posted
Please tell me what you think. Logo still needs work but I have a new concept for the whole web site because of marketing needs I see in my area. I have a meeting with a web developer to get things more functional in the long haul.
This is just a prototype entry animation isn't quite right either. I want to know if I've even explained my concept well. There is nobody's opinion I respect more than you guys and girls.
Please look, click around and reply? Thank you, - Dawn
http://www.streetsmartadvertising.net (while under construction and tweaks you have to click pardon our dust first) AND- think I have a hyperlink style sheet problem.
-------------------- Dawn Drake Signs That Scream Grand Rapids MI Posts: 44 | From: Kentwood Michigan | Registered: May 2006
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Things have been very quiet here over the last while.
If you are looking for comments and opinion I'll pass on my thoughts. If not read no further.
I checked out your site on the first day you posted this thread. The first splash of color quite frankly I found scary... a little too much in my face. When I got brave enough to venture on I was confused by the first page I found... "Landing Pages" the tomatoes or apples didn't make sense at first. The concept isn't very clear at all to me.
The window splashes look great. I questioned why the logo page is black and white instead of color.
Overall the site is tricky and somewhat confusing to navigate... the mix of styles a little jarring.
Assuming you designed and painted the window splashes I see on the pages I don't think the website shows off your design skills nearly as good as it possibly could. In my view one's website should be the same style as the work you produce.
I'd head back to the drawing board and give it another go.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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1) Center the page. IMHO, pages stuck to the left are annoying.
2) I'm sure its just because the site is a work in progress, but the page layouts need a lot of work. The "Landings Page" is a mess. Images like the stack of tomatoes aren't scaled properly. I'm on a 25" wide-screen monitor and I still have to scroll from left-to-right to see the entire image. The same goes for the page featuring Trim Design Customz.
3) Navigation is messy and needs organizing.
4) Your logo is getting lost sitting in the top left corner competing with the bar of paint splatters for attention.
All in all, its got a lot of potential. It just needs to be organized better and have more thought put into the page layouts.
posted
Dawn, I'll be very brief: well done for doing somehting, and asking for opinions- you will get some very good ones, even if they initially seem harsh- there's a lot of value in their frankness.
Your home page has as the page title the word "default". ('default' appears in the tab of web page description in our browser, Firefox.)
Page titles are very important to search engines, and you need to very quickly rename it to your business name.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Hi Dawn, We have spent a lot of time and research concerning website design on our company website. The attention span of the average visitor is extremely short and requires everything being super accessible, easy to understand and easy to find. I think from looking at your site that you need to disconnect from it and approach it as if you have never heard of your business before. Some things will need to be explained in the simplest of terms to help a new visitor understand the basics of what you are trying to communicate (who, what, where, when, why etc.).
Ian is correct about the naming of your pages as well. I would suggest getting the book "Getting Found on Google", its very easy to understand and will assist you in simple things like naming pages.
Just keep refining, and accept that there is a long road of learning ahead of you.
Why not take a photo of a store window and use it as the background of your website. Then in Photoshop use the window the actual pages. That way it better reflects the type of work you do and the type you want to do.
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