Zeno Popovici

Hey,

1. I like he overeall design of the first age. However I would highlight one of the options you would recommend to a new user. Eg. highlight "Basic" or "Mainstream". Eg: http://getsatisfaction.com/plans/ It would make things easier for a new user. Right now looks like you're offering the user to many choices. Offer one.
2. The second part of the page is not clear. What plans generate more reviews and visibility? I would recommend focusing on one. 3."Our members don't lie" ... it's a shady phrase to use on such a site. "What's our users opinion about CF" would me more appropriate.
3. Second page is a bit messy. I would redesign it completely. What if the users doesn't select an expert? The bottom of the page should update according to what the user selects.
4. I would also move the continue to payment at the botton of the selection, would give you more room to find a proper "expert" selection.

That's about it. Zeno.

Bottom line is: I find the design way to cluttered and with to scarce information (news) on the first page (only 3 articles visible ?!?).

I would design the page around the user making it easy for him to find stuff, not around page-loads. I know you're making money out of advertising, but this is not the way.

Hey Rachel,

Finally a wireframe on CF! So excited! I'm also discovering CF notes for the first time ... lazy me :)

Overall it's a classic. I understand it should be, it's a goverment agency. I would advise to take a look here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Cheers,

Zeno.

Hey Noel,

It's a big improvement over the last one. I think the more brighter scheme looks better and gives you more flexibility.

What I noticed:

1. As Nate said, the header background is kind of odd. The menu is also made up of a gradient over the same color gradient. Looks off. Nate's suggestion here might help. No big changes, just a retouch.
2. The header pic: It took me 4-8 seconds to understand it. Find something more expressive. Maybe insert the featured design there?
3. The testimonial looks good, don't really know if it should point to a particular theme, maybe the testimonial should be in a bubble and pointing to twitter feed or the author of the testimonial.
4. I don't particularly love the footer. It's big and mixes quick links with faq's and twitter. Not really related. Eg. The quick links has obsolete items like follow us on twitter ... well you have a birdie on the right ... put a link there.
5. The final most bothering thing is that you don't have any action buttons. Make people buy your stuff! Create action buttons for buying and joining your community. There is no login, no clear separation of menus. You have 2 menus there: the site navigation menu and the community menu. Separate these 2 and place them accordingly on the site.

In all I like it but a few changes would make me love it :)

Cheers,

Zeno.

Hey Mike,

I like the main idea, but right now it looks like a blog.

Home

1. The big header image: is taking a lot of space and doesn't really explain anything. I would try to combine text with images for the main banner. Also the flash is loading so cumbersome, and you can't navigate to the previous image, or stop the transitions. The main banner could be a promo tool for the best / featured works, and it could be done much easier in simple HTML / jQuery. > Bottom line: I would suggest to add minimal navigation to it and text accompanying the image. A call to action button could also be added. This would make it relevant.
2. The menu: should be clearly separated in 2 parts: 1st: the store, artists, categories etc. 2nd: the company, about, legal, etc. Right now you can't find your way around. Bottom line: the navigation is cumbersome and unclear. Try to clearly implement it and focus on the important items.
3. The content: I would suggest that you figure out what you really think is important to display on the home page. The footer is way to much. Give the users LESS options not more. The fewer the decisions they have to make the higher the conversion rate. Bottom line: decide what's important and what's not. The important stuff stays, the other gets moved on subpages. Every time you want to add something ask: Does the user really need to see this here? If the answer is maybe, toss it.
4. There are almost no action buttons on the home page.

Inner page

1. I like how it's done, what I would change is the sorting options. Try to make the sorting more accessible, a drop down is a big limitation. Bottom line: A basic sort and a pull down panel with more options done with jQuery or some other method would greatly improve usability here.
2. Popular / new artworks without a small picture there or something to give the user a sneak peek on the artwork is not really useful. Bottom line: think of some sort of visual representation for the artwork, maybe move those as rows in the body with big thumbnails like here on Concept Feedback.
3. The tag could is not helping in it's current form. I don't see the relevance of it but then again, I might be wrong :)
4. The other sort options are great! By color or orientation. This is a cool feature.

