8 Reviews1 Vote1 Favorite513 Views
Concept Reviews
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Hi Luke, so far you have a solid site. The layout suits the type of info I could see filled it in, and your basic color scheme is okay. Here is what I think will make it better:
Adventure with color. Your current color scheme is okay, but its not doing too much for CTA. My feelings could also be coming from me seeing these colors together a lot and just want to see how you can put a spin on it and make it your own.
Logo image in the header, leave title where it is. The image would look better over with the top nav links, but the text is cool where it is.
Fonts. Well I'm just going to give you a few suggestions: Sanford if you wanna be serious yet playful, Monofonto for that serious yet down to earth vibe( I think I might use this for my next project, lol), and Lane is pretty cool too.
I guess I'll leave my opinion on some of the stuff that caught my eye in Prashant's review.
Relocation of nav menu. I'll admit it sounds good in theory, but not so as good in application. I think you have it right in the place it is in.
-The content slider. You were probably going for something like that anyway, but just wanted to add that it does look good with your site.
Well that's it for now, hope these comments help!
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Alex Colina commented:Jamal. great suggestions.
Also. I am lovin LANE!! I am going to use that soon, very versatile, a complete family Free! wow nice modern feel would look great on a news/blog or a hi-tec web. Great find
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Jamal Jackson commented:Thanks Alex, I'm using Lane in a project right now and am really liking how it looks.
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So good...
Hey Luke
Good to see you posting again! This is a vast improvement from your original design, however there are a few things that need to be tweaked, I'll add some notes.
So I have added my thoughts here, I would suggest looking at Prashant's mockup, I agree with it...
Also Like the new avatar...
Good Luck!
Notes Added to Images View
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1Alignment
Gah, Luke you should know better!, the hover state should be inline with the grid - not the text
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2Move this
to above the Nav or inline with the nav.
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3floating
why?
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Luke Marohn commented:
Its Like the Volunteer Ops, its a button, shoulda clarified sorry! :P
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4Font
use TrebuchetMS for body font
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Luke Marohn commented:
I love trebuchet! It was my other choice. This is Tahoma I think..
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5Font
and Georgia for Headings
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6These boxes
use the same effect that you have above for the slider
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7Alignment
Your out by 5px from the adjacent content on the left
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8Footer
make it FAT... not small like this, and add newsletter sign-up and social icons down here
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9Change this
to latest news / tweets
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10What?
what are little words?
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Luke Marohn commented:
I'm not quite sure, thats for like info or announcments, (replacing with tweets)
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There is some fantastic advice already for this concept so I will no repeat it.
Except it needs a little punch methinks.
Idea for punch:
DISCLAIMER: what I am about to suggest goes against every principle I have for how to use your company's logo specially as a background.....but this one is kinda generic that I think it would work.
use the sun rays as background and the family as your footer
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Alex Colina commented:
you know, I'm just coming around to this concept of big fat footers. one can have a lot of fun there and really carry through the feel, the branding and the spirit of the company to a place that was..well..a footnote.
Am I really late to this party? ;-)
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Luke Marohn commented:
really awesome, the idea is excellent, and the footer idea looks good too!
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Prashant Dubey commented:wow, Alex, you made it look even better, great job man. Footer is awesome!!
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Great wireframe
What working: - Logo placement - Button color (pops off background - Top Navigation (much better than current) - Newsletter sign-up area (key for engaging users from a persuasive perspective)
What to explore:
- Social networking (I would expect those to be at the bottom footer area). Explore Fat Footer patterns (http://patterntap.com/tap/pattern/2533544344c2d32f1f0e4e). This can result in visitors stumbling upon the website and lead to more sign-ups, etc.
- Play with different background color treatments - see if pumping up the color can generate more excitement. Right now - it's very quiet and subdued (which may not generate interest from volunteers - if you are looking to get sign-ups). Read up on the psychology of color (http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html)
- Select banner images that establish a "hero" - and tell a story about the hero (drilling into detail in a learn more button). In this example, the baby is the hero (http://alpha.patterntap.com/patterns/3952) and the meta-story is about the act of buying a dress. The visitors eye is immediately tracked to the babies facial expression (you can't help but look at it). This tells a compelling story (use the same theory in your banner design).
