Project One Roughs - Preliminary Critique

[donnalouwho]

Hi all,

I did two very different designs for my roughs. I have one showing simplicity with blocks and bold colors and the other with a more vintage inspired feel, using neutral colors and interesting type to go with my design. I hope it works with it, I went back and forth between several different fonts.
My inspiration website links are here: (yes, of course, there is a wine one!)
http://lawineagency.com/family-of-wines/ - I found this one had very creative fonts and i liked the black and white design with sporatic spots of color. I also liked the layout.
http://www.pablozarate.com/ - I particularly liked the structure on this design paying close attention to the block designs and the simple use of type.

[jennybreitrick]

Wow- Great job on your two roughs! They look amazing. The one that I like the best is the second one. I love how you incorporated the images together and used them cleverly in your buttons. There is nothing that I would change on this! It kind of gives me that Lemony Snicket kind of feel to it, way cool. Good Job!
jen

[Alexey M]

Awesome design, Donna. My favorite is the second one. Very nice composition, smart idea and representation of you.

[nunezm]

Hi Donna,
Great designs My favorite is the second layout very original I have never seen one like that. It really expresses who you. Like the images that you used for the different sections!!!

[gokudera08]

awesome as always Donna i always find your work really hard to critque it always looks so good.

[mel_nunez]

hi Donna you did a great job with both of your designs they look really good!!

[mawpe]

Hi Donna, these both look like you've been designing websites for awhile, both very pro looking. I lean towards the first one because it is so clean and it gets right to the point. really great work on both!

[DustDjinn]

I love the second layout, it's fresh and creative. I think you should put your email in a better place where it is more visible. If I liked your work, I want find a way to contact you easily.

[rmosley]

I really love the second layout. I agree with its originality. It is easy to read and navigate, and inspires me to go into your homepage further!

[I'mNicole]

Heya Donna.

On the first one, I really like the compartmentalization and how you've arranged your boxes. The picture you chose I think is really interesting too, because it immediately draws my eye but it leaves me wondering, too. How you use the different colors for your links and the bold red in your header image is great. The actual "who I am" content paragraph is a little small; I can read it, but it feels like it takes effort. The same thing with the TMCC part up top and your email address at the bottom. It kind of feels like those things were put in just because they had to be, but they had no real part in the design at all. Maybe having it all as a line at the bottom and topping off the inverted-triangle style you've got going on would help.

One the second, I love the glasses and the perfect image placement behind them (and not just because I wear glasses an am therefor biased). The color scheme works great together too. I'm not a huge fan of the font you wound up choosing though. It doesn't quite feel like it matches the vintage style you were going for, and I'd be curious to see which other ones you were considering. I also think it might be more interesting if you didn't have the word links to go with your pictures. The pictures you chose seem to be clear enough on their own without needing the words (except for possibly the "inspired by" one, but I'm not sure what else you could use).

Personally, I like the second one better! And I really like the structure of Pablo Zarate too.