Project 1 Preliminary Critique

[dzynecin88]

Hi Everyone -
Here are my roughs and inspirational website links. The websites that inspired me aren't necessarily reflected in my designs, but rather served as creative motivation to jump in and give it a try.

The first website is that of a designer. The photography grabbed me and the layout and design took me on a creative adventure.
http://www.guglieri.com/


The second website intrigued me with its use of color.
http://z-index.it/


Here are my two roughs - I prefer the design with the background photograph but look forward to your feedback. Thank you.

[rmiyashiro]

I really like the concept and execution of your first rough. It reads well and holds my attention. Your body copy in the second rough gets lost against the image you've used. The image is powerful so I wouldn't change it. I would just try playing with the weight of the text and the opacity of the content area.

[raoki]

Both of them has a different concept and interesting, but I personally prefer the grey background one.
I just wonder how you converted your file? It looks a little sloppy. I believe you can fix it easily but now it looks like that. The overall looks pretty good.

[kaycee_weddell]

Cindy,

Good start! I really like how different your concepts are. They're both great ideas. In your first design I love that image. The only thing I suggest for this concept is maybe making the opacity of that brown box a little less transparent because that text doesn't pop off as much as it could. It also might help if you used the eyedropper tool to grab that high saturated golden orange color on top of that mountain and try using that as your text color. Just a suggestion. On your second design I like how you played with angles. I think its a strong concept as well. They only thing I would work on is contrast. Some of your text blends in a little bit so maybe try using white as a text color instead of that light gray for your name as well as your buttons. Overall great job!

[KamiGurl]

Hi Cindy,

Your two concepts are strong and they are both very different. Between the two, I personally like the second rough with the image in the background. It does have a personal and inviting feel to it! Only suggestion I have is to play with the text in your quote and the header ("Greetings and Welcome...") To me, the header font doesn't seem to fit in with the rest. Other than that, great job on both layouts!

[lornrocks]

Hi Cindy,

I feel like the look and feel you have for the bottom layout is really cool. It's very graphic and really exemplifies the idea of design. The first layout is nice but is sort of generic, tbh. Everyone these days is putting text over an entire photograph and while the look is nice and pleasing, the bottom layout definitely exudes uniqueness and even professionalism instead.

I love how you incorporated elements of design and the Photoshop software into the second layout. The colors are eye-catching and the feel of the layout is very creative. Honestly my only suggestion for this layout is to experiment with fonts. The font you chose is a semi-script looking font and it kind of clashes with this cool, technical look you have. I'm not saying go robot-looking or anything, but it might be cool to see what you can come with. Also, perhaps lowering the opacities on the dots you have around the background would be a good idea, since they can be a bit distracting from the other elements of the image. Other than that, good job!

[gr8ful1]

I like both of your designs, and that they are both so different. The nature inspired site is visually pleasing, my eye was drawn to it first. But I think the background picture feels a little like a stock photo these days, although a beautiful one I would suggest making the quoted text a little smaller, since it has the most contrast and is the same size or bigger than all the other type, it draws the eye and gives it more importance I think. Otherwise I think the composition and layout are nice, and would work for a personal website.
The graphic design seems more fitting for someone with a wide interest in many different aspects of design. I like how you used different line types and weights throughout it, but it all still looks coherent. I may try to mess around with color schemes, just to see if you can get a little more contrast in your different colors and textures.

[Instructor]

You've got two very different concepts here, Cindi and I like that. I'd say in terms of what to pick, both are pretty much equal. Both need a little bit of work, but with that work could be very neat indeed.

The first one has kind of a neat 80's tech magazine vibe to it. Like a little bit on an Omni Magazine feel. I like the use of the halftones mixed with marching ants. The red, black, and white color scheme is a strong one and lends itself to high contrast visually interesting designs. The script type actually works here. Usually I'm skeptical of script type in a tech website, but somehow it works here. The mouse in the header serves as a good eye guide through the document. The eye moves through it in a reverse "S" which works nicely for legibility purposes. I also like the way the layout sections everything into it's own little box on the grid.

I think the big issue that the first one has is complexity. I think with some simplification it'll look really slick. I'd pull out all the spots/bullet holes/lens flares/whatever those are. I'd swap the gray background color for white to increase contrast. I'd make the diagonal gradient in the top right start in the top right corner. I'd have the red gradient in the upper left start at the top. I'd remove the boxes from the buttons and let just the text be the buttons. After those cleanups, I think things would look really cool.

The second design is a complete contrast from the first. It photographic full background is very soothing. It's layout is very simple and lets the eye move naturally through the website. The navigation is large and easy to find and use. The bodycopy is generally easy to read and nicely placed to show off the best parts of the image. The script type works well here, too. Amazing. The colors used on the website serve to reinforce the colors in the photo.

You don't need the super Photoshopped vertical bar between your text and your navigation. A simple blue bar would do just fine. I'd also shrink the size of your quote and pull the drop shadow from behind it. It shows just fine from the sky anyway. Maybe add that drop shadow you pulled from the quote to the bodycopy and headline to pop that a little better.

Good work! Let's see which you pick.

[dnorwood]

Both of your designs are good.
Version 1, the red,black, and silver one is a very clean and modern design. The mouse adds visual interest. I don't see anything I would change in this one.
Version 2, the hills, attracts me more though. I t is warm and welcoming and the quote and picture match beautifully. Two things caught my attention. The text on the banner is hard to read. Here I think a good dark green from the trees would make it readable...or maybe a dark drop-shadow. The TMCC logo looks like an orphan just stuck in there. I would suggest just typing in the full name of the college beneath GRC 175, etc., I think it would look better.

Happy Designing!

[dazey_duck]

I like your first composition in comparison to your second. The picture you used creates a great sense of aesthetic appeal, that being said your choices of complementary colors worked really well with the image. I fell the next step for you to take is to work on your navigation, hierarchy and typography. In those aspects your site feels dated and incomplete.