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Concept Description
- Objective:
- High end, sharp, usability
- Target Market:
- Home owners aged 25-65
- Categories:
- website design web design
The contractors would like their website to look high-end and sharp to match their high quality and craftsmanship in home remodeling. They need an online presence to convert sales leads by directing them to visit their website and project section to view their best work, and they'll hopefully attract new customers via search engines. Their competitor websites are atrocious so this design should make them stand out.
Important notes: The house/garage logo were supplied by the client. The font type, upper case and small caps Contractors are also part of their original branding. The only flexibility I have here are the colors of the house and company name.
--- UPDATED: ---
Thanks for your initial feedback. I've updated the design to fade out the wood grain from the middle of the page to the bottom and I experimented with 2 different colors in the footer. Please let me know which of these are preferred. Also, there will be a mixture of pictures, from bathrooms to basements to kitchens, in the picture area so there will not always be such a heavy dose of wood grain. Thank you.
Previous Versions
Version 1
Concept has received the needed feedback and has been closed by the user.
Concept Reviews
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The darker brown suits it better I think. Where as the little colored footer kind of takes away from the images and content.
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I like it. I think it fits your objective. It looks high-end to me. The huge image showcases their work really well. And the navigation is very simple.
I don't know if you're in charge of SEO, just know that you'll get better search rankings by linking the text within the list of services, as opposed to 'learn more'/'read more'. Just a sidenote, though.
Overall, well done.
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Andy E commented:I appreciate the feedback and yes, I will link the text in addition to the main button to the services page.
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The light colored footer has a better contrast and makes the footer area stand out compared to the darker one. However, i think either one is fine since the footer is not the important part of the site.
I think the Projects link should be next to Home instead of Services since that's the goal page. You might consider making the Projects link stand out from the rest to highlight it.
I like the color scheme but it blends in too much with the photo, so the photo doesn't stand out from the design. Perhaps a darker wood background would improve the contrast between the photo and the design.
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Andy E commented:
Yep, I'm still stuck on the footer colors. The dark one makes the site very dark, but the light one may be too light. My original was in the middle, but no one seemed to like it! I will move the Projects link next to home as you mentioned - I overlooked that. I think I chose a bad sample photo here because only a fraction of the photos will show wood.
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I love the color scheme. I wish you were given an opportunity to redesign the logo as I don't think it says anything about the company. Just a thought, what other photos might be in the main area there? I ask this because right now with the wood of the cabinets I'm reading the design as heavy on the wood grain, but if another image was there (say a marble bathroom) the page could have a different feel. As far as the light verses dark footer: the light one draws too much attention to it. The dark one's brown seems too dark, maybe a level halfway between the too. Also, this is me being picky, but the roof on the top of the footer is dead center in the design, which looks a little weird given that the text above it is 2/3 and 1/3. Maybe moving it the whole way to the right would help balance it with the house logo in the top left. It would then also point out the Services Overview.
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Andy E commented:
Thanks for the review, pal. If the client didn't already have a ton of business cards and t-shirts, I would have talked him into a logo redesign. We can always make a switch when his inventory runs out...
Yes, we will feature many other types of photos that will not feature wood so it will not blend in with the rest of the design. Take a quick look at the footer in the old version of this - it's in the middle as you mentioned.
I'll play around with the roof, maybe even replace it with something else. Any ideas? I rather it not be a flat line across...
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I think the brown is to dominant. I like that blue in the logo. You should use it more for accent and to help draw you're eye.
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Andy E commented:
Thanks for the feedback. Any ideas on where else I should use the blue?
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Very clear and simply presented, easy to read through. I do think the background is overkill though, especially if all the images in the featured section are going to be very wood heavy.
I like the darker footer better, and I think you could go right across the page with it instead of boxing it in.
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Andy E commented:
Most of the images will not feature wood so hopefully there won't be much blending with the different woods. I'll try the footer across the page - I originally didn't think it would look right since nothing else would stretch across the background.
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The dark footer looks much better to me. The page still feels like it needs to be lightened up more. Think about putting your content area on a white background instead of resting it on the dark wood.
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Andy E commented:
I'll check it out on a lighter background, but I was trying to avoid making separate containers like another design I'm working on. And, I didn't think it would look right if I just extended the white from the image border down to the footer. I'll play around some.
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Hi Andy,
I like what you've done - it fits the bill. I do prefer the darker footer, however, I also agree with Nate and would be interested to see some other background options below the main image (white, tan, etc.) - the woodgrain does get a bit overwhelming.
From a purely practical standpoint, I would think about adding their phone #/contact info to the upper-right corner.
Good luck! Andrew
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Andy E commented:
I appreciated the feedback, Andrew. Definitely going to add the phone number in the upper right and I started experimenting with a light, solid color for the content area. I'm torn between the original idea and the one I'm working on, but I'll post an update soon.
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Andy I think what you've got here is a really solid concept. I like it.
The design is pretty minimal, with plenty of "visual treats." The background looks good. I like how you have used minimal graphic effects - it works here.
I think I'm a fan of the lighter footer myself, although perhaps you could stand to put some more white space around the headings (about, contact, links, suppliers), mainly top and bottom margins. When you have a minimal design, always good to use plenty of white space.
The biggest thing that bugs me on the overall layout is I would like to see your menu nav items vertically centered/aligned with your logo in the header.
Just for a little effect, you could also use a 5 - 10 pixel top border on the page matching the color of either the footer, the featured content frame, or the blue in the KEHAN type. That one's just an idea for free, not a big suggestion.
Great work so far!!
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Andy E commented:
Thanks for the feedback Joel. The empty space sounds good. I wonder if the alignment will look better by adding the telephone number in line with the logo... I'll also experiment with a top border. I'll likely post an updated version soon. Have a good one.
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Thanks.