ZoomConcept Reviews
Minor Problem on Picture 15.png 1 The white is not working for the headings in this section here. It makes the text blend into the background too well. I would go with something darker, helps with them becoming more visible. 2 They may have a bit too much padding here. Bring it in a bit. 3 You should bring this text to the right of the buttons. Wouldn't be in the way of the rest of the graphical elements in your footer. -
Emma Simpson commented:Good idea - actually am thinking of taking this out completely and the asterisks and changing the in-field labels to Name (required field) - Email (required field) etc
4 The font here is too similar in its bold and regular typefaces. It would do wonders for your hierarchy to find a different font for your text under your headings and sub headings. -
Emma Simpson commented:
agree
5 I don't know how I feel about this section being so low, and into the space of the main graphical elements of your footer. I don't know how much space you wanna give your footer, but you could try tightening up the sections a bit to make room to bring it up. Just a little thought I had. -
Emma Simpson commented:
This I like as it ties in the imagery with the text a bit so the site pulls together more visually and helps them feel they're connected more - this is something the web often lacks with type and imagery not really working well together. The legibility isn't affected and there is still plenty of space around the copy but it's just integrated rather than the text plonked on top of the image willy nilly.
6 Consider a reduction of birds. Might make your footer seem more spacious and easier to not get distracted by the graphical elements. I mean, I have.... lol -
Emma Simpson commented:
hahahaha - I've been really struggling with space, resolutions and amount of stuff to fit in recently. I've been going mental with big space and large elements and then am battling with lower resolutions. This is a site which has to fit in a 1004px width.
Serious Problem on Picture 15.png 1 Remove the bullets here. -
Emma Simpson commented:
they're asterisks relating to required fields - am going to get rid of them and change the in-field text I think
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Patrick Niebrzydowski commented:Why not just say "all fields required" or something to that extent, since there don't appear to be any optional ones anyway?
Positive Feature on Picture 15.png 1 Center the text vertically here. Maybe make them a tad bigger, space them out by a pixel or two, and add a black to white gradient. A glossy black would work too. -
Emma Simpson commented:
agree too - they are spaced vertically on the actual buttons - have squared them up too
2 Looks so cool! New Idea on Picture 15.png 1 Rounded corners would look good here. -
Emma Simpson commented:
It's in keeping with the rest of the site which is very squared up and boxy - have squared up the buttons too
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Emma Simpson commented:
Thanks for all your comments - been a great help :)
Summary:
Hi Emma,
The footer you have here has very strong pros to it defiantly. However, there are some cons that are a tad bit limiting your design. I'll start off with the good, and leave most of the cons for the notes section.
I really like how well you have related your footer to the overall purpose to your site. It is a good capturing of the happy atmosphere of good food, family, and/or friends we all associate with bbqs. I don't see the chiminea connection here, but that would be something nice to see in the header. Makes sense to be there too.
I like your bottom links section too. You've done a good job from the looks of it at keeping it only to the essentials, which will make them easier to navigate through. I also like the color scheme, very appropriate.
Overall great job, as always. Hope my comments can help!
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Emma Simpson commented:
Thanks for your review Jamal with some great helpful comments. Glad you like it overall but will do some tweaks based on some of your comments for sure.
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Emma Simpson commented:
There is a chimenea I drew in the illustration - it's in between the guy sitting on the chair and the boy licking the ice lolly. We normally light a chimena when the sun is going down at the end of a bbq to keep us all warm - gets cold in the evenings so it extends the time we can sit outside. I have used the same chiminea illustration incorporated into the logo - will put that up soon - I have too much work right now I want feedback on but trying to pick and choose the things I need feedback on the most rather than bombard the site with too much to review :) thanks again Jamal :)
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Jamal Jackson commented:Sorry it took so long for me to comment, I'm glad my comments have been of good use. And oh by chimenea I thought you meant like the ones on the roofs of houses. And cool, post up the rest of the site and logo. I find it's a little harder to review the footer without seeing the rest of the site. lol
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Summary:
Hi Emma,
I think the concept you're going for is great. I'm definitely with you on this summer night with friends and family theme. I'm wondering if you could tone down the white sun gradient in the middle though. It seems a bit distracting to all of the cool things going on around it. It also seems to fade away the chimenea and the guy. But if the sun was behind them, they would be darker not light, right? I think toning it down would be good. I also think you could simplify the illustration a bit. Maybe get rid of some of the birds. (heaven forbid the birds poo on the bbq!) Two flocks may be too many birds. I think you could even do away with the all the imagery on the left hand side. It might create an interesting un-balance. If you did that, it would even be better to put the "Shop" list on the far left and put the News int he middle.
Overall, I really like this!
Summary:
Emma
I'm torn between the colors and the simplicity of it, I love it but I agree with Jamal those main headings aren't that great…
I think that if you used a more fitting font for the summery feel, like say chunk five and add a drop shadow of white 0 1px into the css it will give the impression of stamped, and increase readability.
