Positive input sought to help my web site's design

[mperkins37]

First of all, I am a print guy , and I primarily work on brochures and other print related things. I have never taken any Dreamweaver, or Web related classes as I graduated in 1992, and I have primarily been a print guy.
I have Dreamweaver and Photoshop and got the site done by the seat of my pants.
I didn't have a lot of time to plan my site before I put it up.
I also had a lot of things going on so, I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. I got it done and tagged in a week.
I still felt that it gave me something decent to point a client at and let them see samples.
After it being up for three months, and getting some less than positive feedback from a different thread on MR, I am finally ready to make updates some of the material, as I see now that the Purple Click - over actions are annoying.
I also probably have too many samples up.
I have also made a real logo since then & I need to update that.
Anyway, all I ask is that any comments be of constructive nature.

Might as well critique my logo while you're here.
Thanks all, I appreciate it.
Mike

www.galacticgraphic.com

New logo

 

[angelwatt]

I understand you're a print guy, but there's absolutely no text on that page, it's all images. This is bad because when search engines come across your page they won't see anything and thus, no visitors, and blind people trying to access your site won't get any information, though I'm guessing not too many blind people are visiting a graphic design web site.

I'd suggest trying to replace some of the text in the images with real text that is styled the way you want with CSS. I know some of the text can't be done with CSS, but some of it can. All those high-rez images make the pages take a while to load, which is another downside to having images only. You may want to consider making the site more traditional and allow your print work in the galleries to show through in your galleries. Just an idea.

I like the logo you attached. Hope the above had a constructive tone.

 

[Cabbit]

it looks like its an arcade machine, weres the 2 penny slot. Sorry i dont mean to sound rude but thats the first impression of the site.

 

[c3str]

Someplace to start

You've stated that you're a print guy, so I'm sure you're familiar with visual heirarchy and the presentation of information.

Take a look at your site, better yet have a friend or family member that hasn't seen it look at the site, and try to isolate what the current focus is. Where does your eye go first? Where do you *want* the viewer's eye to go first?

You have so many colors, gradients, type effects, content blocks, etc. going on that overwhelm the content. It's hard to even get past these effects to sort out what the focus is or where a viewer might start. How do these effects serve your content?

Anyway, that's maybe someplace to start.

Then think about type. Typefaces, type styles. If you're selling yourself as a print designer, be seriously careful what you're doing with type on your site. Clients won't know and won't care that you haven't worked with Dreamweaver recently.

 

[rajfantastic]

First of all, I am a print guy , and I primarily work on brochures and other print related things. I have never taken any Dreamweaver, or Web related classes as I graduated in 1992, and I have primarily been a print guy.

did you make this website in 1992, too? i mean, the 90's are due for a comeback...

maybe some good reference will inspire you.

 

[timmillwood]

it does look very much like a powerpoint template.

 

[irmongoose]

It says you have done the design for smithprint.com, which you have listed at the very bottom of your web portfolio list. I suggest you take hints from that very website in order to see what constitutes as "good" web design. It's clean, it's simple, it's text-based, and oriented in such a way that it is extremely easy to find what you want. No gloat, no flash. I understand that you like the whole "galactic" look but honestly it's overkill - times ten.

First recreate your website only using text. Lists, paragraphs, captions. That's it. Then add pictures - but see what is really necessary. Logo, example photos... what else? Try to make it visually the bare minimum, and add a little flare to that. That's honestly all you need.



irmongoose

 

[Devil's Refugee]

I'm a complete novice, and use iWeb for my site (www.paradigmshift.eu.com), but I have to say the design is really awful and dated.

You've got a link to Web Design on your site but judging from the design of your own, as a customer, I would look elsewhere.

Plus, with the site based on images rather than text it would take an age to load for those with slower connection speeds.

These days sites are clean and clutter free, and for a graphic design site, usually intended to showcase their talents.

Sorry, I'm not qualified to burn someone's efforts given my skills, but I know bad when I see it.

 

[GoCubsGo]

What people have said pretty much sums it up. You've managed to collectively use just about every text/filter effect you could find. Lens flare, drop shadow, glow, bevel; the list goes on.
I looked at your logo first and thought there was no way the site could be a direct representation of the unimaginative logo. Clearly, I was wrong.
The fact is, your buttons are too big, but if they weren't smaller then at least curb the glow. Consider other websites that you visit. Are they also trying to use every color in the pallet? Not to mention, I say pick an effect and stick with it.

Based on your logo design for other clients I'm going to have to say that you've made a living off this type of design so perhaps we're all wrong and it works for you.

It's a start...the site loads but maybe that's not a plus here.

 

[a cat *miaow*]

wow, this sounds harsh but I can't help feeling bad for your clients.. hope you're cheap.. anyways.. there's way too much happening, it looks like you've got a bit too carried away in photoshop.. there's way to many styles/effects going on.. it's difficult to say what to put right because I think it's fundamentally so wrong.

The whole 'galactic' stuff is way too much, maybe you should design this to be just a header bar? You shouldn't need to add so much 'stuff' just making up the header, some nice buttons.. a few cool headings & sub-headings would be enough as far as graphics are concerned, then just leave the rest as plain text and solid backgrounds

 

[ambience]

I will give you my first impressions about your website:

1.) The loading time of the website took forever on a 6MB/s connection. Your background for your website is almost 500KB, the background alone is roughly 4-5 times the size of an average website's homepage. If your website does not load within 3-4 seconds on a broadband connection, you can count on losing customers (including somebody like me).

2) After it has loaded I would of gone somewhere else due to shock from your website's design I'm sorry, but I was honestly shocked (and not in a good way) when your website loaded.

I don't want to sound too harsh but you need to restart your website from scratch. There are too many colors, rollovers, filters, font styles, images, etc. Most of your graphics are also distorted or fuzzy. I recommend that you buy a book, take a class, or do a google search on "basics of web design." If you do not have the time or patience to learn, I highly recommend that you hire somebody to design your website.