Project One Critique

[susielang]

Hello,

Here are my two roughs for my website.

I did two concepts-
the first is a black and white web site. I really like the contrast and a retro style- that can be seen in the typefaces I chose. I also chose a black and white site because I wanted the content to really "pop" and also spotlight the typography which is something I enjoy experimenting with. I looked at a lot of black and white web sites and really like how many of them have a lot of style, elegance, and also a sense of being timeless. The images on the site will be in color. I think with the black background that will stand out a lot. I wanted the layout to be simple and easy to navigate but also having an impact and drawing the view in.

For the second concept- I experimented with a simple clean layout with a turquoise color scheme. I was going for something that is very direct and clean. With this page, it focuses more on the images. I was trying to get colors to contrast with the turquoise. I used a turquoise background to highlight the paragraph where I introduce myself to draw the viewer to that part of the page.

http://www.webdesigndev.com/10-creative ... -websites/

I like how these sites have a lot of contrast and also how the layouts are done to show the typography and the images.


https://w3layouts.com/agency-author-por ... -template/

I like the simplicity and the color scheme. It has a very clean look to it.

To be honest, I am liking more how the black and white site concept turned out. Room for improvement??

[Instructor]

I'm always a sucker for a good high contrast layout and your second one delivers that in spades. Go with it!

I like they typographic contrast is has, too. The script "Hello!" plays off your sans-serif titles and bodycopy very nicely. Your fonts are well chosen both for legibility (your bodycopy) and readability (Hello!). The navigation is well placed, easy to see, and use. The high contrast makes all of your type easy to ready. That same black background will serve as a nice scrapbook style background to show your images off. I like their placement too. You can use them to highlight concepts and ideas in your bodycopy to great effect.

Really, the only issues I see are with layout and margin. Move your bodycopy a bit over to the right to give your "Hello!" some right margin. Make sure you have enough bodycopy so the baseline of your bodycopy paragraph matches the baseline of your project links buttons. Add a bit more bottom margin to your project links buttons and bodycopy paragraph to give a little more clearance between them and the photos. Maybe do your "SGL" logo in your fun "Hello!" font too.

Good effort!

Don't forget to add your name to your forum sig.

[chaytothet]

ooOOooOOoo! I like these!

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Hello! one though. Simple, yet your eye knows EXACTLY where to go.

A splash of color might not hurt though, I feel like it wouldn't be misplaced. Yellow would stand out super nicely!

[selvster5000]

Elooz.

Your second design is money. I love the black and white style, it's so classic.
The overall layout is spaced out well, however I would justify the text box
in the upper right hand corner. Maybe go down a couple text sizes too??
Overall though great work!

[fjbo]

Definitely this one is a strong design:


I agree with the previous replies supporting this designs. I like the styling, the layout and the high-contrast-and-classy color palette. Your current style is going to let imagery pop-up really good.

The one thing I suggest is more spacing between sections. Try to find a constant ratio that works good to create visual group for your Links and Projects sections (assuming they are 2 different groups/sections like in your other design) because I feel like it creates confusion even with the text as "Projects Links" could be easily interpreted as a single header.

I think this will be really good once it's done.

[Pearl_Underwood]

I really like the simplicity of the second rough. I like everything about it, but there is something about the Hello font that I'm not feeling. Everything else is awesome! I love your other font.

[Ariesboxsye]

Second for some reason screams old time noir. Regardless, the simple black and white color I wouldn't change but I would find a way to play with the fonts more so, not the links leave those for the over all theme.

[CarnutianDragon]

Hi Susie,

Your second design is awesome! The contrast works so nicely and combined with the bold "Hello!" quickly catches my eye. I would suggest that you condense the image portion of your design as it makes it feel bottom heavy.

Great job and I can't wait to see the finished product!

[Kyler_Rose]

Over View
Overall I think your designs are alright. your first template still needs alot of work. The better of the two i would say is your second Template.

Template 1
The desgin is very bare and missing a lot of structure to it. some of the things need to be moved around so that there is more balance to it. there is to much blank space in the desgin.
Template 2
Overall this template has a little more balance compared to the other sheet. To improve it maybe play around on where the links and project button will go change them up and see what you like.

[erika.murray]

Hi Susie,

Both of your layouts are really clean, which is great! I personally like your second design due to the balance. The first just has too much white space in between your content. However, I really love that color that you used in your first design -- maybe you should put pops of that color + different colors in your second design?