My new site

[IwantMORE]

Well a few months ago I set up business and decided to try my hand at being self-employed, and boy is it hard work.

Anyway I have finally got my new site up and running, which although I love doing other peoples sites, I hate updating my own.

Have a look at

bjbox.com (http://www.bjbox.com)

and let me know what you think... http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/redface.gif

[Phait]

Well, let me be honest -- you asked http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Websites
http://www.sarahvermeersch.com/ -- the handwritten header font is hard to read at first glance. The design is OK for minimalist but still boring.

http://www.nearlyheaven.com/ -- the faded photos look amateurish, and the white title Nearly Heaven is moved to the top of the photo, yet there is space to the left. Looks inconsistent. The pages you choose, their header text is small and so it isn't immediately obvious which section you are at.

http://www.earthdance.co.uk/ -- say no to puffy embossed text/objects and dropshadows, they scream amateur. You can use embossing/dropshadows well though, it just takes some tweaking. Most people overdo it though! Is there only one page to this site?

Music
Innocent CD Cover -- the handwritten font is bad. A better font would save this cover, and better execution of the photo instead of it just sitting there. Otherwise as a cover hey it works.

Earthdance CD Cover -- I see what you were doing here, but it looks bad. Maybe if the cover was split into 4 squares and each square had a portion of the instrument as you show, and then something in the center centralizing the theme.

Charlies Studio -- why are there 2 "devil masks" there, when only one would suffice? The photo could be done better, maybe black & white with contrast, or some color treatment. And the photo isn't entirely representative of a music studio, just hints.


My overall impression is this: sure, you can make money doing amateur work, but wouldn't you rather sharpen your skills and then begin offering services? You may have better chances then, and you would be more proud of your work knowing where you came from. Your work needs alot of improvement, although I must say I am glad to see you usually kept things simple and to-the-point, and not overburdened with eye candy or Flash. Keep this philosphy with you as you improve.

Secondly I only meant his as honestly as possible and not an attack on you or your starting abilities, and understand that I was like you when I started out. I spent a few years improving and learning and I got to the point where I was genuinely proud of my work, and looking back or remembering my first work I can't help but think "whoah I didn't do that, ew...". Some designers or artists hold the philosophy that design "hacks" take away from the genuiness of their industry. I don't consider you a hack, you are still learning. But really my point is I think it is better for you to consider practicing and learning until your skills are much improved, and then offer services. I know most people/clients that don't have any sense or good or bad design, will go with the bad design. But it is on us designers to push our abilities and go forward with examples of good design. Design is more than satisfying clients and getting paid, it's also helping people discern good from bad.

So essentially what I am saying is you really need to work on your skills, but don't let anything stop you. It didn't stop me.

Unfortunately alot of my old work is gone, (before I had a computer with CD-RW), but here is what very little I do have left:

- http://www.phait-accompli.com/port/ld1.gif
- http://www.phait-accompli.com/port/ld2.gif
- http://www.phait-accompli.com/port/ld3.gif

Pretty bad. But I kept going and came to doing stuff like this:
http://www.phait-accompli.com/old.php

So keep at it! http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinyted.gif

[NetNessie]

Well phait pretty much said it all. I suggest you have a look in to web standards though from the W3 Consortium. Vital to modern web design.

[IwantMORE]

Thanks for the feed back it's always good to get somone outside the loop as all you freinds always just say "Yer it looks good"...

I was really wanting feedback on MY site more than the other one's I have made...

But in slight defence of my work...

http://www.sarahvermeersch.com/ - I did not design it, I only build it.

http://www.nearlyheaven.com/ - It may look amateurish but it's a style my client really likes, and after all you have to keep the client happy. Also it's the site which has has the most positive feedback, and the most sucessusfull site I have built so far.

http://www.earthdance.co.uk/ - Again it's what the client wants but the site is still in development so it might get better over time.



I am always looking to improve my skills and feedback always helps, WC3, yer I know it should be more compliant but I do chack my work on IE, Moz/Firefox, Opera and Netcsape on both the PC and Mac and they work well on all, so I do try and keep it compatable.

[Bleak]

You have really good work Phait http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Phait]

Well, I only meant to show him it's possible to improve, I would really like to see somebody improve strongly. At the least as humbly as I can say I just hope I can be an inspiration, I don't do webdesign anymore.

[IwantMORE]

Your stuff is ok, but not my kind of style, I would like to do something more creative, but I mainly aim for people who want to put something accross to the public and most people want something simple that won't detract from the text, which is the most important thing.

I always tell my clients that the content is the most important and I try to make my sites look good, work well and are easy to use.

I'm not trying to win any awards for best design or most impressive website. Just to give them something they like, that works and looks ok.

[Phait]

Yeah, see I used to be very graphic oriented. But then I started getting lazy and doing simpler stuff. Simpler is good to shoot for as well, and I see that's what you want to do, but it needs some tightening up. You'll get there.

[DudeMiester]

lol, I just started thinking of 2Advanced, now their stuff really is "too" advanced, lol. Crazy.

[Fraeon Waser Duhni]

DudeMiester said:
lol, I just started thinking of 2Advanced, now their stuff really is "too" advanced, lol. Crazy.



If you ask me, their site has always been a bit of a sensory overload.

Well, their site is extremely pretty, I give them that. But there's just too much information at once -- and when you look at the sites they've designed, it really looks like they have a template and they just slap the logo of whatever company is requesting the site. They all look the same.

[Phait]

I agree about 2A. 2A is a "firm" that is often ripped off in the webdesign community I used to participate in, and other circles. Us regulars could tell a 2A ripoff from a mile away. While I give 2A credit for good work they tend to go the trendy route, which I despise - and mostly push the pixels more than the content.

I'm guilty of eye-candy-over-content too though, but I tend to balance it out in the end - see http://www.centralconflict.com

[biXen]

Your own site doesn't have many problems that the "Nearly Heaven" site has, as in bad contrast of text on background, weird layout for content and a tad amateurish graphics.

They both have what I'd call a somewhat empty and too big content area. There is no reason to make a design stretch to full browser width for 99,9% of the cases. Opera browser makers will tell you differently, but I'd rather design the page for 800x600 and maybe 1024x768 but keep essentials in 800x600. Otherwise you will get too wide paragraphs, hard to read blocks, and less focus on what you want focus on.

Also, if you have 500 pixels worth of width, and not too much to say, use 30 pixels on each side for space, never a bad idea. My "mentor", a designer that I work with, came from print design, and if you use your brain a bit, which sadly most print designers don't do when designing for web, you can use most stuff from print on web. The principles apply.

Anyway, just some tips. I think the page isn't bad, just could be a bit more content rich and exciting. BUT, it's better than putting just rubbish there. If you take a look at my page in the sig you may notice I'm not always following my word, much due to other people editing my designs, and not having time to fix everything, but it usually applies http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif