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Concept Reviews
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You requested a longer review, but probably this is going to be short because I can't see a lot to improve with this design. Overall I think only some more detail work is required.
For example:
The gray boxes on the right at the top header image might need a more interesting starting point, e.g. some bold heading or so; Something more engaging
The arrow inside the arrow circle symbol you are using all over the site seems to be not perfectly centered
- Secondary links or contact information above the main navigation bar might not only improve usability but also look quite professional and in case of e.g. a telephone number very open
I guess the top header images in the final version wont be cheesy stock images as right now
The search bar seems to need a few more final touches, especially the shadow seems to be a little too strong and straightforward, and maybe a turning that blue thing at the right into a search button might increase usability
The Featured Publications section looks good, but the heading typography and / or styling could be even better; The section looks a little iphonish, but not too bad
The sidebar headings and boxes could have a little more detail work, nicely styled bullet points, headings, better links, but I guess all this is work in progress
The blog posts themselves also might have a little more final styling, but thats also to come I guess
The only general thing I could criticize is that there's a little of a clash between the "grunge-texture design world" and the "shiny-button design world", especially noticeable at the lower part of the sidebar, but well managed for example at the top
Hope this is useful...
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First a few general things. I like the texture in the background. It is a little broken, but I'll assume that is a result of this being a draft.
I'm not a fan of the color scheme. I think using a slightly darker orange might work better, there is good contrast between hue (orange and blue) but you are lacking contrast in terms of saturation and luminosity. Your blues appear to be a little inconsistent, but not different enough to appear as unique colors (i.e. category highlight vs. FP bar).
The design looks a little disjointed. I like the cleanliness and clarity, but it doesn't have a lot of togetherness. A few examples:
The blue caption on the top picture doesn't seem to fit. It has very little margin on either side inside the gray box. This should either flush out or maintain equal distance from the edges of the box to the edge of the picture and gray container.
The header and "featured publications" section are a few pixels wider than any of the content areas, which make them look like a mistake. These should either be more pronounced or they should line up with the content.
To me the "featured publications" looks like a header of another section, but I think it is actually supposed to be a section itself correct? The blog posts look like they fall under "featured publications."
In addition to defining the publications vs. blog areas, I think you need some kind of divider between blog posts. This might be as simple as a bit more white space, or some kind of rule might be in order as well.
Something is bothering me about the sidebar areas (categories, tags, etc). I think the two boxes should probably be consistent with each other, and the spacing needs some work within the tags box. The "read more" links would work better as either links or buttons. The orange looks like a highlight, not a header (which is my interpretation of what it is supposed to be).
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Michael Gunner commented:Hi Patrick, thanks for your review.
They directed to me in the brief a website that they particularly liked, and the colour scheme of that website is what they have pinpointed as really liking - so my colour scheme is almost identical which is why I chose it. I see what you mean between the different blues though. I did want to use different blues to distinguish different features but I guess at the moment it's lacking consistency and definitely needs tweaking.
I'll definitely add more margin to the caption - good point there.
The reason why the header and featured publications bit are wider is actually because there is padding on the grey boxes at the top and on the sidebar, I think part of the issues is that the Twitter bit lines up with the padded sections when really it should line up with the menu bar and header. Or maybe I should give those two elements the same padding as the others.
Good idea with the divider, I thought the space I'd put was enough but maybe just a subtle line would help.
With regards to the tags, I really didn't pay them any attention as the tags are done by Wordpress, not me, so it seemed to me a waste of time to spend ages putting together a tag cloud. I guess you're right about the orange, but I feel maybe when there are more sidebar boxes with more dividers it might help with the continuity, I'll see how it looks.
Anyways, thanks very much for your review I really appreciate it :)
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positive: clean layout
negative: terrible background texture choice, misalignemnets (see the right alignment for the top orange nav and gray bands under)- overall terrible alignment.
- i hope it was more than one sentence my friend.
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Michael Gunner commented:
Jared.
I am looking for helpful, detailed critical review of my design. I am not looking for one sentence reviews. I thought I had made that abundantly clear but obviously not - perhaps you have difficulty with English.