Also with the contact form, you don't need the asterisk on the side just add an if statement, so that if all fields aren't enetered correctly you get an error - http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/error.html http://simplyaccessible.com/examples/form-error-messages/
Hope this helps…
Good luck!
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Emma Simpson commented:
Thanks Aaran.
There are toottips which pop up if the e-mail address isn't a valid one etc so yes probably not needing the asterisks too.
I've been getting well carried away with text-shadow using it here, there and everywhere - was trying to do a site where I kept things v flat and clean but I definitely need to do something here for legibility especially as on some monitors, I've seen it comes up even paler.
Thanks again - your comments are always helpful :)
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Minor Problem on Picture 15.png 1 I understand the asterix is meant to tell ppl that its a required field but it actually does not work in this design. Can be very well omitted. 2 Though the heading the bold and the text under is not. Would suggest add left padding to the link under each heading. Positive Feature on Picture 15.png 1 Love the colors/gradients/effects 2 Love the silhouette! New Idea on Picture 15.png 1 Use something like jQuery validator to validate while people are typing. If something is not right, error message can come underneath or the text box simply gets highlighted with mybe grey and red. 2 Apply shadow under these headings to give it more of a form and make it prominent enough. Other on Picture 15.png 1 Use rounded corners and wider text fields. Will give the form better feel. 2 You can avoid the reset button specially because the form has such a few fields. Its not quite useful here. 3 Would suggest you to use a different color or darker grey shade for date. Summary:
Over like the design a lot. Make one really feel to step out and have a bbq meetup. Minor tweaks can really improve the design a lot. It may have happen that some of my points have already been suggested by others as I generally do not read other reviews before posting so that my thoughts are not affected.
Minor Problem on Picture 15.png 1 The color of the titles are hard to read in white, maybe you could make them darker? Summary:
Depending on the website, thi suit right your target. Maybe a bit too much of stuf on it (people, birds) but still it works.
Minor Problem on Picture 15.png 1 White font is a bit difficult to read on this background. Perhaps using a slight text shadow would increase legibility? 2 Consider changing the look of the reset button to make it obvious you want the user to send the form. It could be a simple hyperlink or a lower contrast button, anything to make the send button more prominent. Summary:
Overall I think the design is excellent, completely captures the theme of long summer nights with family. In fact I can almost smell the cremated sausages from here.
There are a couple of minor tweaks which may improve the design, but nothing stands out as being misplaced or distracting.
Minor Problem on Picture 15.png 1 maybe get rid of "Denotes" Summary:
I really like your concept. It definitely brings the point across that summer time is barbecue time. I would probably emphasize the barbecue a little more (maybe replace it with a fancier one) and put some food in the picture. I also think that the "Denotes" is not necessars, *required fields" explains it enough.
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Emma Simpson commented:
Good call on the denotes thing. This is a seriously old concept but that *denotes required fields comes in on all my contact forms as standard so will get changing it for all sites in the future. Thanks
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Serious Problem on Picture 15.png 1 the only thing that I have to comment is about the poor contrast that I see between headings and sub headings. try to improve that. Summary:
In general, I really like how well you have related your footer to the overall purpose to your site.
Summary:
Simple but clean. I love the silhouett. Not in love with the typography though. Its not bad but i think you could have taken more risk.
Serious Problem Can't read the headers
I can't read the white letters on the yellow/orangeisch background.Critical Problem Show me the links!
Viewing all text, I have no idea what's a link and what is not. Please make a link look like a link (preferably blue and underlined, but at least make it stand out).Positive Feature Nice background
I really like the background!New Idea Earn some trust
Make people more at easy about what you're going to do with their e-mail address. Tell them you're just going to use that for follow-up on their request and that you won't place them on a spammy e-mail list.Summary:
Looks great to me, but please fix the links and improve readability.
Serious Problem Headers in white hard to read
If you are viewing this in sunlight, (laptop, tablet) the low contrast between the white header and background makes for poor visibility,Button primary call to action
I would recommend making the submit button a different color and consider making the reset button a link. That way the submit button is predominant.Minor Problem Bullets
Remove the bullets from the Get in touch with us area, it looks better without them.-
Emma Simpson commented:
They are small asterisks - there is a note under them at the bottom saying required fields - kind of standard form stuff -
I guess I could put in the in-field label "name (required field)" etc
Titles
Love the background but the white titles are a bit difficult to see. Try another color.Positive Feature Background
Keep it the color is warm and the silhouettes give it a dinamic feel.Summary:
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Aaran Casey commented:Oh yes, what a wonderful an helpful review - wow! Seriously, do you not understand how this works?
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Positive Feature Really like the background image you used with the silhouettes. I think it provides some helpful information and quick links and would be a great addition to the site as well as help your SEO a bit with the changing news content.
I kind of like the white in terms of it being nice and clean - don't really want to introduce another colour or shade as the whole site is v black/white/yellow/orange. May try a subtle text-shadow and see how this works to just lift it - may of course destroy legibility more. Definitely will look at it though