Product page

1. Again there are no action buttons. Try to review the entire site and add some action buttons for the most important stuff like "Purchase artwork", "Write review" etc.

That's about it :) Keep up the good work!

Cheers, Zeno.

Hey Noel,

This is a big improvement on your last concept! Excellent work.

What I would suggest:

1. Maybe add a footer for additional nav.
2. Get insert a dinamic sectin featuring newest themes or anything that would freshen up the page periodically (this is also good for Google).
3. Social media ... at least Twitter. (personal preference)
4. Cut down on the text. I would change the whole paragraph to "Why Choose a ThemeForce Wordpress template?" and below it add the existing features list.

As a final word, you can always improve your design, but I you have to know when to stop and launch the damn thing ;)

PS: You forgot to update the Website URL ;)

Hey there Tobias,

Overall it's a nice piece of work, here's my 2 cents:

1.The fonts used clash on each other in several parts of the sites. I would cut back on those. Especially the font of the login box. 2. The header is to crowded. I'm sure you can find a more simple and elegant way for e.g. city selection. 3. There is no hover implementation for main buttons. This is probably bad for many reasons. It should be easy to fix. 4. There is way to much text on the first page without offering a clear idea of what the site is about. Try to be more explicit using short descriptions and visual elements. 5. The city listing is just a big list, with no categories no filters. The most annoying thing is the know anyone link that opens your mail client. People should know what they're clicking on. Surprises are bad for customers.
6. Provide the user with a clear message that viewing content requires an account.

Cheers, Z.

Hey there Noel,

1. I would firstly cut down on text. You're trying to put everything on the home page. Just put the essentials and move other text to secondary pages.
2. The 2 products have no specifics, no information on how they are different, don't look like the're meant for a browser environment. Nate had some good ideas there.
3. I would go with Demo, Get it now action buttons.
4. The top menu is not visible enough, and there is no separation between the menu and the rest of the page, it's also clashes with the text logo you have there. 5.The content is OK, but again, cut down on text, include some relevant icons for each section, try to build it on 3 colums ... dunno.
5. There is no footer :) ... could be used for navigation or other useful stuff.
6. The contact form occupies a big amount of space without being really needed there. You can make it in a different format, minimal, or move it to another page.

Hey,

The first concept is crisp, simple, simply beautiful :) Don't change it ;)

Good work! Zeno.

Hey Kus,

I believe it's a well designed site. A bit too dark for my taste, but that's a matter of taste :).

1. What I don't understand it's the repetition of contact information and logo in header and footer. It's annoying at some point. A bit too much.
2. Contrast of the main page is disturbing. I would work on that to reduce the black background used there.
3. I would work with a single shade of red. The site is already heavy (at leas the home page.
4. The bullets on the inner pages don't fit the rest. I would make use of some small arrows or &raquo elements.
5. I would use the same header coloring and separation on all pages. On the 3rd screen shoot, you've changed it to plain text.

That's about it. Zeno :)

Hey :)

It's an amazing clean and good looking site. What I woud change:

1. I would increase quality of the pictures / thumbnails. Some of them are really pixelated.
2. I would also move the radial glow (the light beams) to the middle of the page. Right now they look off.
3. Try to work a bit on the drop shadows of the green buttons in the content. Right now they tend to smudge the text.
4. I would also change the image for the hr divider. It doesn't seem to fit. Maybe it's just me but the old style of the divider doesn't match the glossy rounded look of the rest of the page.
5. On the community page the search field is not aligned with the icon. It's also present in your screen shots.
6. The documentation page has a different header (rounded green background) from the rest of the pages. Is there a good reason for that? For consistency's sake :)
7. Are you sure you can't work on the mediacore logo a bit? It seems to plain to me.

Overall I thing you've done an amazing job. Congrats!

Zeno.

Hey Noel,

I really like the design. It's real awesome work.

