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Feedback on non-traditional design

segdeha

segdeha

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2006
14
0
Kerikeri, New Zealand
My company contracted with Albuquerque web designer, Mark Bixby http://markbixby.com/, for the design of our new website. We went with a pretty non-traditional design element we call the "uber-footer." You'll see what we mean. I'm interested to hear what folks think of it. Thanks!

http://clearwired.com/

-Andrew Hedges, Lead Developer, Clearwired Web Services
 
segdeha said:
My company contracted with Albuquerque web designer, Mark Bixby http://markbixby.com/, for the design of our new website. We went with a pretty non-traditional design element we call the "uber-footer." You'll see what we mean. I'm interested to hear what folks think of it. Thanks!

http://clearwired.com/

-Andrew Hedges, Lead Developer, Clearwired Web Services
Click to expand...

I love it!
 
Not a good sign!

Gee said:
Nice looking site. What is it you guys actually do though?
Click to expand...

It's not a good sign when you have to ask what we do! We build websites is the short answer. We build content-managed websites where the design is not constrained by technical limitations of the CMS is another answer. We also do a lot of information architecture consulting (information design, wireframing, etc.).

Interesting that this isn't conveyed quickly. Any suggestions for making this information more readily apparent?

Thanks for the feedback!
-Andrew
 
segdeha said:
It's not a good sign when you have to ask what we do! We build websites is the short answer.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you may want to sneak that into the blurbage, "digital" has become an awfully muddy term. My first impression, before clicking on the big grey boxes, is that your company may have been involved in telephony or something.
 
I think the overall look is pretty, but a couple of observations....

1) At 1024x768, this "über-footer" is almost completely off the page. Which is weird because it doesn't seem from the upper half of the page that one should expect an "über-footer."

2) There are *so* many words on the front page. And it seems like 90% of them are meaningless buzz words. I don't mean this to be overly rough, and I completely don't think it represents you, but the message this says to the business portion of my mind is, "This website belongs to a slick consultant who can sound really sophisticated, and will bill me thousands of dollars without accomplishing anything of value." Sorry....

I do like the overall motif, though.
 
You need a few "paradigms" in there :D

Only kidding, looks very sleek, if a tad wordy.

The footer is really good though!
 
visually, I love it. It's very web 2.0/contemporary looking and everything looks unified.

As others have said the copy is very "fluffy" in that it's not obvious what it is you guys do. I know nobody wants to pigeon hole themselves by saying "we're web designers" or "graphic artist" but it should be more obvious to a first time visitor what you do.

"we make you look very smart" umm ok, that's nice. How? Do you come into our office and do training? Do you offer diplomas?

And now, onto the Uber-Footer
A very cool idea indeed. I'm not sure if this will catch on, but the idea of having fresh content accessible on every page is defiantly an interesting idea to try out. Just as a suggestion you may want to spruce it up a bit with some script.aculo.us stuff. And perhaps just have it as a narrow floating div along the bottom of the screen "eg: expand/compress the uber-footer".

So I think their some room for improvement, but give your designer a pat on the back (and possibly a raise) as it's a very nice looking site.
 
I think the uber-footer overwhelms the intro page.....it's like a full page of it's own tacked on to the bottom of a page that's already filled

and the intro page looks like something that's a "more information" page, not the introduction....way too much verbage I think

and put me down on the list of people who wondered "....and WHAT is it this company does????"
 
Um...

AmbitiousLemon said:
Um... If you build websites why did you have to hire an outside designer?
Click to expand...

We contract out graphic design. Our expertise is in information architecture, interface design, content management systems, and custom web application development.

It's funny how it's easy to equate the pretty graphics with the website. We consider that, at most, a third of the equation.

BTW, if you check the jobs area site, we do plan to hire a graphic designer at some point.
 
Hmmm...

AmbitiousLemon said:
Um... If you build websites why did you have to hire an outside designer?
Click to expand...

I'm new here, but this question seems off topic (aren't you the Moderator?). It's been my experience that good companies choose to have relationships with contractors, vendors and freelancers as projects warrant certain skill sets.

I agree with Andrew, it's easy to forget designing a website and building a website are not the same thing. He's being generous too. I'd say graphic design is more like 15% of the equation. ;) And I'm 100% certain these guys coulda pulled off a brialliant site without me.

Having a pool of (graphic) designers to choose from based on their appropriateness for a project (especially when you are not a graphic design house) is a value-add, not a deficiency in a company's capabilities.
 
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