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Nate, this is certainly a solid design, and a huge improvement over the current site. There's a lot of things I like about it, and just a couple things I don't.
Probably the biggest thing I don't like is the web 2.0 style feel - maybe it's just the diagonal lines. That stuff is done to death. But on the other hand, it's not like your audience necessarily needs some bleeding edge original style, so I don't think it's bad either. I will say it's well executed anyhow.
So here's my more specific thoughts...(See notes).
...actually after making all of my notes, I realized it's not the web 2.0 style that really bothers me, it's the "distant" tone and feel of the page. Something about it just doesn't feel personal enough for a church site.
I'm sure you're slider content will help with that, assuming you use lots of images of people and things that reflect community. But knowing what I know about Church, and that it's purpose is really about people and community, I just feel like this design is really more appropriate for something less personal, and more corporate, or a product.
I'm being pretty critical because I know you are a good designer, and also I know how hard churches have to work to overcome image and PR barriers as is. (fyi, our churches website badly needs help in a similar way. I've seen some really great stuff recently at http://www.churchbeauty.com. And also, I know in a church it can be design by committee.)
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Joel Glovier commented:Yeah, seriously. Let's shoot for some time this summer. Maybe a Saturday morning?
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Nate Hamilton commented:
That sounds good, I'll give you a holler when things slow down for me. Thanks again Joel!
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Home_blu5.png
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1
Slider...good focal point
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images
Are you planning to use images in here? I would suggest trying some images in the backgrounds of these boxes. Overall the page feels a bit "cold" to me, mostly on account of a) use of cool color pallete, and b) little use of images with people. Putting some images in here may help with that.
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3
Nav bar
Nice and simple. I would suggest adding a spot for locations up here also.
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Logo colors
The logo tones don't quite seem to match the blues used on the page backgrounds.
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highlighting events
Excellent. I think this may be one of the best features of this home page. I know church members always are looking for info on the events, and this looks like a great way to highlight that info.
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social media links
Like your incorporation of the social media links - very easy to find, and not obnoxious.
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alignment
This portion does not appear to be left aligned with the rest of your page (sticks out left too much).
Hey Joel, thanks for your rockin' review here, very helpful. This is definitely one of the harder designs that I have been trying to put together. The design has morphed quite a bit and I am actually also trying a very different version of the one I posted here. You hit it on the head when you talked about design by committee which is definitely one of the harder obstacles to overcome here. I will be posting another version of this soon and would love for you to let me know your thoughts. I'll keep you updated. I still think we need to get together for coffee at some point, it would be good to put a face to the voice :). Keep in touch, thanks again!