I’m redesigning the spudart.org website, and I’d love to get feedback from my readers about possible designs.
Here is Option B (the home page).
About the redesign
The redesign will incorporate alot of backend database features
* Every item on the spudart.org site can have comments
* Users can log into the site for member features
* When viewing a particular item, you can see other items that are similiar.
* The recent works on the homepage will update automatically with new items.
* much much more
Color
I’m concerned that the background tan color might look a bit red on some screens. On my CRT at home and at work, it looks tan. But on my laptop it looks kinda salmon. I might just kill the tan color and make it white. But I do like how the colored background makes the square icons pop more.
Boring-ness
This design is just too boring. The layout is alright, but it needs more piz-zazz.
Expanding page
The pages are being designed so the entire page expands with how big you have your browser window. The middle column is the one that expands bigger or smaller. I have an earlier design, Option A, which is an interesting layout, but it doesn’t expand.
Your comments are encouraged and appreciated. Are there any sites out there that you think would look really good for spudart.org?
keep the background color. white is boring. the color scheme is excellent. keep it. don’t change any of the colors. i likel the burnt orange and the burnt green. (the background looks beige with the slightest tint of green). “recent works”, “thoughts”, “other stuff”, etc. need to change. The orange text with line underneath is doing nothing. the approach is so boring. if you’re going to keep the text and line treatment; at least have the text sit right on top of the line. it will be slightly more anchored (and interesting) that way. Right now those headers and lines are floating in the nebula of never neverness. The more i look at it; the more i think you can’t decide which direction to take the site. that’s bad. it looks like you want it to look clean and crisp like http://www.pixelsurgeon.com/ or even better yet http://www.australianinfront.com.au/ If you’re gonna go this direction, then the first thing you need to do is make the fonts smaller and focus on incorporating more “line” graphics. Or you want it too have more of a grungy fell like, well I can’t find any sites. I remember you did that one design at TMS that highlighted some dude. You did alot of photoshop brush work to roughen up the graphics. It could be real nice if you beef up the graphics by applying some psd brushes. If you go with the grungy brushed look, i wuold keep the fonts the same size. I really wish i could find an example of the look I’m thinking of.
I love Love LOVE the color scheme…EXCELLENT! I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it…Art for Sale should be your primary message. You’re not a student anymore. You have a job. Who cares about your portfolio? Break out the art, organize it, sell it, and make more More MORE. I’m not sure about enabling comments for everything. Do you really want that? What’s the value? To obtain feedback about every last little thing? I don’t know that I see the value in that. Maybe people are more apt to comment and offer feedback, but most of the time that kind of feedback is off-the-cuff, rather than totally thoughtful. Not that this reply qualifies. I’m being totally sincere ;^”>
ohmigosh tom, you are so right about the selling art. I totally need to refocus the site around. That is an excellent idea! As far as the comments go, I don’t really expect that many comments on the artwork, but you never know what you may get. So I’d rather enable comments for everything, just in case.
Stupid me! I didn’t even see Option A, but that’s okay because I don’t really think it’s an option. It’s not much different than what you have now. Change is good! Option B rulez! I’m glad you’ll reconsider the focus of the site. If you’re doing a redesign, why not make the purpose what you really want! ;^”>
Mmmm, salmon
i like option B, but i agree to change the tan background to white. it will make the right sidebar more distinct from the left side. i like the green color. i think it adds a new dimension to the brown/gray look. is “selling art” your main purpose/objective/point of your site? i thought it was more of a “all about matt” site. also a portfolio of all your creative stuff in general. i disagree with Tom about the portfolio thing….you are in the workforce, but you always want to have your portfolio available for moving forward in your career. and for graduate school possibilities as well. i like the layout of option B better. the layout of option A looks too crowded. with option B there’s room to breathe. and it looks more logical…the eye follows around the page better. you are leading your viewer on a specific path. interesting links that erik provided…
I concur…it is probably important to have your rez somewhere on the site, but I still don’t believe it should be the focus. You are a professional artist and your focus should be on selling your art. We’ve seen a lot of examples. I still like the new colorwave too and I think you should go for it.
a new version of the spudart website:
This page will be able to expand to fit the size of your browser. The version you see here is at it’s smallest. But once it’s coded out, the middle panel will expand when you make the browser bigger. (the left and right columns are static) The background color will flood the entire page. I’m trying to think of a tagline to appear where “sprouting out creativity” appears. I will be posting to my blog for ideas on a tagline soon. But for now i’m open to comments on this design.
I like this newer version even better than Option B, which I liked when I first saw it. Nice layout, fonts, colors, and overall design. Go for it! :^”>