GRC 275 Learning and Discussion Forum

Well with the first design I wanted to try the rollover and see what it would come of with going to the purse section, or to the jewelry section, where as the second design, when you click on products it takes you right to a page where you click on the picture of what you want to look at.

What I am selling is women's accessories. From purses, jewelry, to clothing. More pictures are coming soon.

Hope you enjoy and I am ready for all the criticizing you guys can give me.

First Design:
The navigation seems a bit cramped to me. The links sit right on the black edge and have no room to breath. Im not totally sold on the color combo either. Maybe try to integrate more green into the design if you are going to use it. Its just the random border is a bit weird. I would like to see how you are going to layout the purses in the second page. I think that will be a major chunk of work so I wouldn't leave that till the end.

Second Design:
Same complaint about the navigation having to little padding around the links. On the hover state I wouldn't do the white behind the purple. I would just have the link turn purple. I like the homepage better than the first design although still not sold on the color scheme. For the inner page with the categories you totally need to mask the images to the black shapes. It looks weird right now since there is like this round black box behind the images. Just looks like a mistake. You also might want to rethink the captions below the images. Everything looks ok until you get to miscellaneous. that throws everything off and it looks weird since it isn't centered like the rest and is much longer of a word. Try using "Other" some something else for a quick fix but I would completely re-think that if I was you.

Overall
Expand your design a bit. You are only using 800px of space. Its 2012 not 1995. People have huge monitors now that you can take advantage of. Hell the resolution of the iPhone 4S is 960×640 and thats a phone. Just food for thought.

I agree with Kyle but wanted to add also that the typography needs some work. maybe design a logo? Right now I think it may be too simple and boxy ya know. Your type does not have to be a large typeface, sometimes smaller is good.

I feel like the navigation is way too powerful. Maybe create buttons or some sort of divider and shrink the type. I agree you need a logo... it will help solidify the header and it will give you a theme that you can use throughout your design. I think the second products page is stronger than the first, I would design an boarder or put the photos in Polaroid's it will add more visual interest. I would try to incorporate some other graphic elements rather than just photos. Overall I like how the teal header and purple body pop off the black background in the second design. Keep it up.

Joshua

Logo is a bit boring. perhaps a symbol in it might help.
I like the color scheme. whoever right now they are just blocks of color. I would like to see them more dynamic.
navigation is too big.
hierarchy is off.

I understand that I have a lot of work cut out, especially since I have to come up with a new logo for the actual business. What a great idea for it being my moms 10 year anniversary in November.

I think both concepts are pretty similar. I agree that a logo would really define the business, and that the navigation is rather large, along with the imagery. I think the designs would benefit from some light and negative space.

Both design are similar in layout, color, and navigation, but I do like the header and nav on the first one and the display of the products on your second design.

I would suggest making the size of your navigation smaller, scale everything down a bit because it's seems like it's going to be really large of everything, as well as creating a more define logo than just typing it out. As for color, teal, purple, black, and white doesn't speak "accessories" too much for me...they are all too cold and bold, maybe you can try playing with a more fancy and vintage style? If you really like the purple background, you can also try to find some type of purple texture background or just texture background in general?...

I think your type hierarchy needs some work, a logo would definitely help. The design feels a bit flat. Maybe play with some shadows or effects.

Great idea for a website. I would work on making a logo that works well with all your accessory ideas. Make it girly but also universal. As for your color scheme I would try and pick one dominate color instead of two. It will help bring your site together and it won't distract you from the product.