1. What I would change are the social media icons, that don't really fit the design. I would go for icons with a vintage look, tears and dents like the rest of the page.
2. I would be real interested how you handle inside pages and pagination for news, etc.
3. I would also remove unsubscribe and handle it in the e-mail itself. People unsubscribe when reading the mail not on the site. Also I would use a different wording for subscribe, like "Sign me up now" make it more personal.
4. What would be useful information all about? It seems to me that you're just filling that space right now. If you have no use for it remove it. Design with content in mind, don't mold your content on the design.

Cheers, Zeno.

Hey Aurimas,

I'm really happy about where CF is heading. Lots of things were improved since it was first released and it keeps getting better.

My two cents:

1. The top menu.
2. I understand that you did tinker a lot on how to put more stuff in there, but the current separation (General Stuff / My Stuff) is a bit strange, also using 2 different fonts. I don't know it doesn't feel right. Maybe you should try think of a more elegant approach that's not so confusing. Eg. The "How it works" button is rarely used by experienced users. Why not provide a tour for the newly registered user and get it out from there.
3. There is still no help section or a way to report / track an issue with the system. There should be a support section and the "how it works" should be integrated there. I'm really missing that section.
4. I suggest that you take a look on how FaceBook did it. There are no buttons there other than those strictly needed.
5. The reputation points are oddly placed there. I know it's a white free space, but they don't fit there. Maybe placing them next to the username would work? I don't know.
6. I suggest that you should move the previous / next row at the bottom of the row. That's the first place you look for pagination.
7. I feel that the concepts boxes are not properly separated. Maybe a border or background color would work to fix this.
8. Do you feel that it's absolutely necessarily to put the submitter's icon there? I believe that it generates unwanted noise. On the mock-up there are only a few, imagine the rainbow in the real app. The name and company are cool, also the on click/hover stats are a big improvement and make the design cleaner.
9. I would also put featured member on the right side with less content. Maybe showing fewer stats, and instead of the listing, only thumbnails of his most recent work. If someone wants to know more he /she will go to his profile. You don't have to put everything on the main page. I do love the little "How to become featured", "want to be a contributor". One more vote for a help section where all this would be posted ;)
10. I suggest to give articles & resources more importance and move it to the left (where featured member is placed now). I feel that this part would be a very big thing in the future for Concept Feedback, don't shove it underneath.
11. What I'm trying to say is that, once I've clicked on featured member, I won't use that part of the website for another week. Apply this thinking on all other stuff and place the more used stuff more to the top.
12. Relating to the 2 points above, maybe it should be possible to hide / collapse some panels? Just a suggestion.
13. Search is monumental. Why not integrate categories / tags there, give it more importance, more custom search options etc.
14. There is no breadcrumbs menu or anything else (in the mock-up) to show me where I am on the site. Eg. On the first screen-shoot.
15. In the second screen-shoot, premium concepts are at the end of the menu ... I would change it to "New", "Premium", "Best", "Following". I would place a subcategory to best. Because best all time is gone in the current mock-up. I would just group "Best today","Best this week", "Best all time" under this button.
16. I like the concept page. It's much cleaner and structured than the old one. Big improvement! I feel tough that number of votes display should be on the left side (a bit bigger). Moving the button to show the votes is a bit confusing. And the number of votes of a review are also relevant for the other reviewers. I should be more visible.
17. On a side note, maybe sorting reviews by the "most critical", "most helpful" like in iTunes would be a very cool addition.
18. When you submit a review, the stars should have a label on the right side saying (passable, average, good, great) while you MOVE OVER or CLICK them. Lots of users give biased reviews and cannot accept a feedback because for some 3 stars means good and for other 3 stars means bad. In the mock-up you're showing the current rating of the concept. This is OK, but more important is to show these when people actually hover over or click those stars and submit their review.
19. I would add a "Usability" section when voting ... but that's just my little fixation :D

Overall it's a blast :D. I'm sooo excited! Great work guys!

Zeno@Graffino.

I love it. It's beautiful and simple and pixel aligned. Good work!

Z.

Hey Peter,

I don't get it. I understand you've used the rocket template ... but starting with this in mind, I find it really hard give feedback on something that's not remotely original. If you want a good feedback give us something finished or in a "draft" state. Don't put your content on a theme and ask for feedback. It's a -1 from me.

