The design is nice and all, but it is pretty hard to give an really well thought out opinion to a site that is empty - sorry. You really need to get some posts happening in there. No one is going to hang out in an empty forum.
Time to pay for posts bro. I was the same way 3 weeks ago. Got to find a way to get lots of good posts. Then, time to get traffic to it. The design is OK.
Yes, before you get carried away with promoting your site make sure to have "something" (content) there to keep a viewers interest and, also, some "someone's" (members) there to keep that content actually going. Your site doesn't look bad layout-wise but, without content, there's nothing (aside from looks) to draw a viewer in long enough for them to even really consider staying. Content is key; do your best to get your members (and yourself, your staff, etc) to actively participate in getting those topics going, going, going. When you have enough (useful) information within those topics to share with others then, and only then, should you sincerely start focusing on the bigger picture. Good luck
It's just a forum and it's empty. Nothing special about it, there are millions of working forums just like this one. If you want to be successfull online you need to generate traffic to your site. Colors and such in a forum are not so important as long as all text and buttons are visible. So, how is your forum special and differs from others? Make it unique and drive targeted traffic.
Nice idea to start a forum for articles. Nice layout, colors - very good. Wish u to get good traffic and more....