea I didn't see any flowers. Other than that everything looks great. Good job!

**karmadir** · 09-30-2009, 02:38 AM

I would rate 10 out of 10 in

color
design
Font

You have got really a creative mind and have designed your site on a new concept.

However, I find it strange that there are no pages you have created for web design, web development and Seo as you have mentioned in services page.

Secondly, Your navigation needs to be improved, there is no way you can go from service page to home page or portfolio page to home page. That's needs to be improved.

Rest is excellent.

**StylaStyla** · 09-30-2009, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TripleMoons

I'm one of those naughty designers who is never happy with her own work,

*sighs* - I know how you feel. I think I go through about 5 designs per project!

anyway;

Colors
I think the colour combo goes well but I do think the gradient green is a bit too widespread. I think the gradient would work better with less height/instrusion or hints of it.
Fonts
I don't like the "DESIGN/WELCOME" font - I think it is too aggressive for the theme you have gone for. The triplemoons font is real nice
Graphics
Looks slick - you haven't overkilled with the gradient (although, again, I think the background green gradient is a bit too dominant.
Logos
triplemoons looks nice. I think the OO in moons could be moons with a 3rd moon screened in between with a lesser opacity so you have triple moons in your logo as well
Layout
Only thing I could think of is that your quote bubble might block out some text unless you're planning to have thick padding
Navigation
Maybe a standard horizontal UL navigation going across at the bottom in addition to your box style nav at the top.

It'd be good if you could fill it up with dummy content so we can get a complete feel to it since passing judgement on a empty layout could really go on for a while. A filled website will allow for a more conclusive review.

**TripleMoons** · 09-30-2009, 07:58 AM

Styla, you were extremely helpful!

I will reevaluate the design based on your suggestions/comments and post the revision.

**TripleMoons** · 08:24 AM

To start, here are the logo revisions...
I'm still partial to the top left font choice...But I also like the top right one...

**StylaStyla** · 09-30-2009, 08:41 AM

bottom left and top right are nice - looks more arty to me.

**TripleMoons** · 09-30-2009, 08:52 AM

Ok, here we go...Revision one!

**StylaStyla** · 09:20 AM

Looks better now that it is filled out.

I guess it's just my inner demon - I'm not a big fan of contrasting gradients - I prefer subtle gradients so despite your change of making it less dominant; I'm still not keen on it but the rest is nice.

You have a stripe effect on the background of your avatar; have you considered using that in green-watermelon tones for your website instead of the gradient?

**TripleMoons** · 09-30-2009, 09:31 AM

I did consider using the stripes somewhere on this layout (it's used on a matching CMS I'm working on, which will be up on the chopping block next), but it's not a repeating graphic and I thought it might be too much. I'm always game though for suggestions and I'll see how it looks.

**TripleMoons** · 09-30-2009, 09:58 AM

You, my dear, are brilliant! I should have done this from the start! It looks much better then the gradient and compliments the grunge font fabulously (which is why it was used in the CMS in the first place!). I won't be able to do a fluid layout, so I'll have to figure out something for the background, but this works much better.

**StylaStyla** · 10:15 AM

You should be able to pull off a fluid layout by precision slicing. Have excess stripe on the left and then your main focal/grunge mixture then stripe/fade and it eventually reconnects back to the excess stripe from the beginning - It's hard to explain but from your experience, you'll know what I mean if you play about with the idea.

Your CMS login page looks real nice - I can now picture your website at full quality actual size. (the JPG attachment-compression was quite distracting). I like the login page because it uses subtle hints of green which I think you should replicate onto your design by losing the green altogether at the bottom and just have it stem from the stripes at the top.

**TripleMoons** · 09-30-2009, 10:49 AM

So you're thinking something more along the lines of this in the footer?

You know, I miss this throwing ideas off of other designers when working for a company. I thoroughly enjoyed that at my last contract job with AT&T.

**mrgilb** · 09-30-2009, 10:50 AM

I love it tripple moons.

**StylaStyla** · 09-30-2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TripleMoons

So you're thinking something more along the lines of this in the footer?

You know, I miss this throwing ideas off of other designers when working for a company. I thoroughly enjoyed that at my last contract job with AT&T.

I don't think everything should be inside a shape - the UL navigation could look nice just being on a blank white space without the shade of pink?

I do think it looks better because it brings attention to the logo which has the green stripe/glow around that area so it now has a uplifting feel to it.

Anyway, looks good in all - looking forward to the XHTML - have fun doing the most boring part (well, for me it is.)