Project 01 Preliminary Critique

[sndbox]

Hey everyone, my name is Sandra, and here's my preliminaries for Project 1!

For this project, I actually chose 3 websites to get an inspiration from:
https://vivekbhardwaj.com/
http://expus.net/?i=1
https://www.laurenreberphoto.com/
I chose these websites, not only because I know the people for each website, but I liked how each of them were very different. With Vivek's, he's a Graphic Designer turned Web Developer, and I really liked the smoothness of his website and how the coral pink compliments the navy blue. With the Expus website, I found this one to be super easy to use and very closely related to this project. With Lauren's website, I liked how she had a white background to make her photos really pop and how she had all of the different options to go visit right front and center.

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Idea #1
I wanted to start off with a pretty simplistic design, due to my lack of knowledge with creating websites. I decided to choose the green and yellow/tan colors because I was going with what you might call a "modern 80's" style, and I also wanted to achieve this look by using accents of circles, not only focusing on the colors.


Idea #2
Keeping the simplistic design, I originally wanted to use black and white for this design, but I felt like it was missing something, so I added a pale navy blue background to make the information pop, while using black text on some white boxes.


Idea #3
With this design, I was going for a more "aesthetic" look, something similar to a photography-esc website. I used a photo that I took as the background behind my information and incorporated colors from the image onto the rest of the design to keep the design balanced.

For all 3 designs, I created them as how it would be shown on an actual webpage, and a webpage on something like a phone, and I also added placeholder text where my paragraph about me will go (with the email), and also where I may add some information about the projects, however that may be changed later to just images (shown as boxes with x's in them), or a mix of both.

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I'm interested to hear your feedback on how I can change/fix/update these!

[meekster_]

I really like the first concept! I like the asymmetrical balance of it, I think its really nice to look at. I think the greens are nice however, I would maybe try to use more contrasting colors like the second concept and not have it so monochromatic (or at least greens that are less alike). and I do like the colors of the third concept, it is very appealing as well as the layout of it!!

[CedarM]

I think the first design is the strongest and most visually interesting. I would change the large circle to a picture or maybe your paragraph, and change the resource and required info to a footer. To me the large circle draws your eye the most and to have something more interesting or important there would work better.

[missStormy]

Idea #1 is the strongest of the three. The color scheme for Idea #1 uses a nice green palate and the content is nicely organized.

Stormy

[suiish]

I think your third idea is the most successful. It's very clean and modern looking. I also think the fonts you chose really fit your website. The first idea is really nice as well, but I think the colors are too similar so if you go with that one I recommend adding more contrast.

[SkellyboneJones]

I like both the first and third designs pretty equally. They're both good for different reasons, but I lean towards the third. Something about the contrast with the white and the more 'adult' colors really work well. I think the layout is straightforward as well. As for the first, I would just try and work with the colors a bit more, as the design comes off as a bit 'same-y'. All 3 directions look promising though.

[JamesC46]

I like all three designs, they flow very nicely! The criticism that I have regarding all three is that they are all very tightly put together, in my opinion. If you use more white space to separate each element and give more boundaries on each side of the screen, then I think you will have a really good design laid out already.

Thanks for sharing!

[KJX]

Hey! I like both of your websites. Add some photos on them for the next round of projects that way as viewers we get a full understanding of your website look.

-KJ

[hmayooo]

Your third design is awesome! I think it really shows a more personality than the other two. However, I do like your layout in your first design (the green one), everything is nicely placed to make it easy and interesting to find your info. I think the second design could definitely be a little stronger, for me it doesn't flow very well since there isn't a lot of clear hierarchy.

[Instructor]

First of all, I'd like to say that I really like how you've combined your roughs into one image. Make's em really easy to compare and critique. Also, I really appreciate it when a student goes the extra mile. Well done, Sandra!

That being said, I like your Idea #3 the best. It was the excellent use of contrast that stood out to me the most. It feels super clean. I also think the typography was a great choice. Usually, I'm pretty iffy on script types, but this one really works with your design. It's actually kind of legible(!), which is rare in script types. Your gold color works well too. It gives the whole thing a class that really pays off the script type and your logo at the top. The evergreen forest at sunset image was also a good choice. It provides warmth to an otherwise cool design and works well with your logo.

I'd recommend stealing from your Idea #2 and graft in some more photos, perhaps project screenshots, next to each link, though I don't think you need another image to the left in the top. You've more than covered that with your header background image.

Great work!