Project 1 Preliminary Critique

[kaiyote03]

How goes thee everyone!

My name is Kai and here are some of my resources and inspirations that I used for my design!

https://www.si.edu
https://forums.terraria.org/index.php

https://dribbble.com/resources/personal ... -designers
https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/principles/w ... ge-design/
https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/disc ... ?locale=en

I chose these websites to assist in my thought process for my designs mostly due to the simplicity and ease of user interaction with the website.
My designs were made with a semi grid in mind following the 1/3 rule where I kept a part of my design on 1 third of the design while having the other
section take up the rest of the space. I also added little headers and footers to my designs to break up some empty space problems that I had.
My fonts aren't really finalized and I'm still cooking up a font for my own name but I don't know whether to tap into certain aspects of me or to tie in the
font with how the design of the site feels. Would love some feedback from yall! Please rip into my designs ^_^

Here comes the mediocrity

Thanks Team!

[kelseymarie_ba]

Hey Kai,
I love the Japanese element you've added to your design! I think blue is a soothing and calming color for the users so it was nice to see you incorporate that in your designs! From your past designs, I can tell you like blue but if you're feeling a little crazy maybe trying more bold and loud colors. Some suggestions would be matching the Red-Crowned Crane, so red, black, and maybe hints of yellow (color match the beak). Hope that helps and can't wait to see what you make throughout this semester! Good luck!

Kelsey Bautista

[keatonbeatty]

Kai,
I love the images you chose for these designs, and how the blue adds some interest while keeping a cool vibe overall. I do agree with Kelsey though, maybe try to step out of your comfort zone with the colors and color matching the image that you used for a background, it might have some cool results. Layout wise I think you're getting there but it still seems a bit crude, maybe work on the flow of your design elements a bit more to make them work in the space and interact a bit better together. For the mobile apps I personally always prefer a more centered approach to the information, to me it looks better and there is a lesser chance of things being cut off on the sides as a person is scrolling really fast as well and can only handle a bit of information per line of text. I really love your designs overall though and think they are coming together nicely!

[antstronomy]

Hi Kai,
I really enjoyed the colors you chose in your designs. I think it all goes really well and flows nicely, especially the second design. I would have to say, if anything, I prefer the font on the second design as opposed to the first one but that is about it. I also enjoyed the way you displayed your projects links. Great design Kai )!

[YoAdrian!]

Hi Kai,
I'm really enjoying your calm color schemes as well, intentional or not. I think you did a good job getting all the elements into your designs, but I think you could play with the hierarchy of your typefaces a bit more. I love both of your images you chose. If you go with the 1st design, it would be cool to see if you could incorporate the texture of the crane photo into the rest of the site. Oh, and I'm not so sure the cute dog belongs in the 1st design but I can see why you like have it there. If you go with the dog photo, you may want to consider a higher resolution photo or maybe using the lower res photo to help design a type of wall paper look (like having the dog repeat in background as a texture?) Just an idea for now. Good work, I'm looking forward to seeing your stuff this semester.

[Instructor]

I'd go with your first design, Kai. It seems to flow better.

I like the large image area in the middle. It makes for an easy place to toss in eye-catching images. Your font ain't half bad for placeholder type either. It's clean and works nicely with your layout. I like that you've stashed your icon in between your first name and your last name. Your blue color is nice as well. It provides a relaxing feeling to the whole thing and the gradients serve to soften any hard edges. The white and black of the type works nicely with the blue as well. Good use of margin throughout your composition as well. Everything has room to breathe. Your navigation is easy to see and use.

I'd recommend finding a higher resolution image of a crane if you can. The one you have now is a little pixellated. I'd also make sure the top of your name, the page title and "Projects" all line up. I think that would create some nice alignment.

Good work! Don't be so hard on yourself, these are better than you think.

[Erikatsukamoto]

Hey Kai! I really like your first design. I think that the layout that you chose for the first design works really well, and I would definitely keep that layout. At the very bottom of your image with the crane, you can see the blue transparency doesn't go all the way to the edge to cover the whole crane, so I would fix that. Otherwise, this is very clean and it looks really good. Nice job!

[bmeyer]

Hi Kai!
I also really like the first design! I think the layout works very well and I like the color scheme.
The only thing I would change is the location of the references. I don't think it is important enough to get as much space as it takes up. So maybe moving it to one of the sides would work better. Good Job!
-Bella

[isaacm03]

Hey Kai!

I'm always a big fan of your work. Each project is different but your style is still there. Personally, I'm leaning towards the first layout more than anything, I really enjoy the use of blue, and how it never feels overwhelming. Like others have said, introducing new colors will help you break things up a lot. Lastly, I just want to tell you I am a big fan of the font used for your name in the first layout, it works well in my eyes. Good luck with the final!

[NMartz]

Hello Kai,
I personally like the first one more. Everything blends together well. I like certain aspects of both. I like the wave design on the second one and I like the color scheme of the first one. The font you used for the word "projects" in the first rough is a bit funky. Good work.