May be some of you remember my first template, I shared it on dp, it was not good at all, I made the second one now and want your reviews on it, Also please tell me what all should I change in the template to make it more professional. Here it is:
I like it! Simple is always the best approach. My least favourite thing would be the font on the logo but I assume you'll be changing that to a logo so it doesnt matter. good job!
Sorry, but I don't really like it. The buttons stand out to much and the text on the header things [ Our Designs - Work of Perfection etc.] is so annoying and kind of hard to read. It's a very good approach for a first one, though. Anyways, keep it up, keep doing what you do and you'll get there
Sites I consider to have excellent design usually follow certain rules - I'm by no means the authority on these things, but I can at least share my 2¢ Typography legibility You'll notice that most websites have stayed with the whole dark text on light background colour scheme, and the reason why they do it is because dark text on a light background is easier to read. I know how shocking and bold dark backgrounds can be, and they're fine for healines or big words, but when it comes down to reading the main content people just won't do it if it's too much of a strain. web-safe fonts Look up the list of web-safe fonts and try to build your designs with those fonts in-mind. Sure there are always ways around using them like sIFR, @font-face or typeface.js, and if you're really feeling like 1998 you can use images with your text on them *shudder*, but ignoring web conventions makes you look ignorant and unprofessional, which is not the impression you want to be sending to potential clients. Professionalism I know I hinted at this above, but the fonts you have chosen are too wild, and one is almost unreadable. What good is a typeface if you can't read it? It's best to be subtle - think of fonts as a vessel which holds words like a goblet holds wine. The content of the website (the wine) is what the user wants to see, and the more attention the goblet draws to itself (the font) the less it serves its purpose. Try to make your font choice as plain and 'invisible' to the user as you can Layout Grid I see you've got plenty of rectangles and boxes on your site, yet they don't seem to be in harmony with each other. If you're going to design using boxes, you need to at least plan out your site with an underlying grid, and make the boxes multiples of the lowest common denominator - the Column width. Check out the '960 Grid' for an excellent web design grid system, or when you make your measurements at least have a column-width in mind. Spacing Right now, the paragraphs in your body are closer to the heading below the text, and the heading they are currently a part of. To me, the way I read it they are grouping themselves with the wrong headers. Again with the spacing issue - magazines often use what designers call a 'baseline-grid' to ensure lines of text are perfectly aligned even across pages to ensure visual harmony. It's hard to do that on the web, but the principle remains solid; try your best to find a minimum spacing or line-height, and never go smaller than that between elements. right now the bottom ad look like it's squishing the footer because it's closer than it wants to be. Style Effects To me your site is too busy. You've got Outer Glow, Gradients, Transparency, Embossed letters (it looks like), and Bevelled edges. Graphic designers call this sort of design BYC design (for: because you can) and it is generally regarded as poor concept unless you have very very strong reasons. Just because you have the tools to add all those effects doesn't mean they help your design. A couple of great mottos many good designers swear by: Less is more, and Less, but better. So when you go about your design, think of it like this: I started out with a blank canvas, and everything I add to that canvas should help communicate or express my idea. If I add this effect or element, does it really help my design? If it doesn't, take it off of your design. ??? I see a big massive SAMPLE all across the background. I'm not sure why that's on your image. If it's supposed to be a watermark that comes across to me as childish, and if it's a part of the design I'm not sure it belongs. Now, for sites I consider to be well designed: http://www.apple.com http://www.bell.ca http://www.dell.com http://www.pureedit.com http://darwingimp.sourceforge.net/ http://www.xubuntu.com/ http://gimp.org/ http://everaldo.com http://jimmac.musichall.cz/ http://zenhabits.net/ So look at those sites, think of what makes them effective or what they have in common, and try to emulate those qualities in your work. They commonly feature - Subtle and simple navigation, no buttons, just links - Right up-front imagery, whether illustration or photographs - Rounded, soft and human-friendly design, not a lot of sharp corners - Soft colour palettes, lots of white, grey and blues, with orange or green as accents - Subtle use of gradients to help lead the eye, not to block it I really hope this post has been insightful, I wrote it to help you out so please don't take offense to it. I'm a Graphic Designer and I love seeing great web design - and I hope that's what you will become in time. Best of luck, Tom Hodgins
Typography is very important and I have to say that I don't like this one at all, I don't get the feeling that I will be 100% satisfied when the letters are dissolving. Personally I usually like sites to have a lighter background unless they are about topics like goths, metal bands, emos, or are highly stylised. Just my opinion.
Yeh the layout looks pretty straightforward, however the type just doesn't do it for me, if this was a site I visited on a regular basis I would quickly get discouraged and more then likely stop visiting it. Find a more suitable font for the site and you'll be set. Veranda is always a good clean font to use.
Use better typography, and get rid of the cheesy layer effects. Drop shadow, bevel & emboss, and outer glow with dissolve mode aren't really used in modern design.
Im not keen on it, i prefer a white, or lighter at least background. THe satisfaction 100% thing seems a bit big, the logo is very hard to read. The text is kinda blurry for me, needs to be sharper.
Personally i dont like it a few points i find -The fonts you have chose (mainly in banners) dont look very good (i know banners are placed there but still) -The font in the footer is way to big -The 3d/glass-ie affect is used too much But my main problem is the first one, the font you chose
Looks very amateurish. You can only do so much without experience or knowledge. Look into softer gradients, color palettes or color theory, typography. See what makes other websites great and mimic their style, best way to start.
sorry i dont like it. Surelly theirs other colours than black and white. also i see u have been banned lol