Project One Preliminary Critique

[Arisa]

Hello all, this is my preliminaries for Project 1. Personally, I really like the ones that have a solid concept.

The concept of my web site is dreams because my thoughts and experiences are strongly reflected in my dreams. For the website with the ocean as a motif, I thought that the sensation of the body when dreaming is very similar to that of being in the ocean.

I inspired from these sites.
https://www.traderjoes.com/
http://ellensriley.com/
https://jarritos.com/

[jacklyn_yamine]

Hi Arisa,
These both look really good. I think the second one works better at the moment because the background of the first is kind of busy with all those pieces of imagery and the colored boxes behind them don't seem to be solid enough for the text to be separate enough from the background. I really like the second one best because of the use of more solid colors, and that ocean illustration is awesome, but again, I think the white boxes behind the project texts could be a little more solid and less transparent.

[ItsAllisxn]

Hi Arisa,

These are really cool! Personally, I like you second one that you've created. It's really hard to replicate water in design so awesome job with that. I do agree with Jacklyn though, the text is a bit hard to see. Some suggestions I could make is that you remove the sky gradient behind and make it the second brightest tint with all of your text being white. Besides that though, awesome job!

[Krueckl]

Hi Arisa. really creative layouts! I enjoy looking at the the second set the best. The wave design and the curves in the sky look great. I generally don't like outlined font styles but I love the way the two fonts you used in the second set look together. The way that the buttons look are a little difficult to read so, I would play around with the the intensity of the transparency so that it more legible. Nice job!

[kendall_the_mann]

Hi Arisa!

I love the variation of both of your designs, but I'm definitely leaning more towards your second! I think your first one is cool, but your name was a bit hard to read on top of the background, so if you went with that design, I would only suggest maybe lightening the background or adding a drop shadow or highlight around your text! For your second design though, I don't really have any critique! Maybe just add the exclamation point after "there" instead of "hi" to join the two together.

I love your imagination of the assignment, I can't wait to see your finished website : )

[Anayik]

Hi Arisa,

First of all super cool concepts working off a dream-like feel. I dig the Dali-inspired elements of your first concept, and I think it communicates "dream" even more than the second one. Your idea is extremely unique in my opinion...I loooove the melting clocks. Something to consider moving forward might be that the background distracts from your text. Maybe play with your composition to see how you can give your text a little more of its own space. Or maybe the illustrations could be used more as a border than a background? Im excited to see how your concepts progress either direction you take it.

ps that's very cool you keep a dream journal

[Kassandra]

Hi Arisa,
I'm digging your website designs. The second one is easier to read and I just love the illustration of the ocean. I also like the decorative font you used for your name and the simple font for the rest of the page. One thing I would change, if you were to stick with the first version, is probably adding shapes behind the text so it won't get lost with the busy background. Great work!

[Olive]

Hi Arisa

Both designs are very interesting, but overall I prefer the second one. The layout is good and the design is better. I like the transparent background behind the words, which reminds me of the function of buttons. The sand you have should have a smoother gradient to make the type easier to read. When it comes to that, the less bold type may work better.

[it's_crysta]

Hi Arisa,
I like how different both of your designs are and I think you could use either for your final products. For the first one I would try to clean it up a little bit and try using solid color boxes instead of 2-3 layers of transparent ones. I think if you had some blank areas with the boxes it would make what you have easier to read. For the second on I would move your text up to the sand area so it's not sitting against something as busy as the water. Can't wait to see your final design!

[Instructor]

Oh, I really like that vector wave second design you've got there, Arisa.

The wave provides a great sense of motion to your design. Really helps move the eye from left to right. I love the sunrise sky behind it as well. It gradiates along left to right, enhancing the motion of the wave. Nice vector work all around on that thing. Clearly you had fun. Great complimentary color scheme on this thing too. Blue and orange make up my favorite complimentary colorscheme and your use of tints and shades of those colors is really putting in work on this thing. You've also used transparency really well here. I like the semi-transparent buttons and top bar. That top bar acts as a good framing device and does a good job driving the eye to the navigation. I also generally like the type you've chosen as well, it's ever so slightly different than the usual sans-serif fonts people choose for websites and that adds a layer of visual interest.

I'd recommend dialing up the alpha a few percent more on the buttons so they are a hair less transparent. Some of the text is getting caught up in the wave detail on your computer layout. I'm also not sold on the outlined "I AM ARISA KOIKE" type. I think it might work better as either an even bolder version of the font you used or as a different color, like a dark version of the sky orange or the wave aqua.

Good work!