Preliminary_Critique_Project_1

[hummela]

Hello, everyone for our first project we were to do some research on personal and/or general websites to inspire us to create a personal website for ourselves. Well honestly the only websites I go on to mainly is Bank of America and Facebook.. not much of a web surfer beside for recipes and occasional shopping.. I was a little lost when doing the research part but the sites i found useful were..
http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-cen ... 7AodUFQAWw (I enjoyed the layout and use of images, website was easy to get around)
http://taylorswift.com/splash (i know i might get some heat for that one but i like the style of the page, i like how there is a picture and then a little bit of info under it, I'm not even sure how i came across it but it came up)
http://batman-news.com (enjoyed the layout and colors)
http://grindcreative.com/reno-designer-blog/ ( this was a simple site, slimmer, easy to get around, good ideals)

Unfortunately I did not have the time to finished photoshop version.. so here is my paper rough.
I am liking the top one, I like it is more me.. I like daisy's I used the pedals for the links the daisy will appear on each page, to get around, the circles on the right i would like images of projects in there and click on them to view bigger and more information about what it is for.

the bottom layout, i want to have a background image probably tahoe or the truckee river... I am kind of going off what i saw on Taylor Swifts page... the top squares are the links for projects again i would like to have an image in the box of the project and on the right side blue bars will be area for additional links.

Once i have my finished of the two in photoshop i will post them asap.

[Sierragirlnv]

Hi Alexa,
Your project one roughs are still in the rough stages. I can't wait to see it finalized in Photoshop. I like your idea of the buttons being in the flower petals. The rough looks like it is floating a little I think you could balance it out with using the graph. The first rough looks more personal. The images used are going to influence the colors and fronts you use. I had a tough time with that.
good job and I can't wait to see what the final draft looks like.

Sierragirlnv

[paula_b]

Hi Alexa!
The top layout appears to have a lot of white space, and a little heavy on the left side. But your images and background choices could change that. The bottom one is well balanced. Can't wait to see the Photoshop versions!

[justinepaigek]

Alexa-

While some thought obviously went into both of these designs, I am leaning heavily towards the first. It just seems so fun and more visually interesting and (although I don't know you very well) probably a better reflection of your personality. I can't wait to see it when it's finished

[ElizabethBrass]

Hi Alexa,

I like the first one for sure. It is much more your personality. I like the use of the petals for buttons I would put the whole daisy on the page and not cut it off. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[recordd]

Hi Alexa,

I am leaning more towards your first rough...I love that you placed the links in the petals of the daisy and great idea to place it on every page as main navigation. I think that it makes your page unique and personal. I would put the top of the daisy in the top left corner draping down and then maybe stretch it to the length of the page. I also love daisy's, and happened to put daisy's on my 1st rough.

Your 2nd rough is really good, also. I like that you placed your button links right in the middle because it drew my eyes right to them. I also like your idea of placing a landscape image behind the text will look good. I would add your name and title to the top middle of the page and maybe an image with your initials would add some pazaaz up at the top.
Great Job on both of your designs.Your drawings were awesome. I could visualize how both of them would look in Photoshop and cannot wait to see them!

[mlauc]

Hi Alexa,

I think your first comp is a very whimsical approach to your portfolio design. I suggest continuing with the garden theme and introduce other natural elements that can links to your site. I like how prominent your name is — I would pursue creating a logo based on your design.

[dboudinot]

Hey Alexa,
I actually like the white space in the top rough, and I agree that it is really whimsical; I would use that one.
I would just be sure to keep it clean and balanced.

[Instructor]

Hm. Interesting.

Of the two I like the first design. It has a sense of whimsy that the second one, a much more traditional layout, lacks.

It's very clean and easy to read. The flower navigation provides a fun, whimsical, artistic feeling. It's simplicity allows to to function as a scarpbook for the work that will be displayed in it. Typography choice is going to be critical here. I like the way your hand drawn headline looks. I'd be tempted to hand draw the headline and any subheads and then go with a nice clean Helvetica Neue 45 Light as your bodycopy.

I'd recommend tightening up the image circles on the right and enlarging them a little bit so that their unity will balance the navigation flower visually. Also, I'd look at what a colored box on the bottom that ran edge to edge and contain the the class info would look like. I think it'd make a good framing element.

Good work.

[wendy_boddy]

Hi Alexa,
Both layouts are well though out. I prefer the top one because it does not have a border. I like the loose flower and open space.

=)

Wendy