Hi,

 

I just wanted to see what people think of what I am doing to redesign Roy Harwood Photography. This is the first website I designed. Luckily as it is my Dad's I can change it as often as I'd like as he doesn't mind.

 

Here is the redesign.

 

 

I appreciate any feedback given, as I am still learning.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Rosanna

The redesign looks clean and functional. The only qualm I have is that I would expect a tad more color from a photography website.

The redesign looks clean and functional. The only qualm I have is that I would expect a tad more color from a photography website.

 

That's what I thought but the colours are the only restriction I have been given.

I don't think the lack off colour matters too much as you don't want to distract/detract from the photographs - they are after all the main focus of the site.

 

All I'd recommend is to spend some time making sure everything's lined up. For example the 'Welcome' title doesn't give the desired effect of it wrapping round the image - perhaps make the image slightly bigger to fit the full content width.

I don't think the lack off colour matters too much as you don't want to distract/detract from the photographs - they are after all the main focus of the site.

 

All I'd recommend is to spend some time making sure everything's lined up. For example the 'Welcome' title doesn't give the desired effect of it wrapping round the image - perhaps make the image slightly bigger to fit the full content width.

 

Thanks for the reply. I see what you mean. I'll sort that out when I have a bit of time.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the feedback I have had already.

 

Have made the change to the ribbon wrapping around the picture.

I was asked to keep the image the same size so I altered where the ribbon was, and made some of the text line up I think a bit better.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Rosanna

Not a fan of the navigation. Doesn't seem to fit the webpage very well. Surely there is something better. Im always a fan of having stuff for a reason and a meaning. The banner doesn't really add anything and is quite distracting. The Welcome banner makes a little more sense, but Im sure there is a more elegant way to do that as well. And just my personal opinion, I never like welcome headers anyway. It doesn't give the user any info and honestly they couldn't care less about it. Also why is there so much space between your gallery slideshow and the footer?

 

Try playing with different layouts as well as playing with opacity.

Not a fan of the navigation. Doesn't seem to fit the webpage very well. Surely there is something better. Im always a fan of having stuff for a reason and a meaning. The banner doesn't really add anything and is quite distracting. The Welcome banner makes a little more sense, but Im sure there is a more elegant way to do that as well. And just my personal opinion, I never like welcome headers anyway. It doesn't give the user any info and honestly they couldn't care less about it. Also why is there so much space between your gallery slideshow and the footer?

 

Try playing with different layouts as well as playing with opacity.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The slideshow and footer space was not meant to be there. I thought i had fixed that earlier. Will sort that.

 

I wasn't too sure of the welcome header myself but I was asked to try it out. I think I shall remove that.

 

The navigation I was quite pleased with, but I do see what you mean. I will certainly look into other styles for it.

 

Rosanna

Ah remember when every website had a shiny effect on everything, ah them were the days, now it's all angular scroll effect.

 

In my day this was all just tables.

Hi all,

 

Thanks for all the feedback I have had so far.

 

I haven't had much time to look into alternative navigation just yet but I will consider it.

 

I have fixed the space between the gallery and the footer and also removed the welcome banner.

 

Have a see for yourself.

 

 

Rosanna

Ah remember when every website had a shiny effect on everything, ah them were the days, now it's all angular scroll effect.

 

In my day this was all just tables.

 

Its funny how things come around, in my day it was all frames and tables and bevel and emboss with shadows was all the rage, funny how things come full circle...

 

The Design I think you would be better off changing the image on the home page to black and white give the page a bit more impact, drop the banner I don't think it works.

 

Fade that background (black) into the gray and go for some nice big impact* fonts in white

 

* Not the font impact though!

Edited September 16, 201115 yr by pandadoodle

Its funny how things come around, in my day it was all frames and tables and bevel and emboss with shadows was all the rage, funny how things come full circle...

 

The Design I think you would be better off changing the image on the home page to black and white give the page a bit more impact, drop the banner I don't think it works.

 

Fade that background (black) into the gray and go for some nice big impact* fonts in white

 

* Not the font impact though!

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

I will make some changes over the next few days.

Then I will put up the new design.

 

Rosanna

What I think would be cool is if you have multiple images on the homepage. One picture doesn't say much about the photographer, unless it's an award-winning photograph, but what are the chances of having something like that every update?

What I think would be cool is if you have multiple images on the homepage. One picture doesn't say much about the photographer, unless it's an award-winning photograph, but what are the chances of having something like that every update?

 

Thanks for your feedback.

 

But it's not going to be just one photograph it will be a slideshow of a few that are picked by the photographer.

This is what he requested.

 

Rosanna

Thanks for your feedback.

 

But it's not going to be just one photograph it will be a slideshow of a few that are picked by the photographer.

This is what he requested.

 

Rosanna

how about working on the logo use some nice fonts -fontsquirrel?

and maybe use some texture background in header instead of just flat color?

Edited September 16, 201115 yr by sash_oo7

But seriously... I quite like it, it's nice, simple and gives the impression of a professional photographer. A warning though; don't get caught in the trap of most photography sites by not including any text on your homepage for search engines. If I was you I would include the 'About Me' section on the homepage, either by putting it below the fold or in a tab. As long as the tab is obvious Search engines won't penalise you for hidden text.

I'd love to see something more along the lines of this - http://www.studiobennett.net/ but for your first website, its not bad at all

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and ideas.

I talked to my father about what he would like for the site and he did not want to have any text on the home page and for the layout to remain the same.

 

Following advice from the replies here I have now come up with this design.

 

 

Rosanna

I'd love to see something more along the lines of this - http://www.studiobennett.net/ but for your first website, its not bad at all

 

Nice design, the main image took about 10-15 seconds to load on my computer, ended up closing as I couldn't be bothered waiting

 

Rosanna, I personally preferred your banner/header before the latest update

Hello

 

I'm sorry to say I don't like the design. If your father is a photographer he will understand the importance of his website and how big his competitors will be on google.

 

You need a first class design which stands out from the crowd, its hard to tell without a live version but the web design looks a bit dated and the black and grey colours are flat. The newer version with the cut out white area well its a big childish IMO.

 

I'm a photographer myself and have my own website. When I thought about designing it I thought about two things, what are my competitors doing and what can I do differently.

 

So often people use white or black sites for photgraphy websites, its very cliched. Not only this, they tend to steer towards the sleek elegant look, you're using a big chunky bold font, if I was getting married would I choose a site which oozed sophistication or one that was chunky and a little bit messy?

 

You need to think not about what you like, as the photographer but what your potential clients will want to see.

 

Charlotte

^ Good advice, listen to the photographer

Go minimalist. Nothing should compete with the photos for attention.