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Thread: Design review/input

  1. #1
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    Okay, this is my first website account that wasn't gotten from my small hometown. I get to build a site for an employee benefits company out of Atlanta, GA. They're pretty no-nonsense accountant types who want a professional website that looks good without being "gimmicky."

    I am saddled with their blocky logo; they don't want to change it. You'll see it at the top left of the page.

    This is a first, rough run at the KoolMoves version of the site. (I will also do a basic html version for surfers who need or want it.) None of the links work; I'm just looking for basic design feedback for this home page right now. I figure once I get a design concept, I can proceed with the rest of the work fairly easily. So please let me know what you guys think.

    Also, I'd like to have the movie go border to border. Can I achieve that by putting width="100%" in all the width places in the html?

    http://demo.voikos.com/ebs/home.html

    One other thing: I already know that the art/design side of website building is my weak skill (I'm a better programmer than I am an artist), so you won't hurt my feelings by being critical. I want these people to be pleased with the work.


    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    One more thing. (I say that a lot, don't I?) I put the site up for critique here so I can get feedback from people who use the same program I do, namely KoolMoves. If I have to, I'll put it up at Site Check, but those guys all start using flashspeak and I get a little lost. I'd prefer to get enough feedback to work from at this board if I can.

    Thanks again.

  3. #3
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    A navigation idea

    I've been playing around with navigation ideas for the home page and think I have one that I more or less like. The "About EBS" button works to bring it up. See if you like that at all. (It's my first time using the "load movie" function. Cool!)

  4. #4
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    I like the basic layout.

    Some suggestions.

    How about having the benefit solutions that is static, maybe change...like......employee....benefit......soluti ons.

    I like the image in the center very cool looking, but maybe put a pic more related to the sites intent...pics of people working..or something like that.

    I like the animation that was produced when I clicked the about button....though I would recommend having the button appear directly below the topic.

    Ok those scrolling lines are annoying. Get rid of those. Maybe have a bar identical in design as the bottom one on top. And enlarge the picture a little more, you could animate the picture to change if you want movement in the site, showing people as I said above.

    Hope I helped

    Brad

  5. #5
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    Its small simple and usable. It loaded very fast and is very usable- Kudos for not abusing Flash.


    1. I would change:


    <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id=home width=700 height=400 codebase="http://active.macromedia.com/flash2/cabs/swflash.cab#version=3,0,0,0">


    <IMG SRC="nonflash.gif" width=700 height=400 BORDER=0>


    The hieght and width variables to 99% in those two tags. This will cuase your SWF to scale to tha max available screen area.

    2. This is just a matter of personal taste but I don't care for the green on Green color choice. I prefer more contrast. I would either use a more saturated Green for the background or a more contrasting color.

    3. Again a matter of personal Taste is the Font- I would use a bigger and more bold Font- perhaps put cool line under it. Again that's just my personal taste.

    4. Space layout- Again my personal taste but I would spread the graphics and elements out more- changing the width and hieght would help. I would also- again matter of personal taste put the name a little more left and like I said make it bigger.


  6. #6
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    Thanks guys for the feedback.

    1. Scrolling Lines. Brad hates the scrolling lines. Do you hate them as well, Johnie? (I thought they looked kind of cool, but then I'm no designer.)

    2. Color scheme. I wrestled with colors for a while, trying different ones. The problem for me is the color of that damned logo. Nothing really seems to go with it and look good doing so. I looked around at other flash business sites and they seemed to have this subdued, lack of contrast thing in common so I tried it. But I'm open to color scheme suggestions.

    3. Image. The image I used is a blurred Atlanta skyline photo. I'm a little limited in my image choices. If anybody knows where I can get suitable images very, very, very cheaply, I'd be glad to hear it. (I'm also going to consider having someone take photos of the employees at the company on Monday.)

    4. Font. The font in their logo is arial bold and these guys are fairly conservative. I'm open to other fonts, though. Do you have a particular one in mind?

    5. Navigation. I'm still playing with that, so it'll get a lot more work.

    Thanks again for the response. You guys are great!

  7. #7
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    I like the Lines. Just me though.

    Try a more saturated Green with the colors- Or a deep blue.

    I agree with Brad there in that perhaps the picture could have more to do with the company but I think your choice is also good.


  8. #8
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    I would just make the Words a little bigger and move them more up and nudged to the left.

  9. #9
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    Here's a quick background color change to blue. I like it. Gotta go to a Christmas party -- Yeah!. I appreciate the feedback and will get back to work tomorrow.

    http://demo.voikos.com/ebs/home2.html

  10. #10
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    I thought the Blue woould look better

    My light design insructer would be proud- he used to rip on me all the time for not having enough contrast in my designs. See I remembered something he said- hee hee.

    Have fun at the party. I would still space everything out more- but again that's my opinion.



  11. #11
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    I like the lines, and I always think animation is a great thing on site, I just thought, that for a business type site they were inappropriate. I like the idea of taking photographs of the employees and using them. Looking forward to further development.

    Brad

    Hey I had a party too I think this is the party month. I am having my own next weekend. Will be a blast. Publix catered is it just me or does Publix have the best subs.

  12. #12
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    I am thinking something like this for that area were the words "benefits solutions" is-
    (the banner at the top)
    http://www.insightpros.com/

    Brad


  13. #13
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    Oh and I like the color change, didn't mind the other color scheme, but definetly better blue.

    Brad

  14. #14
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    I would check your web page at a different monitor resolution. If you are stretching the page to 100% I believe the bitmap will behave differently at different resolutions.

  15. #15
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    Ooh, good point. I'll do that. I've seen this done by designers on other sites, though. What approach are they using to avoid bitmap/resolution problems?

  16. #16
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    They are using pop-ups. I hate pop-ups.

    If You scan int larger and then scale down it doesn't pixelate as much. That's an old technique used to anti-alise bitmaps.

  17. #17
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    Critique

    Here's my two cents:

    First...I like the scrolling lines...they give the idea of movement without being too distracting.

    Second...The color contrast is good and I might suggest you go to a bookstore and spend some money on a book about color design. That is, if you intend on staying within the design field. Rockport publications has a great book called "Color Harmony" and it is broken down in to sections depending on what your "theme" might be. Then it lists combos and shows them too you. Most helpful is the recipe section in the back that gives you the CMYK (that's Cyan Magenta Yellow Black to you non-print designers out there) mix for these colors.

    Third..Start a "morgue". That's what designers call their "idea notebooks". In your morgue put the ads that you like from magazines. on the back of the ad or on the page you've attached it to, list all the reasons you like it. Then go out and start collecting. You can do this as well with websites too...there are many utilities for creating a offline browsable version of a web site.

    But enough already. Good work. I've had a copy of KoolMoves for almost four days and am totally overwhelmed at the potentials.

  18. #18
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    Smile Check your buttons!

    Before you submit the site check all of your mouse overs and links. I noticed on the "Contact Us" buttons (Phone, Fax, Mail, and Email) if you click on Fax for example, your don't have to close it before selecting another menu item. Where as when you click on "mail" you have to manually close the "mail" pop up before selecting any other "contact us" information.


    Just a minor glitch, but if these guys are the accountant types I guarantee they will catch it (I hate to admit it but I'm am currently majoring in accounting. What a coincidence eh? :->)

    L8ER
    Tryple8
    888

  19. #19
    Senior Member evolbeagle's Avatar
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    Thanks. I haven't posted to this thread for a few days because I've been working on some of the other pages that go with it. The navigation buttons do behave somewhat differently for the moment because I've been playing with different approaches. Once I settle on one, they will all behave the same way.

    Thanks again.

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