Website redesign

Hi everyone. I am in the process of splitting my website into two. I find it very difficult to keep the site as artistic as I want while keeping it easy enough to navigate and find info on what my company actually does. SO, I am hacking it in half.

I have a design idea for the commercial side of things that I'd like input on. It's cluttered, and none of the links work, but I would like input on whether I'm heading in the right direction before I invest more time into this look.

Please don't hold back, and remember that the pictures are just stand-ins. :)

http://www.crescentmooncreative.com/test

Thanks!!

Are making a good decision and I like the layout of the new site. Keep us in the loop, I'd like to learn more about what you offer.

~Brian

Grey to me looks dull. Like colours that stimulate interest, warmth, friendliness. The layout looks good, a little bit of of space around everything, probably could be a little tighter. I am viewing 1024 x 768 and scroll to see your first image which only shows about mid ear on my screen, apart from the image top left.

I like the idea you have, but don't forget to put the navigation on the bottom as well as the top, seems people like the idea of either top and bottom menus, or navigation that is on the left of websites. Personally I don't mind the way you have done it, but scrolling seems to be a NO NO on a lot of information sites. The logic is, get the information in front of people without having to scroll and then they will be more likely to look into the site further. Do I act on my own thoughts, not on my sites but they are still under development too.

With the What Can we do for you, I would put that in list form, not the way you have displayed it, looks cluttered. Don't have long wide sentences, try and make them a bit shorter. As eyes travel across wide writing, even thought the lines are only like 2 lines, readers tend to loose place of where they are on pages. This is alright with shorter widths but not with over 800 wide. The page doesn't resize if you pull the right hand side in, so this causes those looking at the website to again scroll from left to right as well, if viewing less than 1024 wide. Which leads to people leaving sites more often than continuing to view a site.

Just some thoughts to take into mind when writing for others to view.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

Hi everyone. I am in the process of splitting my website into two. I find it very difficult to keep the site as artistic as I want while keeping it easy enough to navigate and find info on what my company actually does. SO, I am hacking it in half.

I have a design idea for the commercial side of things that I'd like input on. It's cluttered, and none of the links work, but I would like input on whether I'm heading in the right direction before I invest more time into this look.

Please don't hold back, and remember that the pictures are just stand-ins. :)

http://www.crescentmooncreative.com/test

Thanks!!

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I like it! Very business like and to the point. I'd say you are definitely heading in the right direction. My two cents worth. :-)

only area that I think needs a bit of work is the values of gray you have there as side bars...to close to the value of the gray behind the text...

I like the image and logo bar and I really like how easy to read the text is...has a very clean professional business look to it...artistic but not to fussy.

you are well on your way...

Seb,

Like the banner, the menu and the first section of text. The rest of it looks way too cluttered. Too much text and it's broken into 3 or 4 sections adding to the clutter. I prefer a much cleaner look.

Also agree that the colors don't pop. Everything is in the same color family so it looks very muted; nothing stands out.

On a lighter note. I just realized that the O's in Moon look like butt cheeks : )

Dennis

I don't know Seb, it seem pretty busy to me.
Overloaded with info.
Brian

...is the top banner and navigation menu. But that's not a knock, because not only do I think it looks really good, but IMO that's perhaps the hardest design element to do on the page. The rest is just layout...

I agree with a few of the other critical comments about your page layout. The way you have it mocked up, the text is somewhat awkwardly arranged around the page, some centered some left justified. And on my 1024x786 screen (as Peter notes) the one photo on the right is chopped at the 1/3 spot which looks bad.

I think you need more images mixed in with the text. Maybe even a thumbnail for each seperate section. After all, you're offering photographic services. I don't think you can emphasize your work enough, or shown too many examples of it.

I have a question about the navigation bar at the top of the page. Why do you have seperate links to sections that are right on the same page? Unless you want your links to jump down quickly to lower sections on a long page, nav links should go to other pages from the one you are on.

