Topic: Project for customer

front splash page done .. what do you guys think?
http://www.unitedrealms.com/cmi/cmi2.htm

notes: The customer wanted a maroon/navy blue mix to the website .. I originally put those two colors next to each other and OH MAN was it ugly! so I opted to try to incorporate them with that lite grey .. I think it came out alright

this is their original website http://www.cmi-insulation.com



[This message has been edited by RammStein (edited 03-07-2002).]

alright .. I guess this layout is too good to be true .. no comments .. :P

I like it, nice and clean...

-Wil

since nonbody's jumping on this... it's very bad, there's hardly a thing I like about it. It looks like 3 seperate web site designs thrown together:

1. the top banner area website: very disjointed with the stripes (yuck) fuzzy blurry logo (yuck) and the oddly shaped rolls-o-insulation pics look like their just thrown in as an afterthought, the drop shadows on them add to the horror

2. the right hand navigation area website, the double colon is not good, the color mixes aren't good, black, slate blue and yellow

3. the bubble main body website, I saved the best for last, wanted to end my commentary of the 3 sites on a positive note cuz I realize the previous 2 sound pretty harsh. bubble stuff is not bad, stand alone.

Put these 3 sites together on the same page as you have done and they fight like cats and dogs. Ditch the banner area completely and work that bad logo in elsewhere (gotta hate designing a site with a bad logo =) good luck there)

rework it, stew on it, lots of room for improvement.

Jason

RammStein: I've not really had the time to review things recently but there has been a few things niggling me about your redesign and I think JKMabry has pinned it down quite nicely. The main problem is that none of the elements are working together as a whole - you have a rectangular banner, circles and box off to one side but it isn't gelling together as a whole. One of your problems is the colours they have demanded you use and (although you've done a nice job with the circles, matching the colours in with those from the pictures) it might be worth seeing if you could negotiate slightly different colours that work together better - both the maroon and the blue look muddy.

Now what would I do (apart from try for some sharper colours)?

Well you have a maroon which is a highlight kind of colour and a darker colour (blue) and that gray is working well with them both so I'd:

1. Keep the bubble's and possibly push things along with a more circular theme. Try putting the logo into a circle in the top corner and have a few more segments in it where you can show the pictures of insulation (it looks like they've just given you a bunch of publicity snaps to work with hence the awkward shapes).

2. Try and keep that feeling of space and keep those bubbles but make them links to major sections and make the pictures relevant if possible. I'd keep the bubble surround colours the same as at the moment it looks like you are using the colours to separate the pictures into groups for an unknown reason.

3. It depends on the categories but you could have those links (on subsequent pages) in a bubble too.

4. Possible use a background with some kind of arc bottom left to top/middle right to hold the logo and navigation together and delineate the main content area.

I know things tend to be boxy and linear these days but using curves and circles/bubbles could work quite nicely. Your redesign is better than the original and it has some elements in that do work and I'd focus on that, using the maroon (especially) and blue sparingly, play around with those ideas and see how things work.

Anyway that is what I'd do - what you do is your call.

Keep working - its got promise but I'm not sure its there yet.

Emps

If your going to do the circly images thing on the front page then you should study some other sites that do it well.
www.adobe.com come to mind.

thanks guys for all the feedback

I will make a few changes .. especially that top graphic

I estimated 12 hrs to do this job and the first design they didn't like .. so I did the second design(the one you all critique) in about an hr .. to date I've worked 6 hrs on the design .. and the second design they love .. and seeing how the cost of this will be far less then anyone else will give them .. I'm not going to make it look that much prettier

but to get all of your approval on this .. I'm going to work on it alittle show you want I would give the client if they were paying a little more for it .. though I'm sure knowing my softer side I'll give them the finished product that I'm working on for you all

small note: I would make those circle graphics links to different parts of their websites but they only have 4 total pages(including front page) .. and what they asked for was graphics on the front page that reflect their past work and insulations

anyway .. I'll post in a day or two my reworking of it

Emp .. I hate these colors .. but I'm going to work with it .. thanks for your input

JKM .. you as well .. thanks for the honest feedback

RammStein:

I totally understand what you are saying about how much effort you want to put into it, and the pressures of corporate web design. I used to do design work and it was when I started doing it for money that I began to hate it and took a temporary hiatus. Non-artistic business folk and the very act of being original in the confines of the predetermined drove me up the wall.

Considering what you did is only with 6hrs. work, it's pretty darn good.

Just thought I'd give ya my 2 pennies.

- the big wannbe, me -

BTW, I think the circles on the Adobe site suck (but that´s just my opinion)!

Beauty is only skin deep - ugliness goes to the bone.

ooooh, Rammstein, you're a pushover like the rest of us =)

Jason