ash182

Now that IS terrible. An open-source CMS such as WordPress would have been a perfect fit for a project like this, and would have cut licencing costs out of the equation entirely, leaving only design and development. I would never embark on a project of more than four or five pages without involving a CMS, because fresh content is king in today's search landscape and nobody wants to be beholden to a designer to add or change text.
 
 
I assume your budget for your next attempt will depend on how much you've written off with this attempt. If the final design bears no relation to the mockup you signed off on, the question is entirely germane as the agency is at fault. Depending on contract provision, you may be able to write off some or all of the costs since that point. Speak to your solicitor immediately.
 
 
The best advice I can give you is to find a designer whose work you really like (not necessarily what appeals to you personally but what is appropriate for purpose), tell them everything about your objectives and audience and make sure you're involved in the process from beginning to end (I'm not advocating meetings for the sake of it or any other pointless micromanagement, but you should be kept informed and solicited for feedback).
 
Your most important contribution to the process is first in selecting, then in briefing your designer/agency. Get either wrong and it will come back to bite you.
 
Edit: what I'm saying here is, we can't effectively critique the design without being told everything it's supposed to do - who it's supposed to appeal to, what the content hierarchy is supposed to be, what it's supposed to be bringing to the user's attention. Without any of that context, all the assessment you'll get will boil down to "that's a pretty picture" or "that's not a pretty picture". Without that same context, anyone you hire will not be able to produce a design that's fit for purpose so why not practice here by asking us in the same critical terms that would be useful for a brief or to feed back on a design mockup? Things like:
 

Are the aesthetics appropriate for [intended audience]?
X, Y and Z are the most important pieces of content on this page. Does this design surface them adequately?
Does the main navigation provide access to the areas of the site which users will use most frequently / be most interested in?

 
There are countless more, but that should give you a starting point. Ask us specific questions and we'll be able to give you valuable feedback. Ask yourself those same questions when writing your brief or when presented with a mockup and you'll be able to fulfil your role in the design process more effectively.

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

Thanks for your replies guys, thats cleared that up

So having just +ve reputation button only will make it a bit like on vBulletin forum sites where you can "thank" people for their posts?

NOOOOO!! My reps were hard-earned! (Just reduce those with over 50 (self-administered) down to 30).

Hi Ben, is there any way to 'reset' the system, so that it clears out all previous reps etc, so it's a bit more of a fresh start with the new system? Much better by the way.

Hey,
 
As Traxor pointed out - we are just trialling it, some good points mentioned by all.
 
I've now taken away the ability to give negative reputation and also as before you won't be able to vote for yourself.
 
So it works as a "Thumb Up" system. We'll see how we get on with that.

I'd ignore it if I were you.
I don't like the reputation feature because it becomes a popularity/reliability contest. Like some other well known forums on the web, the "more rep" (as they say) you have, they suddenly believe they are more valuable and useful to society at large.
 
Just because someone disagree's with you doesn't always mean that you're wrong, and because of the way the reputation system works, if someone new saw that they'd automatically think "oh I'll keep out of his/her way - they're obviously no good." which just isn't true.
 
On the other hand you might get a bunch of pure a*se holes who act like children and push each others reputation points up so they look like reliable individuals but who are infact complete morons who ridicule and think they're above everyone else.
 
[/rant]
 
So yeah ignore it lol
 
EDIT:
this springs to mind.

See, that's unfair though Reaper, because the system is essentially a indicator of whether someone is helping or being unhelpful, but those who are abusing this are ruining it, if someone sees they have a +1 it's supposed to motivate them to help me, if they see they have a -1 it's supposed to motivate them to be more helpful and nicer, but it's being abused to hell and back.
 
Hopefully whoever is doing it will read this thread and stop it, because it's unfair, and Ben and the other moderators will notice and the individual will most certainly be banned.

Dont worry too much about it. Ive found that in some posts where i have been discussing something, suddenly i get a -1 on every post (Skype one a month or two back comes to mind) So when i had 6 posts in the topic, it in effect gives me a -6.
 
I tend to ignore it, without checking, i dont have a clue what mine is. People may disagree with what ive said at times, but that is up to them.
 
Reaper

Remember the reputation is still in 'trial' period so I'd ignore it if I were you, there is a bit of a fuss about people abusing the reputation system but it's all getting sorted out by the moderators and stuff, so don't fear, the mods are here (somewhere). That being said, if you see unfair negative reputation, then give it a +1 to even it out, do your part .

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

How come I have negitive reputation? Hope I didn't upset someone...

Say whatever names you want, people would be able to help more if you provide more information. You can find loads of freelancers on this forum, some are really good and affordable - start a new post in the jobs section.
 
Ash.W