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The design and purpose is very clear and organized. This site will appeal to a broad audience and the navigation seems to be well thought out.
Explore Buttons Contrasting colors might be better for the explore buttons or maybe using a consistent color for all of them. Try matching it to the dark blue background.
Search Box I would try using rounded corners and making the input text area a little smaller and change the color of the Go button to match the dark blue background.
Social Icons These seem a little out of place to me. Also with the popularity of sites these days it might not be necessary to have the names next to them. I would try laying them out horizontally and putting them above the nav links at the top right.
News and Events It would be nice to see this expanded a little and contain more information. A brief synopsis of the news instead of just the expanded title and maybe it could scroll a few more news items. This would make the front page a little more dynamic and give the user more than just links and navigation.
Bottom Section Columns There is nothing wrong with "whitespace" but the screen real estate could be better utilized by expanding the columns on the left.
Overall I think this is a great design and the colors and layout are very appealing. Well done!
Archives-Home.jpg
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1
Love the logo
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2
Maybe make the search box rounded, and the border a lighter color? also I would lose the '>' after the 'Go'
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3
News Navigation Usability
I would maybe put a forward & back button here so people can cycle within the news.
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4
Social Links
Maybe put this in the header, after contact us link to free up a little space
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5
Align the 5 columns
I would align the 5 columns (except the 'Connect with us' links) with the colored boxes above to make the layout more uniform.
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Verteran Photo
I am a graphic designer for military agencies, and they are nutty about showing one service over another. I would recommend not showing with this picture. Instead, perhaps, show the very tops of the military seals - in this order - army, marine corps, navy, air force (date they were 'started') you can download them here http://www.defense.gov/multimedia/web_graphics/
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7
Too young
I would use a teacher here, not a student.
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8
subtle
I would use a more subtle color here. it is competing with the other colors on the page
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9
No gradient
I love this news and events feature. I would try to not have a gradient on it. If you want to stick with the gradient, maybe pull the same effect you have on the "connect with us" icons? Or use the gel styling you have on the buttons above?
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10
Texture
could you put a very (very) light texture in the back - similar to some of your other concepts? I think it would really add to the dimension of this design.
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11
The coloured columns
I love these columns. They stand out, and let people know that they are the main part of the site. They also have nice pictures
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12
The bottom links
I have seen these showing up more recently, and they work really well. If you dont want to go to one of the main 5 links, then there is more choice for you down here! Not only that, but you have done them really nicely too.
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13
The rounded corners
These also add a huge amount to a design, and yours haven't failed to do that.
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14
I dont like the logo
I dont know if you want to, but I think the logo could be better, even if it is just a modernised version, it would make the site fully complete
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15
I dont like this bar
The actual bar is fine, it is just the fact that it goes all the way to the edges that makes it look slightly less good than it could. If you chopped off about 20px both ends, and put rounded corners on, it would look amazing
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16
Shop online horizontal alignment needs to match
Apart from I think all this text should be left aligned. Also all the boxes need to match in their horizontal alignment. Shop Online is currently higher than all the other boxes.
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17
body copy in boxes to move down a bit
The body copy feels very tight to the headings in the boxes. If you get rid of the bottom separated area with the button and incorporate the entire box as a 'button' then the body copy can move down and have more space to breathe. This will also help the headings to have more impact and to stand alone a little more which helps their readability and useability
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18
columns all unequal down here
I can see how difficult this is to solve but it bothers me right now that all the columns in the bottom look to have unequal column widths.
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Contrast
I would have buttons with a little more contrast to stand out from the background.
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20
Lighter background
i would choose a lighter background to improve text readability.
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21
5 Columns
Try to reduce one column and then align all 5 columns with the columns on the top. It will give a more organized look to your layout. Think of the 5 columns as a grid to your website and follow them to make all things match together.
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22
aligned
Align the logo to the beginning of the first column and the end of the logo should be aligned with the end of the second column
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23
search box
You can improve your search box by increasing the height and by choosing a lighter border. Also remove the symbol ">" from Go button. Also you can separate search box and go button and align them this way: search box align with the beginning of the fourth column and go button aligned with the end of the last column. Increase with of the search box accordingly.
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24
Lighter background
improve readability but choosing a lighter background.
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25
line
remove this line.. it will give a more lighter look to your layout.
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news title
the end of the news title should match the end of the first column
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27
explore buttons
why not the customization of the word explore. it's the same in all columns and it would be better if could have a more friendly message.. even better if the message could be different for all columns.
