Design Forums - Graphic Design & Web Design Forums

As some of you know im going through the lengthy process of rebranding.

Ive got my logo, no Im onto my website design. Ive gone through so many versions of this already before uploading - ive got about 13 a4 sketches in my book! and too many .psd files.

I started with a rounded look, and slowly developed this idea...


CHECK IT HERE

any constructive criticism is really appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

A bit more detail that I forgot to mention...

- The top section you see will automatically slide from side to side giving the user a varied snapshot of my previous works and relating customer testimonials.

- There will be a footer and yes, i forgot to ad it to this image! oops! WIll literally just be text links and valid xhtml/css rollovers...


Thanks in advance

Hi Phil,

I'm liking the orange colour and background texture, think they work quite well together with the grey. I'm not too sure what the grey bar between the navigation and the content is for, seems to just be floating there... I'd suggest making it a bit narrower and putting it down to the top of the content box so it forms a divider of sorts, or lose it altogether.

I would also try to work some form of grid layout into the design, for example you could form a simple two column setup by making the text about the latest project on the right the same width as the navigation area above, and then make the latest work image the same width as the logo area and header space up to the menu, if that makes any sense. I think introducing a grid framework to work the design around will start to bring a bit more structure and flow to the design.

Look forward to seeing how it develops
Greg

Thank Greg.

In my "rounded design" drawings I had update text scrolling along that floating grey bar - then I realised how hideous the scrolling text was and got rid of it! Without the bar it just doesn't look right though, so I left it there but thinner. I'll try and think of something else to go there to balance the area and will also try your idea - appreciate more comments on this.

A grid system sounds like the type of idea that shouldnt have been the first thing in my mind! Thanks Greg. I'll g et onto it tomorow and post up a "V2".

Ahh OK that makes more sense, and yes to me it just looked a little out of place..

Sounds good Phil, good luck with it and look forward to seeing v.2
Thanks, Greg

It all seems rather cluttered, mixing and matching different styles. The mailing list bar floating somewhere in the middle and your Recent work H2 tag floating up left, separated from the description. Outer glows (shadows) are really heavy too. The colors work really well and I like the direction your heading for, but you need to bring some unity in it and position your elements slightly better.

I probably sound really negative now so I'm gonna use Tim's

Thanks Onartis.

Will try and have a rework of your comments when I get the time...probably tomorow evening.

Thanks

Right.

Heres where I'm at right now.

Two versions pretty much the same except for the top grey bar between the menu buttons and content area using Gregs suggestion....

Thoughts?

PJStudio Version One PJStudio Version Two

if you haven't bought the domain is it wise to show everyone "PJStudios" ? but the sites look nice, i don't like the linkedin and twitter logos at the bottom, they're a bit too excessive IMO.

Thanks Tim. Fair does on the twitter/linkedin logos - any other views on these? Was planning to have them show their "real" colours on hover? Just thought it was a way to get the links there without a links page.

Any thoughts on that separating header bar Tim? Ims truggling with that! haha

Oh, and I have bought the domain names.....but fair point haha

oh good, phewph, didn't want you losing out again lol

im not too sure about the head, probably the second one but i don't really have a strong preference

Thanks Tim. Yeh - I couldnt decide either...I prefer the larger seperator but I think thats just becuase Ive been looking at that for the longest time!

Any more views?

I prefer v2. I like the general design and the colours work pretty well, but I'm not so keen on the navigation. Maybe you could have them as tabs that are stuck to the grey line in the top and bring them together so there's no space in between?

I'm not sure about the mailing list bar in the middle either. And as Onartis also mentioned, it needs a bit of polishing and tidying up. Pretty nice overall though.

Hi Phil,

I prefer version 2 as well, one thing I would suggest is with the latest work image, as it's currently a website visual with a black background and the content area has a black background it's quite hard to make it out, as well as that the thin borders on the design look a bit dodgy at an angle, have you thought about displaying it straight but using a monitor/laptop image for it? or just a thin border to help set it apart from the content background?

Hope that helps,
Greg

After taking in the comments Ive reworked the menu buttons slightly and gone for the macbook pro option...wont use the same macbook image in my final design, will buy an image from istock thats better quaility....

PJSTUDIO Version 3

Appreciate the view on the mailing list section Aarlev - understandably it could be a no goer too but will leave it there i think for the first few weeks and see what the interest is like - will also be pushing it to my existing clients...

Any direct thoughts on the "polishing"of it?
And any more views on the twitter/linkedin links i ahve at the bottome left of the footer?