Website Refresh

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to improve my website - I'm aware I haven't done anything to it since I first started my business last year. - Yes the build is very poor (tables - ARGH) - but I've learnt a bit of CSS so I'm going to attempt to build the new design soon. Does anyone have any suggestions for improvement - please few the current site and as you can see it's not a major re-designed just a refresh.

2010site.jpg


The ink image is actually a flash file (see current site)

Thanks in advance,

Steve
 
While all for redesigns (and definitely proactively changing to the current web standards for coding i.e. tables -> css) I personally prefer the look of your current site... it's more clean and fresh.
Just my feelings towards it
 
Thanks Renniks - that's interesting feedback - I thought the old design personally was too plain! - Let's see what others have to say :)
 
I'd scrap the water thing - doesn't really work for me, no connection between that and the rest of the site, (im assuming!) its not your work and its taking up valuable space, i'd also look at the colour scheme for the branding.. etc etc, maybe those colours for your overstates but i'd stick with teh bluey grey palette you've gone with already, my eyes seem to wander instead of focussing.

Other than that i like. Clean, easy to see, contacts viewable, big buttons. Nice.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Yep bought the flash off istock a few years ago as always loved it and didn't know where to use it. The only relevance it has on the site is that it ties in with the colours of the different types of work I do It's also a part of my branding on my business cards and flyers:

82960283.jpg


Agree it's in a prominent place which could be used for something more effective however the vast majority of people who go on my site remember that ink and like it!

Thanks for the other feedback too :)
 
Hi Steve,

I personally prefer the new site design your presenting here. Either way, one thing I'd change is the font colours on the right hand side. Maybe it's just my eyes, but a couple of them seem to clash something awful.

Also, with the flash/ink stuff flying in, I think if it just played once/or stopped moving so much it would look quite nice, but if it keeps looping like it does at the moment, it feels really distracting.

Lastly, in terms of usability, it would be nice if the names of the different services you offered (that coloured area on the right hand side) were links. Say for example I was interested in business cards, I could click on their and see some business cards you had designed.

Hope that helps, let me know if I didn't explain clearly enough.

Good luck!
 
thanks for the suggestions - I had to put the site on hold for the moment, but I like the idea of linking business cards through to some examples!
Cheers
 
Got to say I too prefer the one you have now.

With a portfolio site I think you've got to consider that it's all about showing off the work, and you'll be displaying a lot of varied material with differing colour schemes and visual weight and complexity, and that means things can easily clash and look cluttered if you go to heavy handed on the colour and weight of the site itself.

Whitespace can be beautiful, and I think it really works with what you have now. At the moment your portfolio page looks nice and fresh despite having a busy image in the middle of it. I just don't think that'd work so well with the new design.
 
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