Niv

Need an honest review here guys. Been chopping and changing the look and feel of my new site for ages but need some input from people who know a bit about design.

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TheNoone

Site looks pretty good for the subject of it. One thing though, Get rid of that hideous logo!.
It's painful on the eyes
and in my opinion takes all professionalism away from the site.

I'm speaking as a designer, and consumer.
Hope this helps

All the best
Kye

Niv

Yeah I'd started off down a different path when I first started putting the site together and had been thinking the same recently. Was only ever intended as a temp while I got the site built but some how it seems to have stuck around lol

I'll spend a few hours tonight coming up with some new ideas and hopefully come up with a decent replacement.

Thanks for the input.

TheNoone

No worries.
Just contact me if you're interested in Affordable yet proffesional logo design.

Niv

New logo up, let me know what you think

TheNoone

It's certainly alot better, but still doesnt match the quality of the site!

I think it's the colour i dont like!
Try going with a bolder font, perhaps something like Avante Garde bold or something similiar.
The pink is a big no-no for me!

Keep going though, you're getting alot closer!

Niv

Right guys, have spent the last 9 hours playing around with different designs, have changed the site header image to something a little cleaner and brighter, also after trying over 500 fonts, at least 20 different styles I've got a brand new logo up also. Could really use some feedback now before my brain melts lol

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far, it's been invaluable. Remember reading the thread on here about designers being too critical about their own work and how it can take weeks in some cases to come up with a final design for themselves and boy it's true. The problem is the only person who's on hand almost all of the time to give me feedback is my missus, and like most she always loves anything I do whether it's good or bad when in fact I need someone who's not scared to just say it sucks in case they hurt my feelings.

Like you all know, branding is the difference between success and failure therefor you must seek out anyone who has a good eye and is willing to be honest, hopefully tonight I've done enough to bring my brand up to scratch.

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linziloop

Hi there!

I personally think the line lengths are waaaaay to long (for example the first lot of bullet text you come to). As a general rule i think there should be 40 characters to a line before the line becomes so long you either get bored, or the eye finds it difficult to find the beginning of the next line. I would suggest splitting the width of the text in two, perhaps a new grid (if you have used one).

There is a mix of serif and sans serif fonts (not sure if that's deliberate?), and the acid green to me is a bit dated, but that could be more personal opinion than anything. I would say however that the white text of the menu bar at the top on the green makes the text a little hard to read.

Finally, there's a LOT of text on there. Personally i would never ever read that much text, i would consider simplifying it somehow so people don't bounce right off the site again after seeing that and thinking "sod this"!

There are a few registered symbols which haven't been super-scripted which is a pet peeve of mine, and then just bits and bobs all over that i would tidy up.

That's just on the home page...

socreative

your background image is chopped of on my 1680px wide monitor, "details" button has different background from the main site, I'd suggest making those smallish header before every unordered list larger
Typography needs much more work

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DougBarned

Hi Niv

If you're still interested, I'm going to be brutally honest with you, as you asked. Your site needs to be re-thought. I've nothing against you and I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to give some pointers to try and help which you're welcome to ignore

Main problems:

• The green everywhere and its too bright - Try toning it down a little. Frogs are sometimes darker green, maybe almost regal green. Try darker shades for a more middle/high end sense of quality... currently your bright green screams to me 'cheap and crap' (I don't mean to offend).
• It's boxy - Almost like the layout could of been designed in MS Excel.
• Typography is inconsistent - Choose serif or sans-serif for your content. Headers can be different, as long as they are consistent. Choose sizes and stick to them.
• The layout is inconsistent - Try to keep similar information is similar positions throughout the pages. If you want a background on your 'Free hosting with every domain' feature image, use it on all pages. Consider breaking up your content in more meaningful ways so it doesn't just look like a page of text. Consider the use of a side bar or 2?
• Nothing makes me wan to read more or use your service - you need obvious call to actions and you need to tell me why I should bother using you instead of a larger, well known company.
• Some links lead off to 'securepaynet.net' which again, has an inconsistent look. This makes me loose confidence in your service and ask questions like "why can't his website have the checkout on?" "who am I giving my money to?". You need to make customers feel like they are dealing with YOU. If you can't you need to explain why you use an outside service - data security etc.
• linziloop is correct about line length.
• Your code is very messy & disorganised - I'm guessing this was a template or build using some sort of WYSIWYG editor?
• Your site is built using tables. Don't do this. Learn how to build a site using CSS for your layout and styles, separating content (HTML) from style (CSS) and behaviour (JS).
• Why is there a "Restore Default Settings " link in your footer?
• Why do you have Go Daddy links if you are trying to sell web hosting?

That's about it for now... sorry for tearing it apart.

I'm not sure where you fit in this, are you designer, coder, business owner? Trying to be all three? Do you have any experience doing any of the above?

Any questions, please ask.

/Doug

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