Preliminary Critique Project 2

[warren.asher@gmail.com]

Hi Guys. Here are my roughs for the website http://www.obexers.com/ It is a marina on the west shore of lake tahoe that deals in boat rentals, watersports, boat launch, a market and a Tahoe lodge. I recreated 2 versions of the homepage for the marina and will be redoing the logo in the upper right and left hand corners.

Let me know what I need to fix and change.

[Blackfïsk]

The original website isn't very great looking but it is clean and easy to read, your designs kind of take it the other way. The original site had neat drop down menus that matched that shade of the sites main color, you added huge buttons and really huge graphics with a very prominent photo background, your getting lost in the silhouette value of the page.

[daveryjones]

I would have to say that I enjoy the top design better. Your pictures are clashing a bit so maybe work on that. Within the top designs, I think the images for 'The Lodge' are working a lot better. 'The Marina' page just looks a little cluttered because the pictures are fighting for attention. You could maybe try lowering the saturation of the small images to put focus on the big background image or vice versa. Great Job

[j.alexis93]

The first design seems more appealing to me. I get a clear idea of what you're trying to do. I especially like what you did with the lodge headline. I do have to agree with Avery that some of your pictures are fighting each other.

[natsukigrc175]

I like the first design too. It describes what they are doing in better way. The font size of navigation seems a bit too large for me, so I would scale them down. Other than that good start!

[Instructor]

Your first design is much better than your second, go with that one. I like the imagery of the second, but it's too complicated, there's no unity to the layout and the colors are too dark. Your second is open, bright, and inviting.

For some reason the logo typeface combined with the full page background images make me think of the cover of some sort of "Better Homes and Gardens" type magazine, or perhaps the credits sequence to an 80s TV show. I like it. It creates an upscale look without being cold and distant. It's the opposite, in fact. Warm and inviting. I can hear the sounds of the shoreline or the peaceful background noise of an evening in the forest. The type used throughout the design is working well, both logo and navigation. I like the heavy use of pictures as well. Pictures really help sell a user on the idea/product you're pitching. Type is there to reinforce the idea and give search engines something to index. Your navigation is large and easy to use. I think I like the white frames around your images on the homepage versus just placing the photos on the background like you have on your inner pages.

You don't need the outer two dividers on your home page buttons, go ahead and toss those. Also, add some inner dividers on your inner page buttons. I'm also curious to see how you'll deal with type on your home and inner pages. And try shrinking your footer text a bit and see how that looks.

Nice work!

[lsimgrc175]

I like the first one better because of the fonts; if you can pad the background container so the images don't fill in the top or bottom (where all your important stuff is) maybe that will help.

[punkassbookjockey]

I like the first one, and I'm wondering why you didn't choose a Lodge picture for the second page of the second design? Other than tweaking the font sizes it looks good.

[japanese_panda]

I like first one!

You picked nice type font on headline! I think it is Rockwell, isn't it?

You put nice images ! I think you can put white square on small image!, small image have contrast issue with background big image on edge!

[Computer Lover]

I much prefer the first concept, it has a very strong design and I like the imagery used to make it happen. The navigation looks spiffy and the secondary images are more neat than the second. Maybe fiddle with "The Marina" a little more. It feels a tad out of place.