For my two designs, I honestly struggled with them. I must have gone through so many thumbnails playing with my layouts and I think these are the best two. Keep in mind, that I may tweek them as the semester goes on. (Especially with the photos)
Let me know what you guys think, and what I can change to make either one better! Thanks Guys!
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First idea.. not totally in love with it, but it'll do
Both layouts have a professional look to them. You could mess around with the alignment of the text in the left portion of the first layout. Also in the first layout, the weight of the body copy could be heavier. The picture you use in the first layout works nicely with your color scheme.
The second layout works best. You might try justified body copy and mess around with the alignment of the class info at the bottom.
I like the combination of colors and your classic style for both.
For the first layout, you can move the picture and make the space between sides equally. Also, the list of subjects should be aligned to either left, center, or right. The body text should be aligned too.
For the second one, the navigations should be above the line, and some texts at the bottom should be in a line or arranged in a better way.
I really dig your bottom design, it elitists an emotional response of eeriness and mystery. Your winter tree image goes well with your your low chrome blue, it's comfortable, yet unsettling. I like that the site is minimalist, but if you play with the alignment and negative space a bit more it will look great.
I really like how simple and professional your designs are. I am leaning towards the first design. The picture you used pops with the gray color scheme you decided to go with. The only problem I see is your body copy text. It kind of gets lost in all that white because the text color is such a light color. Maybe try making that a little darker. Also maybe try using a different alignment or just getting rid of the hyphens by not spreading those words to two lines. It will read better and make your design stronger. Overall good job! I like your concepts.
Well and organized concepts, i like the direction of where the words are going. i prefer the second concept more though needs more color and maybe thinker font so the words are more visible.
Nice job on both your layouts, Kami. I think they both have a nice feel to them so it really depends on what feel you're going for as to which one you should pick.
In the first layout, your main body text is too light and therefore hard to read against the white background. I would up the gray to something a bit darker like 50% gray. I like your photo choice and your font choices and placement on the main area of this first layout, but I think your buttons on the nav bar need to stand out a bit more. Play with size or color so they stand out a bit more subtlety, because right now they blend in too much.
The second layout is also very nice. I like the aesthetic of it. I think it's a bit more unique than your first layout, and I like the photo spreading across the page like a banner. Your color choices and font choices here work well with the whole look. Maybe you could put a small divider bar underneath the main body text like you have separating the main header from the image? That would draw emphasis to the body text.
I can't say I like both of these ideas equally. The one with the grass and feather pic has possibilities, but needs more work. On the other hand, the one with the tree pic is almost perfect.
Rough 1, grass and feather pic: I love the quote, and the pic actually matches it well. The main problem I see is the sidebar. It overwhelms everything else and makes the quote and pic seem insignificant. Maybe a different color taken from the pic would help. Reducing the opacity, or a gradient on it would also lessen it's impact. The staggered links feel awkward to me as if the placement was not thoroughly thought out. The 'About Me' text being a light color on a white background is super hard to read.
Rough 2, tree pic: I really like this one. The grey scale theme works perfectly with the winter tree, and the tree pic is a nice focal point without detracting from the rest of the page. I do have two suggestions though. 1) Remove the 'contact' button from your navigation links area. That will leave you more room for spacing the other buttons. 2) Put the 'contact' at the bottom with the other footer info. With a little bit of re-arranging and sizing it will fit great there.
Nice work, Kami. Of these two, I like your second design better. The first is a mess in terms of layout, contrast, and photo, but the second has a lot going for it.
I like the general feel of the second design. It seems like a novel cover to me. I like the way you've divided the composition into quarters. The large top bar containing your name and navigation taking up the first quarter is working quite well. The image taking up the second quarter establishes a kind of melancholy feel to the whole design. Your bodycopy and page title that take up the third quarter are nicely laid out, with a typographic choice that reinforces the feel of the rest of the design and retains good legibility. The footer acts as a good from to the design an nicely signals the end of the layout.
Just a few changes I think would really bring this thing up to speed. First, clean up the footer. Either center the text as is or make it all one line. Two, make sure the underline on your header goes from one end of your type to the other. Then move the whole thing up so it gives the image a little room to breathe. Three, justify your bodycopy paragraph and then scoot it and your page title down enough to give the image a little bottom margin as well. Four, maybe try a duotone image with your accent blue to add a little bit more color.
Good work on that second one.
"Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work." — Chuck Close
Michael Ganschow-Green - GRC 175 Instructor mganschow@tmcc.edu | 673-8200 ext.5-2173
