Concept Feedback V3

First let me mention how this is going to be a very difficult task to redesign concept feedback and please everyone at first. We use this site so much that our judgment is a little clouded because we are use to the current design.

What I like about the new design:

1. I love the featured member area is set up now, showing all of the work instead of just the one project.
2. Like the ability to see all of the unreviewed. Hopefully this will be specific to me, showing me all the things I have not reviewed.
3. You hit the spot with the new concept detail page. The way the review's are set up is amazingly clear and straight forward. I am so excited about the previous version spot that allow me to quickly view them (THANK YOU!). I also like the set up of the rating system right by your name.
4. Genius idea to add the follow this concept. Please let it email me when somebody has made another review.

Overall I like where you are headed with this design but think there are a few things that could be improved:

1. Why are there different roll over states for the premium concepts then the best today. I would have to see this is action but it doesn't seem to make complete sense.
2. In general the main page feels a bit cluttered and busy. Anything you can do to simplify things would be appreciated.
3. I like what you have done with the featured member section but putting at the bottom feels like it is a bit less of a feature then before.
4. I miss the ability to not like something and eventually vote it off. It felt like we had a little bit of power.

I think I covered most of the things I wanted to say. Like I said, overall I like where you are headed with this and ultimately trust your judgment on where this ship (concept feedback) needs to go. A few last things that I hope you don't forget in the next iteration of CF:

1. Ability to format email and comments as well as add attachments in them both.
2. The ability to see who is following you.
3. The ability to collapse comments that you don't want to see so you can focus on the ones you do want to see.
4. Let us follow certain people and send us email when that person post a new concept.
5. IPHONE APP!!!! I know it's easier said then done but this would be a great iphone app and would increase your viewership.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, let me know if you have any questions. Great work so far, look forward to seeing it in action!

I'll just break this down page by page:

Main page - I honestly don't go here very often, I'm usually on the concept list page and just refresh :)

I think the removal of the current right column stating my current reputation, votes, profile and everything is a good idea - it gives you more room to work with and really isn't that needed.

It took me some time to understand, but reading Nates review I think I understand that there are some hover states on the concepts where it says "3 Reviews, 15 Votes, 200 Views, 5 Favorites". I think maybe a hybrid of the current site and the new design could work too - When you hover over the image for the review it slides up a small box which looks similar to the current site and gives those stats, while still displaying the image you're hovering over. Hope that makes sense... - Or replaces the posters name / company with the stat information while leaving their gravitar.

New concept page - I like the way it is now, but I understand wanting to pull out and make elite concepts more important than the rest. Right now the page just lists all of the new concepts in order of being posted. Either way would work, I generally just like to see a list of them as their posted and will look at and comment on anything I feel I can give some value to regardless of elite or regular.

Review page - One thing I like about the site now is that once I'm on the page to view a concept I'm also on the same page that I can type my review on. So I can see what others have said and see all of the images. It's an usability thing - I like that it's all in one page!

I think from these images that it would be broken down to a view page and a review page - Could there be some way to click "review" and have the right column on the 3rd image be replaced with the right column in the 4rd image, thus keeping me on the same page so I can bounce between the concept images and possibly others replies? It's helpful sometimes, so I don't say the exact same thing or can reference what someone else has said with ease. (You may have already had this planned, but couldn't get this from the images)

Some other usability good / bad things:

• This box I am typing is is sort of thin, makes my posts really long and hard to read what I've typed because of the lack of space to see all of the text.

• I like how the reviews are now wider, so when we get wordy people we don't scroll on forever to see everything they're said :)

• Possibly the ability to preview my review, I never know if using # and 1 is causing a different color 1 to show up or using - and 1 is causing it to bold and list item something. Or just a "help" area on this input box - Maybe there is one that I've missed?

• I agree with what Nate said, and tried not to overlap too much.

I like how you've brought "previous versions" right into the concept itself. I think you are linking to other posts. Not sure if this is the best way to do it just yet (or maybe I don't understand correctly). I just did a few versions for the grinparty site based on feedback. I didn't feel the revisions deserved their own postings, but it would be nice to be able to compare. maybe bring revisions right into the project itself? With maybe an icon to show that the project has been revised. That way a reviewer could go back and look at the revisions to see if the feedback was understood. ....but maybe it's only me who feels bad posting too many projects!

I think this site is most helpful for people who are in the middle of a project and are looking for feedback to make changes before the project is published or printed. Perhaps you could find a project or two that had a before feedback and after feedback to use in promoting the Premium Concepts. Show those marketers that good feedback really can make a project shine!

i love the direction of the new layout, esppecially the new way that the concepts will be shown.

i think the current design is great, but i think your definately going in the right direction with the changes.

