Graphic rabbit studios

graphicrabbitstudios

graphicrabbitstudios

Member
Hey chaps,

I know Flash is not very ideal for my site but i am studying coding so that will have to wait.

I have a few initial personal pieces of work in places.

Thoughts? :D

Cheers,

Sam
 
NOTE: I actually stumbled on your site through a different topic on here. When I tried to Google your company yesterday, it just redirected me to DF... For those who are still looking: http://www.graphicrabbitstudios.co.uk/

Well, first of all it's flash, but I trust that you'll code it somewhere in the near future so no harm done.
Then, what's up with the RSS icon? Did you just see that on a lot of sites and think it was a bare necessity to your site? What will people be subscribing to anyway?

Next, your logo: The name is ok, I suppose, but the fact that you chose to include 'rabbit' means that some doors open and close. Doors that open are all symbols and logos relating to rabbits, while florals are now behind a closed door.

Now for the design itself... It's not very appealing, especially the navigation is very bombastic, also note that on hover, the text becomes near invisible. The layout is too inconsistent. You don't have a lot of elements, so the least you can do is align them. Your headers aren't positioned in the same place and the content on the one page doesn't line up with that from the other page. Even your background images don't line up vertically. And none of the above lines up with your logo.

The backgrounds on all the pages are very random. The one on the contact page works for me, but only because it's easy on the eye. If I actually look at it, it appears to be a painting? The way you lay out your content isn't all that great either. The contact form is a nice idea but it's poorly executed. The list on the services page with all the software seems unnecessary, and if you must include it, you could opt for small icons representing the software. The semi-transparent background on the homepage obviously had to be added for the text to be readable, but that's your own fault (poor background choice). The circles on the portfolio page are good. If you're redesigning/recoding this, you might want to stick with that, it's perfectly possible in HTML and CSS (possibly some jQuery if you want to steer clear of CSS3).

Lastly I'd like to mention that you may want to move the contact page to the right (in your navigation) of the services, because it's kind of conventional that the contact page is the last page in your navigation.

That should give you some stuff to think about. Welcome to DF :p
 
hey, i really don't mind your site, i don't.

I may need a bit of tidying up and tweaking, but that's it.

Onartis has kindly listed a set of rules and regulations which if broken the internet will die. How dare you make your site in flash, have a contact page that is not on the right hand side, and then, have the audacity to incorporate bombastic navigation!

And more so, i defy you to have a name with rabbit in it and then use florals as a graphical piece of communication instead of an actual rabbit, fool.

Personally, break some rules, do your thing, you might do it different but it's certainly never wrong.

Welcome to the world
 
No, Onartis has listed quite a few basic "principles" or "suggestions" that will help tidy up and tweak the site

Such as alignment, text being illegible on hover, the use of floral design with no reference or linking to anything else in the site (consistency brings familiarity), consistent alignment throughout the site, contact being the furthest right in the navigation.

You say break some rules, do your thing... while not being wrong... usability, cognitive psychology, current styles, all suggest that these changes are for the best...


You want your users to contact you, put the contact in the most findable place, the same place it is on alot of good sites. You want your users to relate your name to your brand, why put floral design on site called graphic rabbit studio. etc, etc,

Sorry I don't buy breaking rules for the hell of it... unless you can justify it, it might aswell be wrong in my opinion. It doesn't look better to be different, it looks confusing. Some people do it really well... that doesn't mean everyone should do it
 
He's listed a load of spiel he may have memorised from a book.

arrrr, send him to design jail, where yee must toil with comic sans until the rapture takes ye and ye become all square, and design like every other lubber out there who canny get a job.

savvy?
 
Not savvy.
The load of spiel he may have memorised from a book is in those books for a reason.

The person asked for critique of his work. Not to be told
"hey, i really don't mind your site, i don't.

I may need a bit of tidying up and tweaking, but that's it"

Tidying up, aligning it better, changing legibility, organising content
Tweaking, re-evaluate things such as the logo, make decisions on whether what you've chosen is the right things for your target.

