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Thoughts on a design

Discussion in 'Website Design' started by Ashton, Apr 27, 2011.

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  1. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    Just working on a design and I thought I would get some feedback from some other people as opposed to my usuals!

    http://www.ashfrancis.com/wds2.jpg

    By no means is this a complete design, just some playing around, so any thoughts are appreciated!

    Cheers, Ash
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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    IWA Meetup
     
  3. Joeyl

    Joeyl Active Member

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    Hey,

    I like the colors, although the style is too similar to many other sites offering similar services, it looks like a template I could buy on themeforest (not saying thats bad) but I think the design could be slightly more unique :)
     
  4. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the feedback. My thoughts entirely, I guess I am in a groove. Need to visit some art galleries or something!

    I did actually try to do something a bit different - it was a bit more classy and clean but I showed it to a few businesses I work with regularly and they said they would prefer something a bit more simple.

    Since my target audience is SME's I am unsure how 'creative' I need our studio to appear.

    Whilst design galleries are more likely to pick up a more retro / unique design. I am more focused on creating clean, user friendly sites that work properly.

    I am also more of a coder than a designer, we have our own designer cooking up some thoughts of his own :)

    I suppose i could compromise and make the site simple in concept but add some fancy javascript to create the awe effect.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2011
  5. orchardapple United Kingdom

    orchardapple Active Member

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    nice clean layout, but i'd consider how much of the blue 'header section' would take up the vital 'above the fold real estate'.

    doesn't seem much space dedicated to 'seo text'
     
  6. WealdDomains United Kingdom

    WealdDomains Active Member

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    Hi. I agree with other comments.

    I think the biggest potential issue, though, is the (albeit grotty) presence of http://web-design-sussex.co.uk/ contrasting with your own presumably-to-be-called http://webdesignsussex.co.uk/

    As for your own site, I think it largely depends on what happens with the lorem ipsum text. However, I am somewhat uneasy with the call to action, for two reasons :

    1. Like what you see ? Shrug, I will be seeing a write up about various things that your company does, not an example of your work (unless I click on the Recent Work link).

    2. Get in touch to discuss your website. Presumably much of your target audience of SMEs doesn't have a website, so their want will be to discuss their potential wesbite, or their future website, or their digital presence, or, if they already have one, their revamped website.

    Hope that helps,

    David
     
  7. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    @OrchardApple - More text will come below, have someone working on it!

    I don't really see that as an issue. They don't have a presence and the non hyphenated version is clearly easier to remember and better.

    Yeah that's for the portfolio section - was just getting some ideas out there.

    Good point. Probably worth noting that you should ignore the wording - I am having it written by a professional copywriter to make sure it reads well.
     
  8. wb

    wb Well-Known Member

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    I'm not a great fan personally, not quite sure why but it just looks a bit too similar to plenty of websites templates that are already out there.

    These two designs from WooThemes came to mind as in my opinion they are quite similar, although there is something about them which makes them look a bit 'slicker'. However, the only thing that really matters is what your potential clients think of it.

    Personally, I'm quite fussy with design and things have to look perfect, but I imagine most SME clients won't be able to tell the difference and would be absolutely fine with it.

    Other than that, to me it doesn't look right to have the website called "Web Design Sussex" but the opening text including "...based in Chichester". I realise that Chichester is in Sussex, but I think the opening line should be "...based in Sussex". Logic behind the reason behing that the domain says you cover Sussex but the opening line implies the main focus is on Chicester. Again, that could just be me with that line of thought though!
     
  9. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    Ta for the feedback, I think I will work on a completely different idea to make it relatively unique.

    The trouble is that with the thousands of templates there are now it will probably look like one of them!

    Maybe I should just start with the code and create something unique from a user perspective - both scrolling up down and sideways has been done, maybe I should do diagonally?
     
  10. jj1

    jj1 Active Member

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    Personally, I think that you should show some of your websites in the big picture at the top - if you sell jewellery or clothes or a hotel - then you wouldn't have an abstract picture of a computer screen. You'd hit the viewers up front with your most attractive necklace/dress/room etc.

    I personally feel that the small pics are not enough to break up the six sections below (Designa nd Development etc) - I would use some sort of shading to add visual interest.
     
  11. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    I seriously thought that was obvious I was going to do that.

    Thanks - wasnt sure if they would blend into each other too much.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2011
  12. fresh79 United Kingdom

    fresh79 Active Member

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    very generic
    1.cub3r slider or some jquery effect in a nice mac screen. (cliché)
    2.electric blue header, a themeforest favourite
    3.same generic icons that appear on all the other themeforest sites. (That lifebuoy is everywhere at the moment)

    Same catchy cheese like "lets meet for a coffee" as all the others on Themeforest

    It looks like a million others on Themeforest.
    Good on you for putting the time in, but why bother? Joe public is not going to notice the difference between your own and everything on TF.
     
  13. afx Thailand

    afx Active Member

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    Just to echo most of what has already been mentioned. If you can create a site where it is immediately apparent that is has not came from themeforest or templatemonster then it's a good start. That's not to say these templates don't have their uses; however if you're providing web design services the bare minimum is that it should be an entirely unique design to showcase your talents IMO. Otherwise it's like getting personal training sessions from a fat bird / bloke at the gym -- instant credibility loss.
     
  14. Ashton Canada

    Ashton Well-Known Member

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    http://themeforest.net/item/imaxell-premium-corporate-template/full_screen_preview/67377

    http://www.webdesignsouthyorkshire.com/


    I actually don't think there is anything wrong with doing designs in a similar style to the majority of themes on themeforest, there is a place to be arty and create something absolutely unique and abstract, however most of my clients are very happy with clean sites which get their message across.

    I appreciate all the feedback, and I am working on something a bit off the beaten path - for starters it is ajax based as opposed to pages (except the blog)
     
  15. bensd United Kingdom

    bensd Well-Known Member

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    That's very funny :p
     
  16. fresh79 United Kingdom

    fresh79 Active Member

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