DesignCommunication

Good on you for getting to the 1st page. It's where everyone wants to be and you're there ranked 1st out of over half a million search results. If you could just sneak me in there at no 2, I'd be grateful

I get it, you need to make sure you put your w's in rather than just facebook. It's one of those websites which appears to have no real content.

Themefroest template?! I'm confused lol

Hey there. I've seen your site before as it is ranked on page 1. You do realise you are where everyone would love to be?! Glad to see you made it back there. Do you find you get a huge amount of work due to being ranked on the 1st page? Have you noticed a big increase in contact since being there?

Without meaning to sound harsh, it's not surprising they charge £99. THe designs are well short of what I would consider pro. The potential client clearly just hasn't got a clue of the standard required and will end up with a third rate site. You get what you pay for and anyone design company who can deliver high quality sites just wouldn't be doing them for £99 because they'd know they're worth more and should be competing with cost.

Tell your client to go with the £99 designer! I'm sure they'll end up with the site they deserve. They probably just magicked up that figure anyway.

Very pro, very clean, very user friendly. Great work.

No, like I said I didn't design it for free. Also, like I said...apologies I didn't see it as being important. I have no need to lie in court. ---------- You initially said you designed it as a favour!! Look, I'm not going to bang on about it, but surely you would know that a key piece of info is to mention you sent them an invoice because this makes the difference between designing a site as a favour or simply not being paid for a job and they are two totally different things. If you sent them an invoice two months ago, you will still have evidence of that. But was that before or after the family member left the company? The point is, with no contract, you've got to prove you sat down and told the client you will design them a site for x amount which you now say you did rather than you now want money because the family member has left/fallen out with the company. It's still not really stacking up for me because one minute it's a favour the next it's unpaid work. But I don't know what deal you had with the client. Only you can decide which way to go with it now.

If I knew that, I'd be very rich! The only really quick way to get to the top of Google is paying, I'm guessing.

I like the one below the top right (second top right!). The fish has that little bit more impact, imo. I like your fishes in the second link, but, if I was you, I would stay away from using fiery text. It is a very generic look and will provide no unique identity to the business, in my opinion.

Hey there. Well, it's pretty good in my opinion. Nice colours. Good navigation although the buttons are overlapping the line at the top. Try putting your side content into a box. It's a bit sparse on content. I would get some of your music on there - people will want to hear it.

I'm not religious, but I like the design. Love the background colours. The only thing for me are the images for the menus - they make it look like a website selling computer software.

For me, it's too dark. I'm not a huge fan of the droplets. I can, however, grasp the direction your going in. You appear to be going for a simplistic, artistic look and the basis of your design has good foundations for that. Think about adding different shapes and styles of lines to separate each section, different colours - if you're going down the black and white route, white is a better background as on grey it looks too dark.

The general layout I like. Clean, clear, good navigation, the picture provides good impact. For me, it is a little too grey. My personal tastes are I'm not a huge fan of the beveled effect around the menu. For me, a good job overall though.

As long as you've got a contract signed which clearly states terms of service i.e. you're designing a site for x amount, then I think you should put a notice up without fail.

Not sure it makes so much difference that it really matters

Something's not ringing true about this now lol You originally said you designed them a site for free, now you sent them an invoice. If you sent them an invoice, why originally say you designed it for free as a favour? My advice is, don't try and lie about it in court. You're bound to get caught out. They may still have email evidence to prove you told them it was free. Plus, you might have to prove you sent them an invoice. Any company would keep track of invoices from two months ago, especially unpaid ones. Presumably you have done?

If you've got no contract and you did it as a favour, I'd let it go. Treat it as a learning curve. I don't think you can design a website for free then go back and ask for money because you've changed your mind, seems a bit out of order! Sorry to be harsh But it's like setting up a stock photo site offering free images, then emailing everyone to tell them to pay up or not use the images! If you offer a free service, the law I think would be on their side. You could take them to court, but is it worth it for the hassle and money? Plus, you may have given up any copyright when you told them they can use the website free of charge. Could also damage your reputation. In reality, harshly, it sounds like you've been a bit naive in designing websites for free and with no contracts

Can I just also add, your website really is not bad for a first site! The layout and clarity have the basis for a great site. Maybe look at this site macphie.com and look at trying to give it the same sort of finish.

I think it's more likely that the owner of the images would ask you to remove them rather than take you to court. Can an alternative not be purchased from a stock photo site?

Tasty

Hi Mark. Is your current site the first on Google? If so, I think I prefer it's simple, clean and artistic feel, in my honest opinion.

I like the general layout. Blue writing on grey can make it look a bit pale. Wonder if it might look better with different background colours for event listings. It might benefit from a variety of colours - maybe between each even listing and title backgrounds. I can't read the logo - or is that just me?!

The site is superb. As a design, I think it's hard to fault as it is so different to any other survey I've seen and you've done a great job. I would like to see a breakdown of figures at the end as well as the visual communication of where the votes have been cast for each question.

I really like the design you've posted in the thread (V4). Better than the original for me. Do you mind me asking how many hits you get a day?