Project 3 Preliminary Critique

[kendall_the_mann]

Hey everyone!

For my website I chose Sundance's, https://www.sundancebookstore.com/. Their original design definitely wasn't as bad as others I saw, but the store is so beatiful and one of a kind I wanted to try and at least bring that justice to it's website for this assignment as well

For my first set of designs I just wanted to keep it simple and make it pop. I like the deep orange of their logo so I added it to the background so it worked simultaneously and allowed for the pictures I added in to do most of the talking. I tried to keep everything uniform so the eye can scan it easily and know exactly where everything is as quickly as possible, since this website serves mostly for information/searches.

For my second set of designs, I wanted to incorporate another color besides the deep orange and allow it to emulate their original design but in a cleaner, sleeker way. Their banner logo is most unique with it's diamond shape, so I incorporated the same shape as accents for this design, since it doesn't have as much as that pop of orange in the first. This one is more of a sophisticated, warm look, whereas the first focuses more on the uniqueness and hip qualities of it's downtown location.

Both designs incorporate the mansion it's located in since that's what makes it so unique. I hope you like my designs and relate them to the beautiful set-up of the physical location if you've ever been!

[Kassandra]

Hi Kendall,
I really like your first design for this site. I love how you placed the text above and below the diamond shape because it leads the eye into the name of the bookstore . The white text is just a tad bit hard to read, so maybe making it a dark grey might help with that. The layout and placement of things also flow very well. Great job!

[Instructor]

Oh, I like the elegant simplicity of your first design.

It looks like a vintage poster, especially in the header. That header wants to sell me magic curative cough medicine with cocaine and laudanum in it. I love it's geomtery. Very visually striking. Attracts the eye. I also like the butterscotch background color. It warms everything on the website and gives a whiff of old paper which helps with the whole "antique books" thing. All of your type is well chosen, especially in that marvelous header. It looks like your bodycopy and form type are a typewriter type which is entirely appropriate. The image placement is good too. You're embracing the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words and immediately hitting them with a bunch of images of the place right after they've been drug in by that awesome header. I like that your bodycopy is occupying an image slot, like it's just one more picture. Good choice there.

I don't think you need to have your bodycopy in that light colored box though. It seems dark and bold enough to stand out against your butterscotch background. Also, your navigation fades into the butterscotch a little bit. I'd recommend making the type a little bolder and a brighter white, like your "Create Account" button.

Good work!

[kmohara5190]

Hi Kendall,
I think I like your first design better, and I think you should go with that one! I really like the yellow you chose for the background color, it goes well with the theme! The only thing that I would change is the amount of photos on the home page, it feels a little full. Good work!

[it's_crysta]

Hey Kendall, I like how you took the banner from the website and incorporated it into your design. I prefer you first one over the second one, the shapes one the sides and bottom don't really add anything to your webpage. I like the layout in your first one and the pictures and type you chose. Good job!

[Hamistani]

Hello Kendall,
I like the design of your first layout more. I really like the yellow. I also like how you incorporated the logo at the top of the page. I also really like the fonts you chose. The images you added show off the bookstore. I love how the mobile version looks! I would get rid of the light yellow background that holds your body copy. I think the text would stand out better that way. Great job!

[jacklyn_yamine]

Hi Kendall,
I definitely think your first design is the way to go. I really like that you took that yellow color and put it as the entire website's background color with a couple of images and info of the bookstore in a nice grid layout on top. I think you've done a great job in redesigning the site in this first design. I do think you could maybe do a little more to your navigation so that it stands out from the background more, they kind of seem to just be there at the moment and aren't meant to do anything. Also, your 'My Account' title and 'Create Account' button are too close to each other, I would put the same amount of space between each of those three lines from the 'My Account', 'Create Account' button, and login. Everything else is very well and evenly spaced. Nice job!

[Mal-Festio]

Hello Kendall,

I think your first design is working best. I think the bold colors really work well. The second design is also good though i don't think you don't need that many diamond shapes on the mobile versions, I think it would work if you had a few behind the songs and are slightly fade may work but that is just an idea.

[gavin_clouser]

I like your first desktop design but the mobile layout is a little busy and there doesn't seem to be a lot of hier archy. Everything looks the same so nothing really jumps off the page or shows any deal of importance. If you changed it a little bit of the things around it would flow much better.

[ItsAllisxn]

Hi Kendall,

Great job with this redesign! I love how you kept some of the elements from the original website and incorporated them into your redesign. I'm definitely a fan of your first layout. I like how you extended the yellow and made it the background of the website. Nice layout of your images as well. My only suggestion is to take away the textboxes and make all of your text either white or black. Good job!