Great redesign... Good luck, I hope this helps!
Notes Added to Images View
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1Connect this Voluteerism to Banner
One of the banner concepts should help users understand how important Volunteering is to the organization. Have the picture show a photo of a person benefiting from the experience of volunteering (tell a story...)
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2Great section!
Engaging visitors in this way leads to more involvement. Try this same strategy with volunteers.
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3Great Trust Marker
Showing affiliations and sponsors leads to people trusting the site.
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4Use Fat Footer Concept
Nest in social networking - which may lead to volunteers signing up
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I like the flow of it. Good overall spacing too. Someone recommended the top slide. That would be good, but I think it needed a bit more space at the top.
The colors need some work. If you want to stick with the browns, how about these:
Notes Added to Images View
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1Button?
Since this is in-line with the site name, it makes me think it should be a menu item. The button look ends up throwing me off though. Looks a bit like a stuck highlight. If you want a button for volunteer opps, what about putting it in the main graphic? Also, you have volunteer opps listed twice. Once here and once above.
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2All Caps
Sure, a lot of people agree all caps are good for a title, but this title is quite long. I think upper/lower case would look better in this situation. Maybe increase the font size to stress it is a title.
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3Menu options
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4Menu options
8 items are listed. 5-7 is usually a comfortable number. Plus some of these are long and reading the titles feels a little bit like reading content. They should only require a quick scan to get the gist. Also, since it is the Nipomo rec site, do you need to save Nipomo activities/events? What about just 'Activities/Events' or even just 'Activities'?
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Alex Colina commented:
very nice color palette. this alone would give this design a lot more punch. even just a little line of that blue across the bottom of the menu would be great.
Rami, Did you use some tool to get these colors?
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Hi Luke
A good start, I must say, for the re-design.
The main display banner looking good, specially with the peel effect at both ends.
For fonts, I have suggestion to use Calibri. Refer to my attachment. I have tried to detail out few things and visualized how better it can be.
Was not happy with the wastage of the Premium space which is occupied by logo. The entire space can be utilized by shifting the design up, as shown in my quick Mock up.
The logo can be made bigger on the corner, as I have shown in the mock-up, and you may retain the typo for the logo. It is just a variation i tried out.
The menus, for a change, looks good in the mock up, maybe you can try out. I have provided the food for your thoughts.
The banner can be used to Highlight the important sections with write-up on the imagery.
Tried one with the mock up.
Well, hope this helps you and wish you all the best.
"Excuse me for the mismatches, as it is a Quick Mock up and the image was used from images, tried to make it soft in Photoshop :-)"
cheers
Prashant
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Luke Marohn commented:
Thanks a lot bro! I'm definately doing the slider, and I like the idea of a box or something below the image, I dont think it will be the navigation, but maybe a recent news sliding thing or latest tweet :D
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Prashant Dubey commented:
Oh yeah, it can be anything, specially looking to color scheme, something with tht dark background, will make the site look very 'complete' and good!! Well, try out, looking forward to see the new version...as it comes up....all the best:-)
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Alex Colina commented:
slider: nice touch!
You know Aaran Casey has a concept up that might benefit from this too:
http://www.conceptfeedback.com/concept/4820/ats-design-version-1/
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Prashant Dubey commented:
Thanks Alex. O ya, I had seen that, and you are right, it might make some difference. Will give it a try, lets see how it comes up. :-)
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In order to get people to sign up, the top-level messaging needs to be closer to the button where the call to action is. So I really suggest that you put some words that summon the action of the people that you want to sign up for this program.
The action must be conspicuous to someone that lands on the page and scans it for just 2 or 3 seconds.
I hope that this makes sense to you. Since I am not exactly sure where on this page the action is really happening, you will need to decide where that is. Please let me know whether this is clear or not and I can help further.
Frank
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Merry Christmas Luke, looks solid! I'll fill in some detail some time soon!
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Likin' the fonts bro! Thanks!!