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New web design company website - We Are Design - please critique!

J

johnbro23

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 12, 2004
770
0
Pittsburgh, PA
I have been working on a website for my business. The only section I haven't gotten to yet is "Portfolio."

The domain wearedesign.com is currently owned by Yahoo, but it expired recently and I've already requested it.

Any comments/thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks.
 
Nice, but change the font.

Myriad Pro is the most sickeningly overused font on the net at the moment.

I got into the habit of using it for nearly everything about a year ago, and my design work suffered because of it.

There are plenty of good fonts available. Jump outside your comfort zone.
 
I don't really think it matters too much. Myriad looks good, and you'd have to be on the internet a ton to really recognize an overused font.

I updated the About, Services, and Portfolio pages. Let me know what you think of the changes. I hope to have this online by Monday. Hopefully Yahoo gets back to me by then about the domain.
 
Man that's a really awesome site... or it would've been 10 years ago. (Yeah, I know I really ought to be banned from participating in threads that are about critiquing a web site).

Edit: Oh and btw, this just expired June 1st. It also says its status is "ACTIVE", not "EXPIRED". It usually takes a couple months before that will happen, and then it will go on to registry lock, and then finally after probably 6 months it will be available for purchase again.
 
wrc fan said:
Edit: Oh and btw, this just expired June 1st. It also says its status is "ACTIVE", not "EXPIRED". It usually takes a couple months before that will happen, and then it will go on to registry lock, and then finally after probably 6 months it will be available for purchase again.
Click to expand...

Domains can be purchased and locked for years at a time, the minimum registration time generally being 1 year.

Maybe you could use a better critique...

Why the name "We Are Design"? The About section looks like it is only one person and really only mentions one person, so I'm wondering who else could be involved in this "We". In all honesty, the name isn't as clever as you may think. I recommend changing it. If this is all just you, use your name or part of your name. Is that a stock photography picture of you??? I can see the watermark! DO NOT STEAL IMAGES. Also, is that a letter of recommendation to the University of Virginia? That's not for your eyes, much less the public's eyes!

The site is very lacking in a memorable color. In fact, there is no color. If you want to brand yourself well, you'll need to make some color choices.

LOGO! You need a logo. Not just a simple, "Myriad Pro" typeface on your name. If you've got design skills and you are trying to show them off, do it.

Why is it an all Flash website? This makes me think that all you can do is Flash.

In web design, you'll have to go through revision after revision before you make a site that will truly fit your needs. I would recommend that you start from square one: Brand yourself first (name, logo, color, mission). From there it would be good to go to designing.
 
I think that there are a couple of problems with your site. Some of which have been mentioned. I agree that you shouldn't have it all in flash and you shouldn't have a letter for your university on there.

I think that the letter for your university makes you look a bit unprofessional. You want to look like you know what you are doing and that you have experience, but it (the letter) makes you look a bit like you've just come out of school (maybe you have) and that doesn't fill people with confidence.

Your services page should also mention exactly what you can do. It says you can take care of everything. Can you set me up a secure server and a robust online shop, or do you just do the visuals? You need to make this a bit clearer I think.

Also, if that is your home address on your contact page then I would really consider removing it. It is not a good idea to put your home address in full out there on the internet. Same goes for the phone number.
 
Hope this doesn't sound too harsh -criticism can only help.

Nobody cares specifically what hardware you have. Frankly, it makes you look small potatoes. 'We are design', or 'I am designing this all by myself?'

I say this in every one of these threads, but the lack of original design ideas, specifically using fonts and techniques we've been seeing come out of Apple for years, is a bit annoying. Apple's look is Apple's look, not yours. I wouldn't say this based on the font alone, but when you mix it with the glossy reflective portfolio thumbnails it's quite obvious.

Other thoughts:

Need a logo, and moreover, an identity.
Don't show a picture of yourself.
your navigation buttons are HUGE.
Your site is has a rather outdated pixel dimension
 
decksnap said:
Other thoughts:

Need a logo, and moreover, an identity.
Don't show a picture of yourself.
your navigation buttons are HUGE.
Your site is has a rather outdated pixel dimension
Click to expand...
This all makes sense. I am working with 1400x900 resolution on my MacBook Pro and it all seems smaller than it really is. What would a good pixel dimension be for this type of site? Right now I'm using 720x540.

I don't mind using the Apple style. I think us MacRumors users are associating it with the Apple style because we're on their site a lot, but the average user will not recognize it as a "ripoff" style.

I will make an HTML version sooner or later. This is not a career. This is only a summer job, which is very profitable considering my friends are making under $7 an hour at places like Target.

Thanks for all the comments! I updated the site to reflect some of the earlier suggestions. I made the site less about "me" and more about "what I can/will do." Check out the updated version...http://www.moonhelpline.org/wad/
 
Check your acronym: WAD sounds bad, in a toilet-humor kinda way.

Also, if you are doing this as a summer job, find a new domain name. You'll most likely never get that one before summer is over.
 
johnbro23 said:
I don't mind using the Apple style. I think us MacRumors users are associating it with the Apple style because we're on their site a lot, but the average user will not recognize it as a "ripoff" style.
Click to expand...

But YOU recognize it as a ripoff style? Kinda doesn't jive with the statement 'We Are Design'. :rolleyes:
 
Fonts are too big and out of proportion to the tiny box you put them in. Myriad Pro is a beautiful font though I use it all the time. It looks best small. See my rotting old site where the navigation fonts are better sized for being confined within a box, or this site or this site, or even this site that me and my bddies are still setting up. I'm a big fan of fix-width sites confined within boxes. Smaller fonts look the best in such cases. Remember, currently the most popular screen resolutions are 1024x768, 1280x1024, and 800x600 (sadly) so huge fonts look terrible.

EDIT: WAD sounds pretty gross too. That would be like having *** as an acronym.
 
dpaanlka said:
EDIT: WAD sounds pretty gross too. That would be like having *** as an acronym.
Click to expand...

Free Under-21 Kegger anybody?


:p Makes sense if you think about it.
 
All I see is "©2006 We Are Design" in the middle of the page.

Yes, I navigate with plug-ins disabled (hate Flash, especially if the whole website is made with it).

You need a way to make sure the website works even with Flash disabled. If the whole website is in Flash then at least warn non-Flash users about it.
 
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