Project One Roughs

[paulab]

Okay, this is what I have so far. My plan is to use a drop down menu on the "Galleries" button. Once the individual gallery pages are built, there will be an "Add to Cart" button and a "Checkout" button to purchase the images. I've added one more rough, they're not in numerical order, sorry about that.

2/22/15 I've done a little modification. I lowered the opacity level on the green box behind the logo and made the letters of the logo the same color. Opinions?

[recordd]

Hi Paula! Awesome job on both rough styles! Both are easy to navigate through, page layouts are well-balanced & it is definitely apparent what they are going to be about right away. I'm leaning more towards rough #1 though. In my opinion, I feel that photography sites that have a black background stand out more because it pops out the images. I think the images that you used and the color scheme is perfect. The logo that you created is great too (very creative and it is the first thing that I seen)! Does the sign in rough #2 mean something? I have a couple suggestions for you...one I would bring that sign in rough 2 into your logo, maybe in the middle of the "a" or behind with low opacity. I think it adds character to the page. Second, I do like the layout that you have for the gallery in rough#2, I would use your gallery design in rough #1 for # 2. I can't wait to see your final design! Nice job girlfriend!

[paulab]

Hi Danielle,
The logo in rough #3 is the photographer's initials "A L" using a Chinese style of font. I'm not really liking the buttons on rough #3, I originally had just the words for the navigation but it didn't look quite right on the galleries page so I put a button. Maybe a better idea will come in the critiques. I may end up combining the two somehow. Thanks for the input!

[kamilyon]

Hey lady, I like the first design you did with the layout and colors i just don't know about your font choices in any of them. Are you creating her logo or does she already have one. I just think with your sleek style with the pages that the font is to creative. I could be wrong I usually am,(don't tell my husband!) But I do like the first design the best out of them all.

[aslychsm]

I think you've created a strong foundation to build up from. If I were to pick one to improve on it would be your middle layout. Primarily because of the amazing images, and how well you cut them from their original background. They look beautiful against that gray color. Maybe play around with a drop shadow? I think one way to make this stronger, is to take the logo off the green box, and have it transparent, so that it pops out of the gray. As of right now, that green is overpowering the other elements. In fact, I would take the green out altogether, and focus on a red, gray, and white color scheme. Good job though!

[mccuske2]

I like the second one the best. The shoot of you is really great.

[elizabeth_mejia]

Really nice concepts I really like the first one! The nice dark background really makes the photography pop off the background! I love the image of the camera up close. I kind of want to see the lines on the composition go all the way through instead of stopping short but that's the only thing.

[TsukiMizuDCC]

Miss Paula,

Very awesome. I'm leaning to the first rough because of the color scheme. Using the reds and greens on top of the black background is very complementary. Also, the black background makes the picture pop out more. I barely have anything to suggest on these roughs. They are great.

[Sierragirlnv]

I am leaning towards rough 2. I think you have elegantly integrated the color scheme of the red and the green with the images and the type. I am having a little trouble reading the font in the header. ( A Y Leong Photography?) Is that right? I am not a fan of scripted font in a header. I think it should be simple and express the idea without having to try to read it. Otherwise it is very clear what the website is about.

[Instructor]

Looks like you've got some good layouts here, Paula.

Rough 3 seems pretty blah. I think we can safely discard it. But Rough 2 and Rough 1 are running neck and neck. I think I slightly prefer Rough 1, particularly your recent revision of it. It works almost as a shadowbox/photo album. The back background creates a neutral space that helps pop the contrast of some grayscale images and really saturates color images. The navigation is well placed, large enough to use, and not too dark to see. It's just light enough that you can see and click on it. Despite your large logo, you have quite a lot of content area to work with. I like the use of the thin sans-serif bodycopy, though I don't think it has to be as large as you have it. Avoid the temptation of a background image, you want to preserve that black background in order to emphasize your photo gallery and any accent photos you may use (like the lens on your inner page).

I'm not sold on the Photoshop pattern in your logo. I think it would look just fine without any sort of effects at all, particularly given the modern aesthetic of the rest of the website. I'd also shrink your copyright font about four points and darken it by half so it functions as a bit of a watermark, like you have on the inner page of your older Rough 1.

Very nice work, Paula. Take what you have here and run with it.