ZoomConcept Reviews
Critical Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 Was this suppose to be readable? 2 Everything here blends in. This shows a clear lack of solid color scheme. Is the style of the site to make most of the text unreadable? 3 Why is this background so busy? It makes looking at this site a clear distraction. I have to close my eyes to type my review. This may sound funny, but my eyes are really killing me looking at this. 4 This makes no sense... 5 The search bar shouldn't be at the bottom of the page, it is most prominent at the top. 6 1. Horrible color scheme, everything just blends in. 2. The layout isn't that much better either. Was any thought but into which section goes where? 3. The section to the left with the gradient background, just makes it all the worser 4. Surya has really got his hands full trying to give this a facelift. Summary:
Hi Surya,
Well, I had to turn away from my screen to type this because this is rally painful to look at for too long. You should really start off by telling your friend, as a dear buddy, that if he paid any amount of money or gave the designer anything at all for this that he should demand it back.
There really isn't nothing anyone of us could add different to this when writing about it. Its just a bad design, that shows a designer that hasn't spent enough time studying principles and good practices. I guess I'll just add some confirmation into what you are trying to explain to him in the notes section.
I really really really want to wish you good luck in redesigning this, your going to need it. :n)
Summary:
Hi Surya
I think it's the best thing I have ever seen, NOT! I especially like that hovering twisting vomit hole on the live site - WTF is it?
Mate to be honest - I think you may have your work cut out for you, if your friend thinks that this redesign is acceptable, he may be a royal pain in the ass to manage, as well as explaining that his current redesign is absolutely disastrous!
If it were me, I would probably steer clear of this type of client having dealt with one similar, they just wear you down, and not to mention it's an "artists" website, they'll want to have creative input…
Good Luck, and may the force be with you!
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Rebecca Perry commented:I especially like Balkar's comments, very insightful!
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Aaran Casey commented:He's probably the designer, of this abomination!
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Jamal Jackson commented:I just want my eyesight back :n(
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Rebecca Perry commented:
hahahahaha!!
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Minor Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 the shadow here is really bad -
Aaran Casey commented:
Nah that's classy Rebecca, ca't you see the effort the designer put into this!
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Josh Bedo commented:I agree I feel like it was added because of it's popularity with CSS3 along with the rounded corners.
2 all of these images should have a better borders etc... 3 move the search feature into a header -
Aaran Casey commented:
windows NT styles - FTW
4 OMG!! this background is so bad!! -
Aaran Casey commented:
Hush, tis the most awesomest background EVER!
5 wasted space -
Aaran Casey commented:
I think the designer was just wasted!
6 fonts need help 7 this whole area needs to be organized 8 put this into a gallery slider Minor Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/writers_&_artists.html 1 this looks like it was just placed here as an after thought 2 more wasted space Summary:
Hi Surya - My eyes started to bleed as well. I agree with you that this needs a complete redesign. The colors, fonts, overall layout are all horrible, but I'm sure you already know this.
please see my notes, I'm sure I'm just repeating what you already know. I wish I had something positive to write :-|
Have fun & happy coding!
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Serious Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 I'm speechless... Summary:
Surya -
To me it's a process gap. It's an all too common mistake that designers are making -- jumping to final design before building a series of low-fi wireframes. Imagine building a home with no blueprint? To me, outcomes like this site are like "Fonzie jumping the shark" -- predictably corny, with fake dramatic effects.
My advice to your friend:
- Create some low-fi wireframes, I recommend using Balsamiq mockups. It ensures that the designer organizes the template properly.
- Leverage some of the "pre-made" templates for ideas. Go clean, go minimal, think retail...
- Prove how visitors really feel about ineffective design - by usability testing in free sites like Zurb's Clueapp.com Send this url to friends to take the test (www.clueapp.com/53636) and click on the following link to see the results report (www.clueapp.com/53636+)
Bottomline, it's all about process and tools.
MichaelR
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Josh Bedo commented:
Hate the text-shadow it looks like you used it because it's new and "cool" not because the design needed it. I also feel like their is no structure or flow of the content area. This could be fixed by adding padding around the content areas to give them separation.
Critical Problem Background
The background is an awful color. Let us know why you chose this, maybe we can go a different direction. If for no good reason, scrap it. As a rule, use white or another light color for readability unless you have a good reason not to.Critical Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 Redo...everything. 2 Menu is hard to read and asterisks (*) are not an appropriate design element (used as separators). Positive Feature Title
Hard to read. Consider more of a contrast in redesign.Add a more robust footer
with as much content as you're trying to present and organize, you could use both a footer and subfooterLanguage
It doesn't look like English is the writer's first language (French?), which is fine. But to display professionalism recommend either writing in your native language or have someone who writes English translate for you.I don't know what to say
Your objective: "Convince client I should take over the design of his site." Wow. I'm not sure if you coded this site by hand or what, but I highly recommend using wordpress or something similar as already suggested. It makes the process much easier and takes care of the basic stuff so you can focus more on other thingsNew Idea on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/writers_&_artists.html 1 Consider giving each writer/musician their own page. Other on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 Funny, but I don't think it's the plugin. 2 Why the toilet bowl? Is this a music site or an art site? Summary:
You need to completely start over. This looks like a bad website circa 1997, but at least in 1997 the little revolving star logo would have been cool.
I'm not sure what CMS you're using, but consider using Wordpress and getting a theme from ThemeForest.com, they have some great themes for around $35.
Minor Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 I Think this title is really supposed to be read but it is not. I suggest you pick some bold strong font type and quit the shadow also you can pick another color for title Minor Problem on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/writers_&_artists.html 1 You should give margin to the image or give padding to the table and move the image up a little bit. 2 Search forms are supposed to be at the top of the sidebars because of the easy navigation Positive Feature on http://www.viewwebdesign.co.uk/neutrino/index.html 1 I believe you used too much transparency here also it can be derived from the flames at the background the content and the background they are so nested. Reduce the transparency or pick another background. Summary:
Color is contrast and shadow in Logo is very hard and not used properly
Serious Problem Text alignment
Either align the text all to the left, the centre or the right. In this case a left or a right alignment would be more suited I think.Critical Problem All the important stuff is moving below the fold
Too much emphasis on spinning logo, title taking up too much space at the top. All the important elements are near the bottom of the page.
