...any feedback would be much appreciated, cheers.

 

http://bit.ly/53DD8o

Edited October 16, 201213 yr by Renaissance-Design

I think it looks clean and modern -- I would guess you were inspired by Google's current style of design? Which is, of course, no bad thing. My only thought was that perhaps the text is too grey in some areas, making it not stand out as well as it could.

The website looks great, I really like the style and the layout, one thing though, when I first visited the page I was confused because I didn't notice the navigation bar at the top, but that's only because I'm used to seeing a StumbleUpon bar at the top and it's the same color.

I like the jQuery bits in there too and the textures.

Exactly that yeah, outright copied the nav bar from Google, they have put so much research into that nav bar and the things like the colours etc. So I think it's fair to say that it might be a bit more than just a design trend or fad. Thanks for the feedback, I tried to make the background as light as possible so that grey text would contrast enough, and with the main nav going unnoticed - well, actually the whole focus for the site is for the users to click on the 'Practice Test' button so they buy the product. So, keeping options out the way that would affect revenue is also something I tried to do. What do you think about having the breadcrumbs next to the subnav? http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/shl.htm

I like the breadcrumbs there, I think it works well as a navigation and a tracking system.

I have to say I dont like the google-esque nav bar. The logo seems washed out (or blurred maybe?) and I'm not a fan of the grey to yellow text in the footer. Also the grey text on pages isn't the easiest to read.

 

Sorry, I don't intend to offend, its just my own personal opinion.

 

edit:

Just read your comments and I see what you say about essentially fading out the site, to make the CTA more inviting, but imo, if somebody comes across a site, one of the CTA "rules", is to make the user feel easy, natural almost when clicking the CTA.

 

The problem with your CTA is it feels quite 'intimidating' because the button is the first thing you notice, yet I dont even know what the question is.

 

If you have a look at my personal website in my signature, see how I lead in the viewer to my call to action. Also, the message I get across is red (sexy, passionate, dangerous etc) and the button even answers for them almost, with the way I use the text.

In all honesty I had no idea what else to say in my CTA. I spent days thinking about it, and the idea I went with wouldn't leave me.

 

 

It is a high calibre design, I just think trying to be 'out of the box', doesn't work here really for me from a designers point of view, however, if your target audience are aptitude test junkies, then it should work.

 

Good luck

Edited September 7, 201213 yr by jamesosix

It's a very nicely designed site but I feel it's a little wishy washy. Could you maybe up the colours in the main body to something a bit brighter, or add some extra coloured elements to wake it up a bit?

 

Also have to say I dislike the navigation bar. I didn't notice it at all. What about some tabs or something below the logo section instead?

Fair points. This is going to sound like a wishy washy response but one of the reasons we used Google as a style (and also using their nav bar) is trust and familiarity, the more of those things your user has when asked to buy something, the better - this is another thing that affects revenue. So, there is method to the madness, users trust Google and are familiar with the interface and colours. The 5 links at the top are there mainly for SEO, they are all repeated again more than once on the home page for instance, so if the user doesn't see the main nav, this is fine. What wouldn't be fine though is if the user were to click on the main nav, get distracted, and end up having a quick look on Facebook or something and don't end up buying a test - as oppose to how it is now where there is less chance of them using the main nav, and more chance of clicking through to the main product page. And if they really want to read more about each test, it won't be difficult for them to do so, so keeping the main nav out of the users natural user journey was intentional. The smallest things make all the difference in my experience and we can already see that the users are buying more bundle packs than how the site used to be, which is simply down to this user journey alone. After the user clicks through to the 'Practice Tests' page, the courser is already hovering over the 'Buy Now' button.

 

And with the neutral content areas, I did think about adding more colour but I thought it was more important to keep the colour for links and images only.The site is not just about selling products, it's about providing information as well so looking at Wikipedia for example, decoration is kept to a minimum as the site is all about the content and information the site provides.

