Project Three Preliminary Critique

[ravens.way]

Here are my sites finally. I had some trouble trying to take my ideas from paper to computer. I experimented more on my design 1 and made sure to limit my font styles to be more obvious that there is only three. Texturing my font on previous projects made it seem like I had more font styles than I did. I really like my design 1 the most.

[raoki]

I like your both of designs.
I'm slightly leaning more on the first one because it's safer to use, means its overall positioning is better than another one. Only one minor thing I'd say for the first design is about the typefaces you used. I can see three different typefaces and I guess the one used on the left navigation is not necessary because it's kind of harder to read compared to other two typefaces.

The colors you picked for the second design work very well and make the pages look beautiful, but you need to put some space between phrases of the top right navigation or just get rid of it.

As the project sheet shows, the required pages we should create are
- program overview page
- classes
- certificates and degree
- instructor bio's
- gallery of student art

so I think you can put them in your navigation instead of others not required to show for this project. It's up to you, but I think it'll be easier

[lornrocks]

I like both of your designs, but I feel like they could be combined into one unique design, as there are benefits and cons to both. The first design has a bit of a look to it that's a lot like what we're currently redesigning, although I love the color scheme and the image header you've chosen. I caution against using Papyrus as a font, though. It's just...overdone. And designers hate it.

The second design has a cool layout and a nice color scheme but can be a bit hard to read with the way you placed the images and text. Combining this layout with the text placement of the first design might be a cool idea. I would go with whichever color scheme you like best.

[dnorwood]

I agree with you...design 1 is much more visually appealing. You did a good job with the contrast and color against a dark background. Two things stand out though: The staggering of your pictures on pg2 (course offerings) is off. The left one needs to come up or the right one needs to come down. The other thing is the long stretch of text across the page. It would be easier to read if it were to be put into two columns. Other than that, I think it's great.
Design 2 has a good layout, but it is pretty standard. Except for the pictures on that pg2 (course offerings), it could be for any TMCC program.
Good luck,
Denise

[Instructor]

I think I prefer your first design better. I like the larger photo banner at the top and the use of contrast, both subtle and obvious. You have excellent use of margins throughout. Your navigation is easy to find and use and your information is well laid out and easy to read on both your home page and inner page. I also like your color choices, they work well with the photos and layout. The subtle purple in the left column in particular is really working nicely.

The only thing that isn't really working is the font. I think the design would be better served by a set of clean sans-serif typefaces. Perhaps one typeface in bold, medium, and light would work as well.

Nice work!

[kaycee_weddell]

These turned out really well. I like the colors you used especially the purple and the white. It is professional and clean looking however they look similar to the site we are redesigning in that they are very content heavy. Try adding in some background images, and maybe even some of your student work! Great start!

[dzynecin88]

I'm leaning toward your first design - which I think you have marked design 2. I like the navy and purple and the contrast you've created. I think you could combine some elements from your second design if that's the one you prefer, with the first design to add a little spark beyond the imagery you used at the bottom of the page. Just some little unexpected or organic addition might be kind of cool.

[ariaaearnest]

Hello Gwen,

I really like your first design. I've noticed you added the other programs but I think for this project you just need to do the graphics program. I would also stick to just one navigation bar. Too many can be distracting. I would also go with a different font for your layout. But other than that your layout is very clean and looks nice.

Aria

[gr8ful1]

Hmmmm, I like elements of both of your designs. I think your design with the white background looks a little more complete and refined to me. The layout seems more cohesive and readable. I do prefer the graphics on your other design though, they look more original and less stock to me. My only suggestion is that your horizontal navigation bar seems squished, it looks like you tried to incorporate all of the original TMCC site navigation links. I did the same thing in the beginning of my designs, then realized for the requirements of this project I probably only needed half of them Good Job!