my website effort

[Stephen Wake]

i'm a graphic design student this is my first attempt at a flash site just wondered what people thought any suggestions or help would much appreciated. I still have some more work to put on but you can probably get the jist www.stephenwake.com

[rjbeals]

Looks good to me.

I suggest making your number buttons have a larger "hit area".. instead of just the numbers themselves - draw a box around them. (and on your daddy-ears button also).

[Stephen Wake]

thanks
ill try that not sure if i need a loader yet did it come up ok? i also havnt tried it on a pc it was made on mac if that makes a difference?

[Kelprior]

Hey Stephen

I loved your design, very creative! Colours were great too. Definately increase the hit area of your numbers though.

Just one other comment, with regards to navigation - I would suggest you get some non-"technoheads" to review your site for you. Find a friend or two who wouldn't know flash from a peanut butter sandwich and see if they can find their way around.

If you're intending your site to simply advertise your (considerable!) talent to prospective clients, you need to make sure they can use it easily and if they knew a lot about design/sites, they wouldn't need you! Although your nav is very cool, I'm not sure how well it will 'translate' to people who don't speak the language.

Just a thought! Keep up the great work.

[eightamrock]

UP the frame rate to about 30 fps smooth it out a little seems like it lags. Thats my only suggestion

boo yaa

[Stephen Wake]

i'll try the frame rate adjusment with regards to the design of it it is about the work being more important hopefully that comes across. i could try the buttons standing out more if people have a problem finding their way round.

thanks for the comments

[Ten Percenter]

Where is the metallic effect? Where are the robots? Your site makes me think dark age not space age! There is no room here on the interweb for sites that do not conform to the futuristic style...

Welcome to the modern age

(love your site)

[villain2]

Yeah really. Who wants originality

j/k ... being a fan of the futuristic style, I also like this site. Everything flash doesn't have to look like it came from the year 2424.

[Stephen Wake]

i'm not a fan of the futuristic jazz found in many flash websites. Design should always be about the concept and idea and not about showing off flash knowledge with chrome finishes and buzzing swooshing buttons. Thats my opinion because their seems to be too much effort put into to looking like a stainless steel bathroom suite. Websites like the www.the-dreamers.com by hi-res are the way forward..........

[Ten Percenter]

Have you considered chrome effect buttons? Maybe when you move the mouse over them they could appear to have light sweep across them.

Just a thought.

[raspberryh]

freaking awesome! i love how the color changes with each section and i LOVE the {}'s. it is sooooo creative.

[Stephen Wake]

well ten percenter my young naive friend i did look into the chrome buttons but found that i couldn't find the right laser/swoosh noise to with it, it the little things like that which can really make a website.........

raspberryh- cheers for the comments much appreciated.

[villain2]

Well, I have to disagree with this:

i'm not a fan of the futuristic jazz found in many flash websites. Design should always be about the concept and idea and not about showing off flash knowledge with chrome finishes and buzzing swooshing buttons. Thats my opinion because their seems to be too much effort put into to looking like a stainless steel bathroom suite. Websites like the www.the-dreamers.com by hi-res are the way forward..........

Anytime someone says "such and such should be about blah blah blah" it just comes across as fascism, and in this case design fascism. Please, people can design anyway they want, any style they want. Chrome web sites look good. Your website looks good. Black girls look good. White girls look good. See, different but equally good.

And the-dreamers.com is not the way of the future. It takes more than 10 seconds to figure out what it's about, and Joe 6pack doesn't take the time to do that on the internet.

[Ten Percenter]

villain - design fascism? ...I think it was more like stating a personal opinion.

I think the point is that not all black girls look good, not all white girls look good. Futuristic designs with no thought put into them are a bit like my buck-toothed ginger cousin, he may have a good personality but no girl sticks around to find that out.

[Stephen Wake]

design fascism? have a word!??? i'm not trying to say that you can't design any way you want i'm trying to say that there doesn't look to be as much thought put into the majority of futuristic sites there seems to be little grasp of typography, layout, basic design issues know how that enables veiwers to navigate a website ease of use. The dreamers isn't about usability its about origionality and trying to show some thing thats between seeing the film and the film trailer. There is too much poor design out there both in print and on the internet i'm not saying i'm particularly good but at least i try to push myself to the limits of ideas and not just to my technical no how.

[villain2]

That's fine, but it came off as though you were putting down the futurist design that's been popular in this 2A era of web design. I like different styles, for example another thread about 24-7's new site.

[Stephen Wake]

whats 2A? i found something but it didn't seem to be the thing you mean. My personal opinion is that the futuristic style has been over done and never really had much design skill anyway.

[Stephen Wake]

Originally posted by rjbeals
Looks good to me.

I suggest making your number buttons have a larger "hit area".. instead of just the numbers themselves - draw a box around them. (and on your daddy-ears button also).

I've finally got round to adding larger hit states, and i tried speeding up the frame rate but it didn't look right for the site any more. Just wondering if any one else has any technical help for the site? try and break or just find anything i can improve on the technical side

[ballers_101]

i thought it was 2 simple!

[Stephen Wake]

that was the point the work is the important part i didn't just want to use flash for the sake of using flash