Oh and the comment about flash. Why would a site that doesn't need to be made in flash, be made in flash (I realise the answer here is due to being able to use flash and not code) but that is why Onartis commented on it... Flash cannot be seen on some major mediums now. Flash unless made very well is not accessible to search engines (kinda important when alot of work would almost certainly come through them) (NB no idea how well made in flash the site is)


[Apologies for my rant, it just seemed that your comments weren't useful, you said to break the rules and that's it, breaking the rules for no reason isn't a good idea]
 
Haha, i am going to have to adapt to your language too.

Yes i know it isn't as we call 'up to standard' but this is what i joined here for=)

I am in the process of looking for a coder, has anybody used one of these coders from abroad?

I think rentacoder is one of the sites.

Any reccomendations?

Cheerio

Sam
 
graphicrabbitstudios said:
Haha, i am going to have to adapt to your language too.

Yes i know it isn't as we call 'up to standard' but this is what i joined here for=)

I am in the process of looking for a coder, has anybody used one of these coders from abroad?

I think rentacoder is one of the sites.

Any reccomendations?

Cheerio

Sam
Click to expand...

Some good coders frequent the boards :) I'm sure theyll pop their heads up sometime soon. Harry and tbwcf instantly spring to mind, amongst others (Sorry if I missed you, no offence <3)
 
Well, Romack, I feel I have given some very valid points regarding his site which you apparently disagree with.

A site like this should not be made in flash, but I understand that he was using what he knows, which I duly noted in my original post.

It's customary for the contact page to be the last in the navigation. While I'm not saying he can't have it as the first, it would be in his interest to position it where most people will be expecting to see it. To support this argument I will refer to the Wikipedia redesign from some months ago. The search box used to be in the left sidebar, but because it's conventional (and for this reason only) they moved their search box to the top right corner of the page.

Perhaps bombastic wasn't quite the word I was looking for. But to me the navigation was, to say the least, unappealing. You might not agree, although I think you may have just pointed that out for the sake of my word choice.

The florals in the logo just seemed very inappropriate to me. I'm talking to Sam Jackson, a fairly unknown designer in the UK, and I thought I would point out what struck me as obvious (the bunny reference); I'm not talking to the in-house design team for Duracell, I'm sure they've thought things through way more than I have but the same thing might not be true in this situation.

And yes, some of what I have said can be found in books and articles, and I have undoubtedly remembered some of those pointers, and later on applied them in real world situations. Are you saying you've never picked up a book or read an article (on the web or in a magazine) on design? Or did you find everything out yourself by saying "Ok, what I just made looks like crap. Here's why..." without any reference whatsoever?

Comments like "it needs some tweaking" are becoming tiresome, prepare to be boarded. Whatever the hell that may mean.
 
Thanks Onartis for the comments, i will take all of them onboard as at the end of the day this is why i posted on here because i needed some guidance.

I know it is far from perfect but as a 'Junior' i can learn and adapt.

Thanks for all the comments everybody:)

Sam Jackson
 
I have no design based A-levels or Degrees. I have never read a book on the many subjects involved, i've only ever browsed through publications for imagery for inspiration. I have my own imagination, ideas and creative drive, i have learned a great deal from great designers in a successful agency as quick as i could, my portfolio of work and attitude has allowed me to move design agencies with zero downtime and now i make a nice living from it. In fact i see my work on 48 sheets, on the sides of buses, in magazines, at events, online, in doctors surgery waiting rooms, on shop fronts and many other places at least once a day.

I think i'm a little qualified (not that anyone need to be) to give an opinion on a Graphic Design forum without rebuttal from other members.

Have a lolly son and stay in school.
 
Apologies for rebutting what you said, I find it a better method than just disagreeing without reason.

I also feel that while it may work for you to just use your imagination, inspiration and "creative drive" others need guidance. Oh and you may argue the guidance was bad, if so, can you please give better guidance instead of tweak and tidy.
 
Well I have to say I rather like it. I read Onartis's comments before viewing the site and thus was expecting to see the electronic equivilent of a bucket of smashed crabs. In fact I was rather impressed by the site, sure it could do with some tifying up but I assume that was on the cards anyway. The problem with Flash is it just looks so much better than everything else, so until HTML5 is in full swing it's a tough visual comprimise to use another format, but why would you want to anyway, I've never really understood peoples aversion to it.
 
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