prelim1

[chefspencer]

I'll start with the juicy stuff...

1st draft desktop

1st draft mobile

2nd draft desktop

2nd draft mobile

Ok! So now that's out of the way... on to the less cool stuff.

Some websites I used for inspiration, actually weren't websites. Since this is just a landing page, I thought it would be better to research on google images. Absorbing as many landing pages as possible while analyzing what I liked about each, and what I didn't like about each. Some search queries were:
personal website landing page
and
musician website landing page

Some things that I picked up that I liked were: transparent menu bars, LOTS of artful negative space, and overall use of design, type, and color.

I think my second set is way better than my first, but I hate how they're both structured for mobile. It's something I plan on working on first.
For both of my designs, I think everything spirals out from the logo, which is good for brand recognition since it's the thing a viewer's eye will likely focus on first.
For the first set, I tried to hop on the "modern background that was likely to be made in illustrator" trend with my sand dune background. I think I could have picked a better image, but this could serve as a cool canvas for some motion design elements. Maybe a shooting star or something... I also used RGB color swatches for the three main categories. It's a nice touch since my logo uses CMYK as the color palette. For my type, I used Kabel and Reross. Both are very Bauhaus/german so they fit well together (just look at those e's). For Design 2, I couldn't decide what photo would fit here, so I just added myself in there, this IS a website about ME overall . This one was more inspired by the musician websites. My typography is pretty much the same, except a different version of reross.
Overall, I think I like design 2 better. The black and white theming kind of flows with the CMYK logotype, and the negative space works a little bit better. The use of transparency in this one is cool too.

[Cole_Richards]

Hi Spencer, I really like these designs! They are visually unique and really well done. For the first concept I really enjoy everything that's going on, the shape that the text is following is interesting but could be hard to read for the user, Maybe just having it left or right justified so that it flows better, there's also a lot of empty space in both which might be what you're going for but something to consider changing, I really like the navigation and the use of color, but you could use the colors already in your logo to tie those two things together, and maybe color some of the text to make it more visually interesting. For the second concept I really like the use of your picture and text, the desktop layout is nice but you could lower the opacity of your picture or add a white rectangle with a low opacity to make the text more readable without having to use a drop shadow, for the mobile version I would use a black rectangle on the top and bottom so there's less of a jump between the gray and black and white. Otherwise really well done and I'm excited for what you come up with!

[Samantha_Thomas]

Hi spencer
I like your mountains design as it doesn't clash as much with your website as the second design. It is also easier on the eyes and nicer to read.
Meanwhile, your second one with the black and white clashes with the rainbow type design you got with your name type, and it seems a tiny bit disorganized.

[Instructor]

ANOTHER POLL?! It was bound to happen. In this case it actually has my thoughts in it.

That is one cool logo, Spencer. I love the dimensionality and color scheme of it. Strong.

I'm sorry to do this to you, but I actually prefer your dune design. The dunes add visual interest without cluttering up your design. Plus their colors are pleasant and work well with the other colors in your composition. Speaking of colors, I'm actually surprised that the CMYK and RGB don't clash. Usually they do, but here they don't for some reason. I credit the dunes. Just great use of gradient everywhere on this thing form the dunes to your gradiating to transparency in your navigation. Your typography is clean and easy to read. I like your typeface selections. And the semi-transparent RGB glow buttons look awesome. It makes your navigation easy to find and use. Pinning your content over to the left works well for you. It gives the page a lot of room to compress and organizes your content nicely.

I would shrink your bodycopy a point or two and lighten it up a bit. Medium is a little shouty. Once you've done that, add a little margin between your bodycopy and your footer and email and a little margin between your email and your rad logo.

Great work!

[kpargs]

Hi Spencer,
I like your approach to looking at landing pages...smart. I like your name/logo design, and I like how it works in the first rough. I feel the coolness of it gets a bit lost in the second rough, but it works wonderfully in your second rough mobile set up. I would perhaps lay with your colors for your menu buttons on your first rough so the colors match up with your name but other than that super awesome.

[Meghna_Misson]

Hey Spencer,
Great designs! I really like how both concepts are different from one another, it really shows your range in ideas. But the one that stands out the most to me has got to be the first concept with the mountains/sand dunes. Something about the subtle gradients within the scene seems so soothing and spacious--great immersion! I think you can also turn it into an animated gif where the viewer seems like they are flying past the mountains when visiting your mountain through Adobe After Effects.

(Something like this, where the trees and buildings are flying past and going off screen. You can make the mountains loop and seem continuous, just not as fast as this gif)



Besides that, it's time to discuss about the cons: your layout seems too heavy on the left side with your name, paragraph, and course information--try to use the rest of the space you created within your layout. For the class information, I think that is an easy fix by placing a footer at the bottom of the site, that way it decreases the weight on the left side and will establishes more balance within the whole design. I would also recommend changing the font for your paragraph as well to a thinner sans serif so that way it does not compete with the navigation--projects, references, etc--on the top. Right now, it seems that all the text elements are using the same font, so it's hard to see the sense of hierarchy within the composition. But other than that, I think this concept is starting off well for this project! And your logo seems really cool too!

[Ericha Eberhart]

Hi Spencer, I like the imagery you used for the sand dune layouts and think the web-to-mobile relationship is good and will have a smooth transition! My only critique would have to be the difference in the balance of info on the page from the web to mobile. On the web you have a left alignment on your content, then in the mobile, you have a staggered alignment. I think the layout would flow effortlessly if one alignment was decided on. Great start!

[piratek]

Ya know, I like the first one, I could see this as a poster. I know that's not what you are going for, but I find it something that comes together a whole a little better. Just my opinion. If I had to pick something to pick on, I guess it would be the exact placement and layout of the blocks of text.

[Fatkid53]

I like the second layout you had working as it is compositionally the better of the two in my opinion, I do however worry about the balance in it due to the heavy text on the left side of the screen. The colors are great and accented by the B&W and I think the image in your laptop provides a balance to the composition that did not exist in the first. Both are rad ideas and looks like a good place to start.
Regards

[Mike_Chavez123]

I really like both variations of all preliminary. I’d make the cell phone versions at least 1 a different version from the desktop version. I’d arrange the layout to fit the negative space to be filled in. Looks great!