project 1

[dzynecin88]

I like the direction you're taking with both designs, but think I prefer the first one for its uniqueness. I like the blocks of color on top of the image of the leaves and the contrast of the straight edges of the blocks with the soft and out-of-focus look of the leave edges. The hierarchy of the navigation is intriguing, although I think I'd need to see the text for the other links to get a better sense of it. I also like the second design, although I think your primary image could actually be a full background and be more effective without the other two images. The main image itself would offer some interesting possibilities for navigation as well.

[ravens.way]

I like the creativity in your first design. One thing that could be improved on is decreasing the font and box sizes to allow more of the background image to show through.

I like the use of images in your second site but I think the use of color on your nav bar could be improved.

[dbranby]

Hi, Benjamin! I think you're off to a fine start of these designs. I find myself drawn to the bold colors of the first design, and I would agree with Michael that the typography needs a bit of a polishing-up. Typography is an amazing art, so there's a real opportunity to really make this design pop by refining the typography, first by giving your narrative text more of a border so that it can breathe a bit (try using a smaller font). There is sort of a reverse-flow to how your navigation lays out ... the convention is that we read left to right in this hemisphere, so in the interest of guiding and protecting your viewer, you might consider lining up your nav by thinking about the order in which you want the reader to navigate through your site.

Looking forward to your next iteration.