I was wondering what would determine the "elite" status-I'm assuming that it would be from like concept votes but what else?

Encourage you to implement everything. Then simply gather feedback as you go. Some aspects will work better than others, which is to be expected.

Altho' a relative newbie on CF, I'm a long time member/contributor at Marketing Profs. Much of what you've proposed mirrors the model of activities on that forum. And that's a good thing!

One minor drawback with having a marketplace in close proximity to a feedback forum is the tendency for some reviewers to promote their own capabilities under the guise of help and advice. For example: ...you could improve the whatnot by using the such-and-such found in my toolbox.

Another drawback I've noticed occurring on Marketing Profs, is the tendency for non-designers to solicit ideas for free. Real estate agents who want help with naming, logo ideas, tagline, website structure etc. but are too cheap to engage a professional go fishing for naive members to ripoff.

You'll have to be vigilant and rigorous with your admin skills.

Hope this helps.

Hey Aurimas,

I'm really happy about where CF is heading. Lots of things were improved since it was first released and it keeps getting better.

My two cents:

1. The top menu.
2. I understand that you did tinker a lot on how to put more stuff in there, but the current separation (General Stuff / My Stuff) is a bit strange, also using 2 different fonts. I don't know it doesn't feel right. Maybe you should try think of a more elegant approach that's not so confusing. Eg. The "How it works" button is rarely used by experienced users. Why not provide a tour for the newly registered user and get it out from there.
3. There is still no help section or a way to report / track an issue with the system. There should be a support section and the "how it works" should be integrated there. I'm really missing that section.
4. I suggest that you take a look on how FaceBook did it. There are no buttons there other than those strictly needed.
5. The reputation points are oddly placed there. I know it's a white free space, but they don't fit there. Maybe placing them next to the username would work? I don't know.
6. I suggest that you should move the previous / next row at the bottom of the row. That's the first place you look for pagination.
7. I feel that the concepts boxes are not properly separated. Maybe a border or background color would work to fix this.
8. Do you feel that it's absolutely necessarily to put the submitter's icon there? I believe that it generates unwanted noise. On the mock-up there are only a few, imagine the rainbow in the real app. The name and company are cool, also the on click/hover stats are a big improvement and make the design cleaner.
9. I would also put featured member on the right side with less content. Maybe showing fewer stats, and instead of the listing, only thumbnails of his most recent work. If someone wants to know more he /she will go to his profile. You don't have to put everything on the main page. I do love the little "How to become featured", "want to be a contributor". One more vote for a help section where all this would be posted ;)
10. I suggest to give articles & resources more importance and move it to the left (where featured member is placed now). I feel that this part would be a very big thing in the future for Concept Feedback, don't shove it underneath.
11. What I'm trying to say is that, once I've clicked on featured member, I won't use that part of the website for another week. Apply this thinking on all other stuff and place the more used stuff more to the top.
12. Relating to the 2 points above, maybe it should be possible to hide / collapse some panels? Just a suggestion.
13. Search is monumental. Why not integrate categories / tags there, give it more importance, more custom search options etc.
14. There is no breadcrumbs menu or anything else (in the mock-up) to show me where I am on the site. Eg. On the first screen-shoot.
15. In the second screen-shoot, premium concepts are at the end of the menu ... I would change it to "New", "Premium", "Best", "Following". I would place a subcategory to best. Because best all time is gone in the current mock-up. I would just group "Best today","Best this week", "Best all time" under this button.
16. I like the concept page. It's much cleaner and structured than the old one. Big improvement! I feel tough that number of votes display should be on the left side (a bit bigger). Moving the button to show the votes is a bit confusing. And the number of votes of a review are also relevant for the other reviewers. I should be more visible.
17. On a side note, maybe sorting reviews by the "most critical", "most helpful" like in iTunes would be a very cool addition.
18. When you submit a review, the stars should have a label on the right side saying (passable, average, good, great) while you MOVE OVER or CLICK them. Lots of users give biased reviews and cannot accept a feedback because for some 3 stars means good and for other 3 stars means bad. In the mock-up you're showing the current rating of the concept. This is OK, but more important is to show these when people actually hover over or click those stars and submit their review.
19. I would add a "Usability" section when voting ... but that's just my little fixation :D

Overall it's a blast :D. I'm sooo excited! Great work guys!

Zeno@Graffino.