Hi guys,

 

Ive been working on a new design for a EPOS and CCTV company for a while now and as always im getting a bit of a creative block.

 

I know the current trend is to keep websites simple and design around the content but in my eyes this site is just boring and bland.

 

So any ideas and suggestions would be great, especially for the content area which really does seem bland.

 

Ive uploaded a prototype image here www.ajrdev.com/acr.jpg

 

Thanks

I don't think your site is boring in the least, and as for bland, well I suppose it depends on your tastes, and perhaps more importantly, the product. I think there's only so far the excitement can stretch when it comes to CCTV. Anything too flashy or artistic is likely to look out of place IMO. After all, CCTV is a security product - people buy it because they need it rather than want it, and I think that makes a very different design brief.

I think if I would change anything about this design, it would be the pale blue; the colours which spring to my mind for this kind of product are navy blue, black and red. Maybe a bit obvious, but you could argue that CCTV is asking for obvious

Maybe you can use an extra color, The light blue is everywhere now giving it a bit a of a flat look. And some contrast might help

Maybe you can use an extra color, The light blue is everywhere now giving it a bit a of a flat look. And some contrast might help

 

yup, looks like it's been through the wash a few times. The white text on light blue (the menu) is a little hard to read as well.

Having been in the security industry in one capacity or another for many years (still am in fact) I feel I'm qualified to comment on this one....

 

I really like the design of the site, the layout works well, and I actually quite like the colour, although, it could possibly go a shade or two darker.

 

The overall impression of the site is professionalism, which with regard to CCTV etc, is a must for the end-user.

 

I'd be interested to see how this one progresses.

 

Regards

 

Scott

I really like the design of the site, the layout works well, and I actually quite like the colour, although, it could possibly go a shade or two darker.

 

After-coffee now...

 

I don't think the colour scheme works for this site. It doesn't show the attributes I'd want from a security company. I'd be looking for things like... I dunno.. high tech, reliable, strong, solid, organised... I don't think the current scheme shows this sort of thing. You could argue that blue is used a lot on techy sites, but this is probably the wrong shade - it's almost a baby blue, which gives the wrong impression.

 

Things I'd do:

 

- if possible, change the logo. It's text in an ellipse, it could be for anything. Don't know if that's something you can change, though.

 

- Change to stronger colours. Pick a couple of fitting colours, but choose colours that convey solidity and reliability.

 

- Dump the serif fonts. They're making the site look old-fashioned.

 

- Be braver with showing your sectioning. Use borders or block colouring or something. You almost want to say "these are my sections, don't **** with 'em. THIS is one section, THIS is another. Deal with it!". You want that sense of certainty to come across.

 

- The header background isn't saying security to me. It's wavy lines. While wavy lines can carry a tech look, it's generally to do with waveforms and stuff. Maybe you can do something similar but with patterns that relate to the subject more. I would keep some sort of pattern/image though, something with a bit of subtlety that would contrast with the solidity of the rest of what I'd do with the layout.

After-coffee now...

 

I don't think the colour scheme works for this site. It doesn't show the attributes I'd want from a security company.

 

 

It's not a security company, its for supply of CCTV & EPOS... unless I missed something in the orignal post. Which is why I feel the look and overall colour scheme works for the site...

Thanks for the input guys,

 

Just to clarify, the company supplies cash registers and cctv systems, not just security systems. I will have a play around with the colours and see what i can come up with.

 

As always, the logo is somthing I cannot change but i could tweak the colours I guess.

Here goes:

 

Original: www.ajrdev.com/acr.jpg

 

Latest: www.ajrdev.com/darker.jpg

 

I've made the colours darker and I think you were right, its definatly improved

 

I tried to add more colours but with so little going on in the design i struggled to make it fit properly. Perhaps it will look better with some larger product photos on there.

After-coffee now...

 

 

Wow! What sort of coffee do you drink!!

definitely go with the darker colours - the site looks so much better!

 

The only majo rissue I have is the image in the right hand column - you distorted it but not taken perspective into account and to me it looks really odd. Add a bit of shrinkage on the left hand side to allow for perspective and it'll be a lot easier on the eye.

 

See this examples to see what I mean:

I've got the markup done now, just need some content. Only the index and contact page are available at the moment

 

www.ajrdev.com/acr

 

One more question for you all...

 

As you can see I added some images to the header banner, I plan on using a different one per page, however im not sure if I prefer it with or without them, your opinions are very welcome.

 

Thanks

Blimey... it doesn't half look a lot better with the darker colours - well done, I think it looks the business now, definitely.

I've got the markup done now, just need some content. Only the index and contact page are available at the moment

 

www.ajrdev.com/acr

 

One more question for you all...

 

As you can see I added some images to the header banner, I plan on using a different one per page, however im not sure if I prefer it with or without them, your opinions are very welcome.

 

Thanks

Liking the changes a lot, particularly the image in the header. Looking good!

last one is very good. simple and beautiful

I agree with everybody the darker colours are way better.

 

Only one thing that bugs me is your header - I think you can give it more space, top and bottom of the header and get that security cam on the homepage pointing towards the content;) Just weird that it's facing outwards.

Something else to consider is maybe combining all the various header images into one for your home page - might give visitors a sense that there are various aspects to this business? But this could be solved by moving that footer text "SUPPLIERS OF CCTV & EPOS SOLUTIONS SINCE 1990" into the header? It shows it's a serious business too.

 

Just my 2c, otherwise pretty cool.