Other than that:

1. The header is fine and white text on black is also fine. Just don't use 100% white (if you do the contrast is too annoying).
2. The logo is a bit to plain.

Cheers, Z.

I would go for the 1st and last one. I prefer the 1st.

However try to work at the kerning / proportions so that the clothes and accessories have mathematical exact distances from the descenders of the main font.

Hey Kapil,

I like what you've done here, especially the original sorting options and the quality overall.

1. I understand that it's an online store, however I find it a bit crowded, every bit of space is used. I would try to spend some time in hiding some things that aren't being used (eg. The shopping bag on the front page), and display them only when needed. You could also collapse sorting options a bit, providing basic sorting at first and advanced options if the user wants them. etc.
2. The design has a bit to many sharp corners (every picture, every button on the first page). It's a personal preference tough. Some might like it that way.
3. The today's deal is the most disturbing element ... it's in big red ... action buttons are way smaller, the one thing missing is blinking text :). Dunno ... I would rethink that.

Other than that, the product page is my favorite page. Good work!

Hey Rajavel,

My two ideas on this are:

1. Try to work on the kerning of the text in the logo (upper part), it's not consistent.
2. Why are you using 2 opposite fonts? The main one is in straight sharp lines, the description has rounded smooth corners ... it throws the whole thing off balance.

Cheers, Z.

Hey Swarat,

I'm sorry I'm in the naysayers camp ... I just cant link the symbol to the kids ...

The stop and the red color, I see just a traffic sign.

Hey Karthikeyan,

1. I would suggest to focus on one font rather then 4.
2. I would also try to keep the whole thing cleaner, there are way to many elements on it. You don't have to put every product they sell on the banner / coupon.
3. Decide what text case you're going to use ... lowercase, uppercase ...

I like the original apple idea.

Hey,

Just hear me out: please resize your logo to 100x100 px, step back from the computer and look at it. Or just print it at that size. Is there anything distinguishable left?

I would work on it and try scale down the complexity.

There also lot's of cool typefaces out there ... make use of them. Z.

Hey Nate,

My two cents:

1. You should consider revising the color scheme. There are many places where you're using bright colors on bright backgrounds or shades of color that make the button or heading hard to read.

2. I'm sorry but I see the background pattern fading as a really bad idea. It just looks bad. I would try something else or just get rid of it.

3. You're using h1, h3 tags the wrong way. Avoid multiple h1 tags and use h3 tags for headings. Also I would suggest that you loose the tables. Tables are for tabular data.

Besides that I like the usage of negative space the clear look and the big fonts.

Cheers, Z.

Hey Julio,

I think it sends the message trough, The only thing I would change is add a tiny border to the header picture (you used a border to separate other elements), and just maybe the header is too big. Too much space there.

I like the rest.

Z.

Hey,

Just my two cents:

1. The symbol and the text do not match together. The feathers are have rounded edges and contrast (3d-like) while the text is just plain but features sharp edges.

I love the concept, but I keep looking at it and the things I explained above make it look out of place, weird.

It may be just me, but this is how I see it. I would try to make them fit together.

1. Second thing is, you should properly kern and align NEWBIRD with DESIGN. Right now the N doesn't align with the B above in any way.

Hey Swarat,

Overall I like the design, I find it very engaging, clean within trends. I like it!

What I would work on:

1. Well, first thing, I would change the laptop with a MacBook :D. They just look better ...

2. What's with the number on top right ? Phone number? Why would you put it there? Anyway it looks akward.

3. The icons in the middle bar don't fit the rest of the design. Eg.: The "Clients" icon is like windows messenger icon with a superimposed sync symbol. The icon is 3D glossy, the symbol looks 2D. The colors of the icons don't match the design.

4. The text of the call to action button (take a tour) is too dark. I would change it for a brighter color.

I might be nitpicking here, but there are some text formulations I would also change:

1. Skills = What we're good at. You are a design company not a freelancer.

2. Avaiable in = Available on. You are on face book not in Facebook.

My two cents,

Zeno.