Roughs for Project 1 Prelim

[Instructor]

Hm. Interesting. Both of these seem to have similar strengths and weaknesses.

Of the two I like the first one a little better, though my critiques could apply to both of them. I think the first design presents the images in a neat swirling collage that leads the eye through the design. It has easy to use navigation and I have no issue reading anything on it.

The first thing I would do is remove all of the purple frames. All of them. I think this design as well as the second would work just as well without the frames as with them. The second thing I'd do is add a bit of margin between the image collages and the bodycopy. The third thing I would do is maybe playing around with theming the collages a bit to lead the eye around through them and the design. Maybe start at the left with a sunrise and and with a sunset on the right. Things like that.

With those three things, I think you have the makings of a good layout that will present your information effectively.

[Miasera]

Hi Georgia,

I'm tossing in another vote for the second layout, everything fits together better, and it's not as busy as your first layout. However, the color scheme makes it so the font is hard to read against the darker background. Try another font for your bodycopy, perhaps a sans-serif? Or maybe even make the background of that particular area a lighter grey than the rest of the layout.

[wendy_boddy]

Hi Georgia,
I love all your images! The second layout is more legible and you can interchange things around easily in that layout as well over the semester. The top one feels like you want to show everything on the first page and maybe its hard to fit it all. I like the top header being so large on the second one, its inviting.

Cheers!

Wendy

[ryansegal]

Georgia,

To start off, I think your two designs are very similar, and that may have worked a little bit against you because it limited your range of options a bit. However, there are things about each design that work well, so maybe you could combine both of these ideas into one final.

Firstly, I think your second rough works a lot better in terms of organization. The images in particular are laid out very nicely, but as others have said, there may be too many of them. One way I think either of these designs could benefit is from more space around the elements of the page. As it is, everything seems sort of crowded together in some spots, while very bare in others. As to the first design, I like how the top bar of information has been broken up with different text sizes, rather than each piece getting its own line as in the first rough. I would definitely recommend against overlapping any of your images, especially if they're to be a focus of the design.

If you were to combine the upper portion of the second rough with the structured layout of images from the first, I think it would turn out to be a nice looking website!

[old_man_pat]

Georgia, I love your landscape photography. While I appreciate your creation of a 'collage'-effect in the top rough, I think the bottom's balanced layout works best. The different images provide enough variety and contrast so that the viewer is still drawn to a dynamic layout. I think the text would benefit though by not having a solid blue on black. Perhaps a different body font from the title's text in the header? Also, a contrasting background color for the header and/or buttons might make add to the readability of your text & provide balance with the page's imagery. Very nice!