Project 1, preliminary critique

[Joe_Morales]

Hello everyone,

Here are my rough ideas for project 1 I can go either way really please feel free to critique to your hearts content I appreciate any help!

I also found a couple of websites that I think are designed fairly well.

The first website i found very inspiring was http://g2geogeske.com/. I found this site very fun and colorful. It incorporates the image very well and overall creates a very appealing design. Makes me want to visit the place and see if its as pristine as this site.

The second site I found was a portfolio site http://www.adhamdannaway.com/ its very a minimalistic design which I enjoy but overall this site looks very professional and extremely easy to navigate.

[rmiyashiro]

I prefer the minimalistic design. The minimalistic design with the class look of the seriffed font used for everything but the menu on the side creates a modern yet classic feel. The photographic design is basic and does not hold my attention. Definitely, I would go with the minimalistic design. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, it showcases your mustache.

[dzynecin88]

I would have a tough job choosing between these two designs. I really like the sleek, professionalism of the b & W design. Your layout is really sharp without being cold or boring. That said, I'm a nature girl, so the second one draws my attention and emotion. The only suggestion would be to maybe play with a few different ideas for your nav in the b&w design.

[raoki]

Your first one looks cooler than the second one, but I think the san-serif typeface which you're using for the navigation should be used for the body text so it'll be easier to read.

[lornrocks]

Hi Joseph,

Both of your concepts are pretty neat. I like your first design because it looks very sophisticated and it has a photo of you on it, which helps personalize more compared to your second layout. Your second layout isn't bad at all, in face it's quite successful, but I don't know how well it describes you. It looks like something that TMCC or UNR would have as a homepage. If you really want to push your personality, I would try and expand that more.

I love the way you laid out the first composition but I feel like the buttons need more emphasis somehow. Maybe add a slight effect to the buttons or something.

If you're set on the second layout, I would add a small photo of you to make it more personal. But other than that, you did an excellent job with layout and colors on that one.

[dnorwood]

I like both of your ideas, they each have something good going on in them.

Rough 1, the black and white one: The overall layout is a nice sleek, modern design...but it is cold. If you change the white to a very, very light tan color, it would warm the overall feeling yet the black would still stand out boldly. The other problem I see is the text in your navigation buttons. Each word is all smushed into itself, a little spacing between the letters would make it easier to read.

Rough 2, the river pic one: This one appeals to me more as I like natural themes. But, it doesn't have anything in it that says 'you' to me. Other than that, my main suggestion would be on your text area. It doesn't fit in with the natural theme. If you go with this one, you can draw the box in Photoshop, put a layer mask on it, and fuzz out the edges with a 10%-25% opacity. Then you can reduce the overall opacity when you place it in your design.

Happy designing!

[Instructor]

I really like your fist one, Joseph. It's a great example of minimalism at work, and with a little tweaking, can be something special.

You've got an excellent use of contrast going in your first design. It immediately helps to establish an urban, cosmopolitan feel to the design. Your edge to edge top bar immediately establishes design dominance and helps organize all that comes below it. It also draws the eye to your name. Your typography is well chosen and easy to read. The footer design also provides a nice, subtile framing element as well as a clear signal where the document finishes. I also like the usage of line, both horizontal and vertical, throughout.

Where I'm not sold is on your buttons. I don't think they need to be the big black boxes that they are. I think using bold type and lines (perhaps vertical?) not unlike your document title would serve you better. Also watch your spacing on the vertical lines under your header; they are not evenly spaced between words. Also, your underline on your page title should stretch the full length between words.

A really good start, sir. I'm looking forward to seeing what it becomes.

[ariaaearnest]

Hey Joe!

I really like you first design! It's very simple and straight forward. It reminds me a lot of a design for a wordpress blog design. I would just mess around with the font in your about. Like Remi said, I find it a little hard to read cause the letters are so close together. I also feel like you could do something a little more with your buttons. Maybe try using the font you used in your header for your buttons. And the font you used in your buttons for your about?

[gr8ful1]

I like both of your designs. Throughout this critiquing experience I seem to be drawn more to the nature inspired designs, although I have to say I like the minimalistic approach you've designed better. Not that there is anything lacking in the nature design, I love the composition and think the color palette is one of one of the best I've seen translating the photographic colors.
The simpler one for some reason feels more personal to me. I do like like your idea of playing around with a graphic, not a photograph, maybe in a color, just to add a statement piece of visual interest.

[kaycee_weddell]

Joe,
I love your first design. It is very simple but modern which makes it pleasing to the eye. It has a very clean look and I think that's what makes it such a strong design. I really don't have too much to say about it because I like it just the way it is. Really the only thing I think you should do is maybe look at some urban and modern fonts to see if that gives you a little more unity between your concept and text. Great job!