13 replies to this topic

[outerbox]

I'd like to have you guys check out the new look I'm working on for our company website. At this point it is just a mockup, but I'd still like to get your opinions. After the design phase there will probably be more comments regarding SEO as other pages are created.

Our current live site is at www.outerboxdesign.com

NEW SITE IS AT:
www.outerboxdesign.com/new_site/index3.html
and
www.outerboxdesign.com/new_site/index4.html

You can let me know which you like better and any comments on either.

Thanks a lot!

[Clippit]

If this is two versions, I like them both, but maybe a like 4 slightly better. The transperency of the header is fitting well with the background graphic. It is nice and clean, maybe the green is a bit too much for my taste but, hey.. that's me!

[ScottSalwolke]

It has a nice look, but it also seems a little busy. First time visitors might be overwhelmed. You want to sell them on your services and this should be the focus of your home page. One thing that might work is to eliminate some of the navigation, especially the service tabs. Is this repeated on all of the pages?

[Clippit]

It has a nice look, but it also seems a little busy. First time visitors might be overwhelmed. You want to sell them on your services and this should be the focus of your home page. One thing that might work is to eliminate some of the navigation, especially the service tabs. Is this repeated on all of the pages?

What's wrong with the navigation, doesn't the main menu needs to persist on every page, so you can navigate easely within the content?

:)

[outerbox]

Clippit, I think he was talking about the secondary "our services" navigation in the middle. That will only be on the homepage. It's what people are looking for, so I thought I'd make it very clear.

[labgfx]

Hey pal, the site is a little overwhelming, I really can't even focus on anything particular. I have no idea what to look at first. but this not a huge issue, your site design is decent and I think your in a better position than most people.

I would try to make things a little more step by step, less information on each page.
Of course this is just what I like to see in websites and is purely my own opinion.
Good luck! I look forward to more revisions.

[alexf2000]

I like the 2nd layout, looks nice.

[M.Kane]

That logo makes me want to shrivel up and die I mean it's going to ruin any potential designs you may come up with.

hat aside, i like both designs, with some minor adjustments you could be rocking. But please, for the love of God redesign the logo! I'm tempted to offer you a free redesign because it' bugging me like hell

[don h]

The logo doesn't look that bad. It's a matter of opinion, not everyone's gonna like a site's design, it's the content inside of it that matters the most.

[M.Kane]

The logo 'is' that bad, it's not at all something you could market a product with, poorly executed, doesn't fit right where it was placed, would look awful printed on business cards and my guess is it would never even get printed on business cards, let alone anything else. The mirror effect on the logo is old and tacky looking, the font type used for this concept isn't even right, not the the concept it to be honest, the T in Outer does not look like a T at first glance, specially at that angle anyway. The outer logo's frame does not look right snipped around the word 'Box'..ah to go back to the word Outer, in the logo if you do notice the T it reads OuTer which is pretty awful for a professional logo...either capitalize all the letters or just the first, or none at all is how it should be done.

Maybe by stretching the T down and merging it with the B he attempted to create 2 box's that combined the letters in each if you know what I mean, in which case it was poorly executed, e looks odd on top of the B like that and the 2 box like shapes are no longer symmetrical.

I'm not saying you're wrong in liking the logo, I like the 'Microsoft' logo although thousands of designers don't, I'm saying there are things that can be done with a logo, and things that are just not professional at all, in my years of designing, I can only say that this is 'my' opinion, but then again a lot of designers would echo my sentiments.

I'm giving the said topic starter my professional opinion, that the logo is very poorly done, and should be changed if he plans on marketing and branding his site right, not to mention he's redesigning the site so might as well fix that logo don't you think?

To each his own!

[M.Kane]

Oh and as for your "it's the content inside of it that matters the most." comment, I agree, content is 'king' but if we're talking about the entire site layout, which we're not ( i was only referring to the logo in my prev posts) then a really bad and unprofessional looking design might have a user click away before reading anything on the site. I mean if all you're doing is adding great content and making it super search engine friendly, disregarding design and making a users stay a pleasant one to the eye and what not, then you're somewhat retarded A professional appealing design, regardless of the content will have a user stick around a few seconds longer than they would on a poor looking unprofessional podge up job of a design.

But yeah, I was not referring to his design really, mainly the logo

[ozaark]

Just took a look and I'm going to have to disagree with what people are saying about 4 being better than 3. It has a more natural guide for the eye to flow into your content while getting across a visual of what your service_looks_like, (why they probably are looking for you in the first place). The opinion 4 is better I am going to say is due to the overwhelming background graphic being too much.. I think that that you should definitely make the leaf background more transparent, fade out sooner, or possibly even remove it altogether; it's too visible and attracts the eye more than your actual content. Contrast should attract attention to your content - not what's around/behind it.

When working with layouts in graphic form it's all too easy to forget about the value of 'whitespace'.

I'd also recommend you don't have those examples point directly to your clients website, instead make it a "view case" type deal with a page setup for exactly what services and skills you provided client with - then linking to their site if need be. This encourages people to research more into how your services can be applied to them..

As for the logo issue that's hot topic - I personally don't think it's as terrible as it's being made out to be.. It could of course be better but I think it's not really an issue since you don't actively promote Logo Creation, which is an area you can improve on before promoting.

Just my 2 cents...

[neka]

Hey,

the site is a little overwhelming,It has a nice look, but it also seems a little busyThe transperency of the header is fitting well with the background graphic.

[ceuyan]

i personally like

www.outerboxdesign.com/new_site/index3.html

i viewed your live site and would like to see the site in a wider format. why not use the entire space of the screen?