Preliminary Critique #2

[chaytothet]

Hey Guys!

Here are my mockups for the new website, here is the original link: http://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/

This is the School District that I graduated from, I'm not sure their site has had an update since I graduated in 2010.

Here are my Redesigns, I'm happier with the Blue version, but I'm open to anything. I would like to incorporate some images for some visual interest, but I'm not sure how to because all the pictures I'm able to find are all pretty small. Maybe I should just have a images section..? I'm not sure yet.

Any and all feedback is welcome!

[Ltrueworthy]

I love Ol' Blue but I'm wondering if maybe adding some more colors to it might make it pop, one or two colors nothing crazy. Besides that I love the font and the layout. It is easy to follow and allows to the viewers to find what they are looking for quickly. I wonder if there is a way to make a search button if people need something very specific (like a magnifying glass looking thing) but that's just a thought, I really like it anyways.
Good Job!

[erika.murray]

The blue layout has a really cool style to it and the typeface is eye-catching. Your chalkboard layout is nice as well, but I feel that it targets a younger audience, whereas the blue layout targets a widespread audience. Instead of having so much space between words on the leftmost column of the blue inner page, you could tighten that up and add more information underneath. Good job!

[susielang]

Blue layout is working pretty well. Really like the typeface. Organized very well. Layout is good and easy to read.

[Instructor]

More polls! I like this trend. Ima' vote for the chalkboard one.

That chalkboard theme is really strong. It creates a fun atmosphere and establishes an educational theme right off the bat. It's also wide open to all sorts of different layouts. I like the placement of the photo slider right up at the top. That'll allow people to quickly get an idea of what these schools are all about. Your multi-column layout is good too. It establishes hierarchy and allows quick navigation of the site. The handwriting font work here too. It makes it feel like all this has been quickly scrawled on a chalkboard.

I don't think the chalkboard design needs the colored columns though. I think you could establish the same look with just text columns and, if you'd like to use accent colors, maybe style the type like it's been written with colored chalk. I'd also ditch the red background behind your image slider as well. Don't forget to play around with chalkboard and wood textures in Photoshop.

You've got a neat idea here. I like it! Good work.

[Kyler_Rose]

I deffenatly like Ol' blue over the other template, as for ways to improve ol blue, first you are going to need your nav bar on all your pages, maybe choose a different font for sub Headlines as the smaller they get the harder to ready they are.

[selvster5000]

I really like the chalk board layout! It's so cute and constructed nicely. The blue layout has great qualities too, although I feel like the chalkboard layout is a litttttttle bit stronger. I do agree with some of the comments, if you do choose the blue layout, might try some other colors, maybe a pastel orange?? Great work!

[Peelio]

The chalkboard design is visually interesting and easier to navigate than ol' blue. The chalkboard design could use some spacing to help with visual understanding of the menus and content (not having to look left to right to see everything). The design's typefaces and graphic elements really tie the chalkboard theme together nicely. The alignment of elements looks clean and neat!

[Jose_M]

chaytothet,
The blue one seems to work better. What I think it needs is a stronger level of hierarchy and a third color because it's flat with two colors and nothing is emphasized.


Jose Macias.

[SerenDark]

Version 1, the blue one, feels so much cleaner and more inviting. It's organized well and comes across clearly. But it doesn't really pop. What if you tried using other colors as accents?