Project Three Preliminary Critique - Reload

[dbranby]

Here are two concepts for the initial landing page for the GRC program at TMCC. One concept was to make it highly visual, featuring lots of real student work in 160x160 thumbnails, as a way to show what students are doing. The second concept was to make it much more testimonial-like, featuring someone from the industry commenting on the program and its graduates. Thanks for looking.

[lornrocks]

I like the homepage! Very modern and cool. I like the photo with the quote. The nav bar and the header and all that look a lot like what we're already redesigning. If the point is a complete overhaul, I would experiment more with colors or placement, perhaps.

I like your bottom idea, with the collage, but I feel like the white boxes look strange, because they're touching on the inside which sort of messes up the mosaic pattern you have going on. Maybe make one of the boxes a different color? Or add borders? Just a suggestion.

I like what you have so far!

[dnorwood]

I like the comp 1 best. It shows what can be done with the GRC program rather than reading what someone else has to say about it. Also the headline on it is visually interesting.
Denise

[raoki]

I think the first concept looks better to me. I'm not sure if we need the TMCC's entire navigation, but it would look more visually entertaining if you redesign the navigation too

[ravens.way]

I like both of your designs! However, your comp 1 is my favorite because of the use of samples of students works. Your design are easy to read and have a nice use of space. I love the use of quotes on both of your designs.

[kaycee_weddell]

I really love your second design where you took images of everyone's sites and made them into a collage. It is very interesting and fun to see. I like how it shows student work because it is a big part of the program. This also gives your site kind of an edge and solves the problem in a unique way. Great job!

[Instructor]

You didn't need to use TMCC's navigation for the project, however you've done a fantastic job integrating it in both your designs.

I slightly prefer your first design. I like it's contrast and simplicity. The large photo/quote area on the left can serve as a great way to reinforce the page content as well as show off student designs and artwork. I like the use of quotes as well. It allows past students and teachers to speak to future students through the website. The "secondary" navigation that is used to navigate the GRC part of the website is pretty easy to find and use on the home page. The typography is easy to read and well presented. I like the split between sans-serif and serif type to separate out (and add warmth to) the quotes and the information on the website.

My only real issue is that I loose the secondary nav a little bit on the inside page. Maybe enlarge or make green the page title and/or add an under line under the navigation as a mirror to the overline you have on the home page?

BTW, is A. Random Persona the graphic design equivalent of Alan Smithee?

Great work!

[gr8ful1]

I like the middle design with all of the student work. It catches my eye and is visually interesting. The paragraphs on the bottom look awkward to me though, they are close together so it is strange to read as two paragraphs that are continuous, if that makes sense. I may take them out completely and make something like an "enter" button, or shrink the artwork section a little to make enough room for a readable body copy. Your top navigation also looks exactly like the current sites navigation, I may switch it up a bit. Good job!

[dzynecin88]

I really like the second set of designs showing off student work. It provides a variety that engages my attention and it would be a great way to be able to freshen the site periodically. Maybe there could be a combination of student work and quotes...