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Patrick Niebrzydowski commented:the problem with reviews like such isn't so much that they aren't helpful. You can certainly be helpful in a sentence or two. However, this site is supposed to be about actionable reviews. "A terrible background texture choice" is definitely a useful comment, but it provides no help for making progress in your design. Why is a bad choice? What would be a better choice, etc...
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Michael Gunner commented:
I suppose I'm just frustrated and a little snappy. I just would have thought after I'd specifically, practically begged, for better reviews I'm still getting these short little things that on the whole don't really offer me the guidance and suggestive help I really need.
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Jared P commented:Mr Micheal Gunner - as you commented "perhaps you have difficulty with English" and i am offended. - i think this statement is totally pathetic like your design. if you can not take a critical feedback, don't post your shit here. Remember you are getting free advise here and you should try to get best out of it rather than commenting on someones ability to give you a 'free' advise.
i did say i did not like your background and i did point out where i saw the issue with the alignment. and in my mind, that is a 'good enough' feedback- it may be not as big you wanted but it did make sense. and of course, i did say the positive thing about your design and it was your layout..
be sensible my friend, you just got frustrated when someone said something bad about your design- when u go to real word and when you work with a real client on a real design project- you will be thrashed on daily basis - what you gonna do then-- make comments about your clients English or simply cry? grow up and take every feedback in a positive manner and don't be such an ass.
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Michael Gunner commented:
What can I say? I never meant that comment to be offensive in any manner. If anything it was said in jest but if you are offended than perhaps I should apologise? On reflection of your foul mouthed tirade however, I don't think you deserve it. I quite clearly, above, acknowledged I was a bit snappy, but perhaps you chose to ignore that. No, I don't think your review was particularly helpful, yes you made one comment about my texture but your comments are fairly vague e.g."terrible layout" - what I am looking for is someone to say the layout is bad - but then go on to explain WHY it is bad, e.g. not enough padding on the picture,the columns are too wide, or whatever, and then make suggestions on how to make it better. And I thought the manner of the line "i hope it was more than one sentence my friend." was particularly sarcastic. But I thought, maybe I am misinterpreting it so I chose to ignore it. You look back through my reviews, and your reviews, and you see if there is any noticeable difference.
If you feel what I said is offensive that is fine, me personally, every time I go to France people say my French is bad, do I get offended? Most certainly not.
As for calling me "pathetic" and an "ass", and calling my work"shit", and telling me to go into the "real world" I can safely say such slanderous, silly comments neither offend me nor bother me because I know them to be completely unfounded and untrue. I've already worked with plenty of clients including this one - thank you very much. You can think I can't take criticism as well, but what about the other reviewers? They gave me criticism too and I acknowledged it, and you will see the same throughout my work. And yes, I do get free advice, but you know what, in return people get free advice from me and I put a lot of effort into the reviews I give, as you would see by looking at them. I give a hell of a lot more than I get back in return.
Good day to you Sir, if you wish to reply to this with another abusive rant feel free, but I will not honour you with a reply. All you had to do is explain to me in an adult manner that you were upset about my comments and I'd have apologised.
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Jared P commented:
alright alright - i overreacted and i apologize for that.
Still i don't like your background texture choice though.
Hi Tobias, thanks for your review!
I agree with the grey boxes, I guess it could be as simple as just changing some of the text to bold. I'll have a look and see what I come out with. Good idea about secondary links above the main nav bar too - I'll see what the client thinks.
The blue thing is meant to be a button - I forgot to add the little magnifying glass...oops!
I am wondering about typography...but I'm gonna be limited to just those few web fonts unless I use text in images. The problem with that is continuity, the body text ideally needs to use the same fonts.
I know what you're saying about the grungeyness, but the texture is bamboo (lightened up) so a grungey look there was definitely not intended, more of an almost whitewashed wood look. They really want use of a bamboo texture and I thought a white background a little plain! I see where you're coming though, I'll experiment with other textures.
Thanks!