Hello all,

 

Im trying to update a website that i build a couple of years ago when i knew relatively nothing about HTML, found here I was proud of it at the time, but now thing its pretty hideous, very generic looking and the design doesnt reflect the industry.

 

So after hacking around with a template for a few hours last night, i now have a VERY rough design here

 

What do you think of it? I really like the bottom half, but i some how feel there is something missing or not quite right with the top half. There is no immediate wow factor. Any ideas? What would you do? Im not a creative so struggle with this kind of stuff, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers

much better than the old version, i think lighten up the background a little bit so that that the shade of grey used for the borders, links and title background stands out a bit more

3 things that I notice are a lack of colour...I'd suggest trying a little colour on the read more button.

 

The images in the middle boxes aren't the same width as the heading blocks - a little distracting.

 

The text, links & line spacing in the footer is all a bit too big...slim it down a bit, at the moment the page is footer heavy I think.

 

Also wondering if the box borders are a tad heavy...maybe try notching the border width down a pixel?

Thanks for the replies.

 

Ive updated the design, what do you think?

 

@Crafty - Ive done all you suggested, apart from the read more links becuase my photoshop skills are a bit lacking. But hopefully i can change that too. Any ideas for colours to use?

 

Also, Im thinking of combing the three centre boxes into one (separated by a line or something) and moving the footer up so there is no gap between it and the clients box, good idea or not?

 

Cheers

Hey,

I think that you have to just do some trial and error with the colours.

Look at some more unusual colours like pink or light blues.

Does your business have a proper logo and if so what colours does it use?

 

My personal view is magenta ftw!!!

Thanks for the replies.

 

ive updated the site again, to pull it together as a kinda 1 page design. What do you think?

 

Im still not happy with the header though. Its either the navigation, or the title or something, but it doesnt quite fit / flow. What do you think? Theres something not quite right there...

 

I think the problem could be the company doesnt really have a logo. The clostest the company has is the acorn that you can see in the top right (and what ive made into a favicon). However, its terrible quality, non vector and no one really knows where it came from - so we cant get a higher quality version.... Im a bit stuck

 

I agree it could use some colour - but the question is where? Where would you suggest? As i say, im more of a coder than a creative (doesnt help being a bit colour blind either!)

 

Cheers for any help

In firefox it seems that the layout is broken.

 

Unless it is meant to look like this?

 

Ha.Sorry about that. I uploaded the wrong css to the wrong webspace. Should be fixed now.

Hi,

 

• 
   
  
• It's too grey in my opinion. As suggested, add some colour to the website, be subtle but brighten it up a bit.
  
• Also, your images could do with some sort of border around them to separate them from the background.
  
• Footer is good, all be it a bit busy. Maybe add the actual form where you have 'Contact Form'.
  
• Not sure I'm a fan of the navigation. Round the corners off, maybe it might look better with a bit of colour.
  
• Also, that green ball thing by the search just doesn't fit.
  
• What about some form of company branding/logo in the top left?
  

 

It's getting there now though.

 

Hope this helps.

Hey Agreed big improvement. For me the font doesn't fit I don't think; (IMHO!) it looks a bit informal or something? (Can't put my finger on it quite)

 

I also agree a little colour will lift it a touch.

 

Have a fiddle with this: http://colorschemedesigner.com/ for some ideas of a splash of colour you could add. Here is a colour scheme as an example: http://colorschemedesigner.com/#0061T00c3w0w0

 

You could try one of the colours for your active / hover states maybe?

 

Also can try out fonts here: http://www.typetester.org/

 

Hope this helps

Thanks for the responses - much appreciated.

 

Ive updated the design once more.

 

@Gareth:

• I agree. But where do you think the colour should go (i really dont have an eye for these things - more a coder than a creative!)
  
• Done
  
• Unfortunately the contact form is way too large to fit there (even for my footer!)
  
• I hated the navigation as well, but have updated it now, what do you think?
  
• That green thing is the closest thing i have to a logo at the moment. Im thinking i need to get one made...
  
• See previous point
  

 

@ Guezala - Ive changed the font, any better? Ill check out those links - thanks.

 

Once again, thanks for the input.

Hi,

 

The other postsers have covered the colour point so I won't labour on about it too much. Adding one colour in there won't kill though.

 

from a quick look I have two suggestions:

 

1) On the slideshow of things you stock, the content needs to be edited because it's just not right in my honest opinion, all the captions are "We stock lots of..., We stock lots of..., We stock lots of..."

 

2) Lose the XHTML and CSS links at the bottom. They don't match anything on your site and to 90% of your users they'll just be misleading.

 

Hope it helped!