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Concept Reviews
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first of all, I'm not sure about the illustration u have up there- it kills the whole site idea.. why the lady should be there and even if she insist, why this tempting look.. put her actual picture there.. this is a blog and a blog about Project Management- and this idea should be taken seriously- this kind of illustration kills the whole seriousness..
www.lynda.com could be an example where there is an illustration of this lady and the site is all about training materials..
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Overall, I think it's a nice direction and suited to a female demographic. It is engaging and friendly.
The layout itself is fine, but I'm struck by the illustration of the character herself. I get that the author wants to use an illustration and I think making a character is a really great idea - and one that can be branded and used for a variety of purposes. But this character is a little too high up on the hotness scale - she's sexy, her blouse is low cut and open, she's got model eyes... it's not the professional project management, dressed for the office, look that she should portray. I'm not saying make her ugly or unappealing, I'm just saying dress her less like Barbie and more like Hillary Clinton, and put some experience in her face.
Also, the nav bar links aren't as relevant as I'd like. "who am I?" shouldn't be the first link, I don't think. Put the forum first, and perhaps some link to other resources. The site promises "stepping into" so I think it's for people who want to enter this category, learn more, improve professionalism, etc. So I'd like to see more depth here. I also think you should move "Advertise Here" to your right hand column, or at the very least, get rid of "here" since it implies advertising on the nav bar.
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Rupnarayan Bhattacharya commented:Thanks Richard, your suggestions are really good, I am not very good at drawing that is why I took this illustration from Istockphoto. The client also likes it. But your point is really good. I shall work on that. About the navbar links they are given by the client but surely I shall have a chat with the client about your points. Those notes are really usefull. Thanks again.
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The header looks good!
Also the sidebar is spaced really well.
I would focus on the design of the individual post. Work on creating a design that really helps each post become it's own entity.
Keep at it my friend!
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Rupnarayan Bhattacharya commented:
Thank you Benjamin, but making each post become it's own entity can be a little heavy on the page. Mu client want it as clean as possible, but surely I shall try to implement your idea once to see how it goes with the design.
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Benjamin Charity commented:Well it definitely doesn't need to add any noticable size to the page. I wasn't meaning to suggest images. Merely a design that separates them. This can easily be done with a couple lines of CSS
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Rupnarayan Bhattacharya commented:
ok, I misunderstood, Please don't mind. I tried to use the icons area as a separator, because another line below that was not looking good, any other idea for separating the two posts?
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I agree with others, that it should look more serious. Use a photo of her, and if you can: arrange a professional session to have a variety of studio photos to choose from, with some calm colour palettes. Now it looks a bit like a blog of a young secretary aspiring to be a project manager one day ;)) I also think that the background in header has too many details, these patterns are maybe not necessary... again, looks like a teenager's room and desk. I think that a simple gradient would do, and would expose her photo/portrait...
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Rupnarayan Bhattacharya commented:
I fully agree with all of you. I have already started a new header design with her photo on it, I shall post it here soon, expecting reviews of that design from you too :), thanks for the review.
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The basic design isn't terrible but it's pretty uninspiring. It doesn't make me want to read more or find out about the person behind the site.
A few things to consider:
Add a description of the purpose of the site
Add a reason to read the website
Add a block in the sidebar about the author along with a real photo
Include pictures in every blog post
Add extra line height to the post content
Change the forum link from 'SIPM forum' to simply 'forum'. There's no point abbreviating the site name that is on every page, and it may just confuse people. It took me 10 seconds to work it out, and many say that's how long it takes for someone to load, and leave a site.
Featured Blog? What's this for? Does it benefit the readers? Does it encourage them to stay on the site? Make sure everything has a purpose.
Also (and this isn't relevant to the design) - I noticed that there is jargon in the post title. I don't know what the target audience is but it's not going to work for non project managers. I am someone who has done a bit of project management in the past and I don't know what PMP stands for. I may just be ignorant, or it may be an abbreviation for something I do know, but you should never assume you know what is being talked about.
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Rupnarayan Bhattacharya commented:
Incredible review Ben. Right now I am working in the second version of this design and all of your points will be rectified in that design. Going to post that new design very soon. About the " featured blog " it is actually client's choice . She wants to show the blogs of other project managers in that area. But I agree it should not be in that place. I shall talk with her about that. About the content I shall discuss with her about your points. I shall be waiting for your review in the modified version too.
Great suggestion, even I was thinking about doing something with her picture at the header. Thanks for the review, I am working on your points.