GRC 275 Learning and Discussion Forum

Hello everyone, here I have my four roughs for project1. My fictitious company name is BonsaiCo which sells really cheap and good quality bonsai trees. They are beautiful and perfect for decoration. Overall, I want to create a really nice fresh and clean website for this kind of product because trees are supposed to look like that. Thank you very much.

--Martin Aranda---

How fun, I've always really wanted to own a bonsai tree! Sadly, I feel like it wouldn't last long under my care... Anyways! You've made two really cool concepts that really relate back to the product you're trying to sell. My favorite of the two would have to be your top design, I think the colors are more bright and inviting, which seem important when looking for a website that sells plants. Plus, your use of shapes and silhouettes gives it a very "zen" vibe, which go hand-in-hand with bonsai maintenance! If you want to make this better, consider playing around with more typefaces, the ones you've chosen are fine, but I'm thinking a thin/minimalist sans serif would work better. Also, I'm not sure about the text alignment you've got going on in that big, black circle, I think justified would be better, maybe even centered alignment!

I love the color of the first one but really enjoy the layout of the second one.

Hi Martin! Great Job on both of your roughs! You definitely created two very clean and well-balanced layouts...I think I'm leaning more towards your first set of designs though. I really like your color scheme, I think that the light green background just makes everything pops out at you. I agree with Ashley that the design does give off a calming feel or like she said it has a"zen" vibe to it. It fits perfectly because it ties in with the culture related with bonsai trees. The only thing that I would suggest is to remove the black circle behind your paragraph, in my opinion it is a little distracting. Then maybe make the graphic on the right larger & center it with a little opacity then place your paragraph over that. Otherwise, nice job and I cannot wait to see your final draft!

I like bonsico1 and bonsico2._gallery? (they aren't in the same group, however, i feel like those are the better pages of your design.)

the home page needs more work, if i were looking to buy a bonsi tree, this wouldn't draw me in.

Hi Martin! Nice roughs! I, too, am leaning toward the top rough. The colors are very appealing. The main critique that I have is on the inner page. I feel that the tree should be smaller, it's dominating the product, which I believe should be the focal point. More room would help to place your images in a more organized manner. As it is, it appears that the images were placed wherever they could fit. It's a great start and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Really great idea! I've always wanted my own Bonsai tree! They look so miniature and cute! I'm loving the first design best that light color is very zen and peaceful I think it represents bonsai trees very well. I really like the shapes in the second design though! If you put those shapes in black in the first design I think that would go together nicely Great job!

Nice work. You've got two designs that have some excellent elements that, when combined will make a really strong website.

Layout wise, I think your second design is much stronger. It has a cleaner presentational area and a large top bar/menu that establishes the design and brand. It presents the logo well but needs to have the top navigation enlarged a bit. I do like the combo of the top bar and the slightly more compact presentational space. I would introduce some of the clean, Japanese sumi e style layout you have in the presentational area on your first one. I'm also not sold on the underlined text secondary navigation. Try a drop down menu off your "About" button.

Color wise, none of these really work. They all have too many colors. I would embrace your high contrast branding that you've established in your logo and go with black, white, and one color, maybe two (try some analogous colors like red and orange). Use the color sparingly to highlight things you want the eye instantly drawn to, like rollovers. I do really, really like the high contrast you have established however. Keep using black and white. It's really working well here.

Typographically, I think your font choices are working pretty well. Your content is easy to read and follow. I would enlarge your navigational button text at the top and make sure your type is centered both vertically and horizontally in your freestanding buttons. There's also an odd alignment between the title "Description" and the product description on your inner page of your second design. Move "Description" down so the top of the lowercase letters in "Description" match with the top of the capital latter at the beginning of your content.

You've got a very good start. With some adjustments, I think you can have quite a special website here. Good work!

I like your roughs. I think the second design is better though. I am really digging your logo! I like the red you have around the homepage. I think you should continue that on the other pages for consistency.
I would maybe make the header "Gallery" the same font as the font to the left to create more unity but that's all I can think of! Great idea!

What a great idea, Martin. Same with Ashley, I always wanted to take care of my own bonsai tree. I like the design a little more than the first because it feels like your site resides in the Japanese area. Seeing as how you put it that way. Beautiful color choices and evokes the peace of owning a bonsai tree. The only issue that I'm having is on the first rough. The description that you put down is in the middle of a black circle and I can barely read it. Enhance the font size to make it more readable. But excellent work. Can't wait to see the finished product.