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Ideas for re-design

chriscorbin

chriscorbin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 17, 2007
257
0
Vallejo, CA
I,ve started an event photography company we also do videos, and in the past it was done in iWeb(i cry myself to sleep) i've taken classes and made "professional" sites before such as http://www.benicia.k12.ca.us/bhs/ with help from others, but i want to go solo on this one

but i cannot get any ideas on my own site i know how CSS works and can use it , starting to learn javescript, know a little bit of actionscript, good with flash, know dreamweaver well
just need some ideas to get started

any advice is welcome

here it is - http://web.mac.com/chriscorbin/iWeb/Happy Geek /Welcome.html

P.S.-for some reason it is riddled with errors, pages i deleted long ago cant explain that
 
start out with the basics like how many columns you want and the expand on that. A good tip is to not over do it. that website for the school is very complicated and I don't particularly like that.
 
fixed the problems wiht the old site, but i still need advice

BTW i will be adding my portfolio of about 30 or so pictures and a video clip or two
 
Hey Chris,
I think it's important for you to identify first the structure of the website you want. What pages and functionality do you want to show the visitor? If you're providing professional services it might be a good idea to show examples of your best work in those areas. So maybe have an intro page welcoming the user, a few pages about your services/work/experience, and then some contact information. It doesn't have to be a HUGE website, just a few pages.

As far as a design goes, whenever I have a tough time coming up with ideas I let the fantastic minds over at OSWD do the work for me. I start with one of their open source designs and start tweaking it. You should check out their layouts.. it'll give you experience with css and maybe get some ideas flowing.

http://www.oswd.org/

Good luck!

PS. One thing I find myself doing a lot, is getting too obsessed with designs and technical parts of a site... I think if you're offering good photography and video services at a great price, the client will not worry so much about you having a simple website.

Oh and please.. for the love of god, get rid of the pink geek logo. That's just bad, really bad.
 
cr2sh said:
Oh and please.. for the love of god, get rid of the pink geek logo. That's just bad, really bad.
Click to expand...

That is a great site, and in my bookmark bar from now on

I don't know why it shows up as pink it is supposed to look like this
any help to fix this would be helpful too!!

-on the site listed above it is saved as a png not a PDF so that is not the issue
 

Attachments

  • Happy Geeklogo.pdf
    17.1 KB · Views: 147
my 2¢...

Personally, I like Flash(vector)-based horizontal layouts with lots of negative space for photo/portfolio sites.

Using medium-dark neutral grays for most of the navigation and site structure will help promote the color and content of your photos.
I think adobe and Apple have established a new interface paradigm in Lightroom and Aperture, and I see no reason why a photography-based website shouldn't follow suit.

Also, the Happy Geek logo on your site needs some serious tweaking.
I think it's a good concept, but it needs some professional polish.
I would also make the logo MUCH smaller in relation to the rest of the site content.
Use clean sans serif fonts, and keep the interface neutral and business-like.

GL
 
chriscorbin said:
The size or the design, because i spent months designing that logo and it stays the same no matter what
Click to expand...

I'd say both.
The concept (pseudo Apple Finder icon) is decent, but it's far too complex and not quite up to the standards normally associated with media pros.

A good technique is to work with black on white in a vector drawing program such as Illustrator or Freehand, while developing the logo. simplify and purify complex shapes as much as possible, and avoid texture fills, shadows, bevels etc... at this stage.
Let the basic shape define the character of the logo.

You'll have much more recognizable and versatile symbol this way.

Here's a link to a repository of logos for inspiration:
http://www.logolibrary.co.uk/

GL
 
yagran said:
dno. ent really decided, mebe just have some small flahs elements like galleries.
Click to expand...

if you got the money buying a full flash template could be the way to go.. its only about $60 and will save heaps of work.. templatemonster.com has some really good photography ones and if you already know flash well stick to that and the template will have most of the work done for you.. you just load your own content in there.. it is also a good learning curve seeing how other ppl do things...
 
ambient said:
if you got the money buying a full flash template could be the way to go.. its only about $60 and will save heaps of work.. templatemonster.com has some really good photography ones and if you already know flash well stick to that and the template will have most of the work done for you.. you just load your own content in there.. it is also a good learning curve seeing how other ppl do things...
Click to expand...

no, i have a strong belief that to keep diversity in the web alive that each design should be designed unique, im very strongly against generic templates...and so should you be with ambientdeisgnstudio.com under your name :eek:
 
yagran said:
no, i have a strong belief that to keep diversity in the web alive that each design should be designed unique, im very strongly against generic templates...and so should you be with ambientdeisgnstudio.com under your name :eek:
Click to expand...

i agree i hate generic looking sites, it is as if the designer just does not care
 
yagran said:
no, i have a strong belief that to keep diversity in the web alive that each design should be designed unique, im very strongly against generic templates...and so should you be with ambientdeisgnstudio.com under your name :eek:
Click to expand...


obviously, you would create your own graphics colours ect. and use just use a the basic navigation structure.. i think it allows more time for design and less time spending coding and implementing it ect.. im not talking about making a generic looking site.. but using templates are very useful to see how other people do things... i watched all the Lynda videos ect. and studied multimedia at university but playing around with templates was the way i learnt the quickest...

the first thing i would do is not use iweb too..anything you make with iweb is going to look very generic..
 
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