Finally, "Crescent Moon Creative" by itself on the banner is somewhat vague. There is no immediate mention of photography. Is this intentional? If so, I suppose that's fine, it's just that some people need to see something instantly at the top to make a quick connection to what you do.

Overall, a good start. Besides, it's fun seeing the evolution of a design...

BTW, I think the color scheme is fine, provided you add more images to break up the text. Looks professional...

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

Hi everyone. I am in the process of splitting my website into two. I find it very difficult to keep the site as artistic as I want while keeping it easy enough to navigate and find info on what my company actually does. SO, I am hacking it in half.

I have a design idea for the commercial side of things that I'd like input on. It's cluttered, and none of the links work, but I would like input on whether I'm heading in the right direction before I invest more time into this look.

Please don't hold back, and remember that the pictures are just stand-ins. :)

http://www.crescentmooncreative.com/test

Thanks!!

---

The layout is very nice. It looks to me to be very 'commercialized', giving me the impression of a large gallery with multiple photographers, instead of a more one-on-one type business.

I'm no website design pro and I know that my own website needs a major makeover. I too have been working about a week on a completely new look, and I'm only about half done.

It looks very professional, but less can be more.

Websites are a ton of work!!!!!


Kathy Weigand

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Originally Posted by dsl712

On a lighter note. I just realized that the O's in Moon look like butt cheeks : )

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I guess we see what we want to see... :D

Unless you just changed something - I'm looking at 1024x768 and don't have to scroll left to right. I think that's very important and would plan that around this resolution because it seems to be most common. Scrolling down doesn't bother me as much, but maybe that's too much info on the home page. I do think the grey looks classy - very businesslike, but somehow the overall page needs to "pop" a little more.

I'm not sure about the "why hire a pro" part - depends on who you're dealing with. If you're looking for clients that are used to working with pros, then they might see that as a turn-off (as in what kind of clients does he work with that don't understand this?). Subjective, I guess - trying to play devil's advocate.

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Originally Posted by another view

I'm not sure about the "why hire a pro" part - depends on who you're dealing with.

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My guess is that Seb is targeting companies and groups that normally may be tempted to do casual "in house" photography, possibly because the perception now is that digital shooting is so simple ANYONE can do it.

You know, "Hey, we don't really need to hire a photographer. Just give one of the secretaries my Sony digital p&s. It'll be fine..."

Well, a lot of these type are discovering that it's not always that simple, and cost cutting by not hiring a pro photographer can be a false economy if problems arise.

IOW, it's for people on the fence. To me, makes good marketing sense...

Excellent input from everyone, THANK YOU!!! And please keep it coming if anything else comes to mind. :)

Steve and Steve, Steve has it right. In this area at least, many companies are buying their own cameras and wasting their employees time to take mediocre pictures, while the employees could be doing other things that would actually make the company money. I know that someone that is looking for a pro will hire a pro, but the ones that are unsure can be swayed with a little bit of understanding.

That's my reasoning at least. It seems that we really need to start educating people what makes us worthwhile. A good friend of mine own an audio production company in the Western Suburbs and he has seen a lot of his clientelle go to in-house productions that are mediocre at best. He is starting to use the same techniques as I am, primarily educating them to why his services are worth it, even though his equipment can be matched by a computer and a mike.

If this was artistic portraiture, then it would be clearer, but I don't think there's much of a market for that around here, that's why I'm sourting event organizers and companies.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

Hi everyone. I am in the process of splitting my website into two. I find it very difficult to keep the site as artistic as I want while keeping it easy enough to navigate and find info on what my company actually does. SO, I am hacking it in half.

I have a design idea for the commercial side of things that I'd like input on. It's cluttered, and none of the links work, but I would like input on whether I'm heading in the right direction before I invest more time into this look.

Please don't hold back, and remember that the pictures are just stand-ins. :)

http://www.crescentmooncreative.com/test

Thanks!!

---

You had the right idea with the color scheme but I would change the gray in the background to a little bit lighter or try a darker gray with lighter or white text. Your text looks dull because its too close in color to the the gray making it little less readable. You are on the right track though I think you will find the right color scheme.