Edited September 7, 201213 yr by WDF

Fair points. This is going to sound like a wishy washy response but one of the reasons we used Google as a style and also using their nav bar is trust and familiarity, the more of those things your user has when asked to buy something, the better - this is another thing that affects revenue. So, there is method to the madness. The 5 links at the top are there mainly for SEO, they are all repeated again more than once on the home page for instance, so if the user doesn't see the main nav, this is fine. What wouldn't be fine though is if the user were to click on the main nav, get distracted, and end up having a quick look on Facebook or something and don't end up buying a test - as oppose to how it is now where there is less chance of them using the main nav, and more chance of clicking through to the main product page. And if they really want to read more about each test, it won't be difficult for them to do so, so keeping the main nav out of the users natural user journey was intentional. The smallest things make all the difference in my experience and we can already see that the users are buying more bundle packs than how the site used to be, which is simply down to this user journey alone. After the user clicks through to the 'Practice Tests' page, the courser is already hovering over the 'Buy Now' button.

 

The fact is that users only use the Google navigation because they know it's there and they're actively looking for it. I found your navigation frustrating and awkward and not familiar at all despite being a Chrome/Google Plus/Android/Gmail user.

The fact is that users only use the Google navigation because they know it's there and they're actively looking for it. I found your navigation frustrating and awkward and not familiar at all despite being a Chrome/Google Plus/Android/Gmail user.

 

Well that was for the over all style, as for the nav bar in particular, as I said above I think - we don't really want people using it if it means diluting purchases. Am I making sense?

Edited September 8, 201213 yr by WDF

Imo if you are meant to be providing info, then the body font is not easy to read and digest, because of the tones. Both Google and Wiki provide information, and both use black text on white background.

Edited September 8, 201213 yr by jamesosix

Well that was for the over all style, as for the nav bar in particular, as I said above I think - we don't really want people using it if it means diluting purchases. Am I making sense?

 

Yeah I get your point about diluting purchases, but there is one big problem, you've created a frustrating site. I'll go on there, be annoyed that things aren't instantly obvious and just click off. This is the way the majority of web users work. Steve Krug wrote a great book on the subject called Don't Make Me Think. Worth a read. A well designed navigation won't be obstrusive to your purchasing, it'll be beneficial to the overall success of your site, and therefore create more purchases.

Imo if you are meant to be providing info, then the body font is not easy to read and digest, because of the tones. Both Google and Wiki provide information, and both use black text on white background.

 

Okay, so you think I should be using black text on a white background, as opposed to dark grey on white?

Edited September 8, 201213 yr by WDF

Okay, so you think I should be using black text on a white background, as opposed to dark grey on white?

 

Doesn't necessarily have to be black, but a much darker grey would be easier on the eyes.

Yeah I get your point about diluting purchases, but there is one big problem, you've created a frustrating site. I'll go on there, be annoyed that things aren't instantly obvious and just click off. This is the way the majority of web users work. Steve Krug wrote a great book on the subject called Don't Make Me Think. Worth a read. A well designed navigation won't be obstrusive to your purchasing, it'll be beneficial to the overall success of your site, and therefore create more purchases.

 

What are you trying to do that you find frustrating?

Doesn't necessarily have to be black, but a much darker grey would be easier on the eyes.

 

Okay, cool.

What are you trying to do that you find frustrating?

 

I'm trying to look where I can go. I want to see what pages you have and where I can jump to. I don't want to stare at a confusing form/grid system to do so.

 

Honestly, read the book. It will help.

Okay, so you think I should be using black text on a white background, as opposed to dark grey on white?

 

That's your call, it's your work. It's all just my own opinion (which you did ask for. ).

Edited September 8, 201213 yr by jamesosix

I'm trying to look where I can go. I want to see what pages you have and where I can jump to. I don't want to stare at a confusing form/grid system to do so.

 

Honestly, read the book. It will help.

 

What's the confusing form/grid system?

I have to say I dont like the google-esque nav bar. The logo seems washed out (or blurred maybe?) and I'm not a fan of the grey to yellow text in the footer. Also the grey text on pages isn't the easiest to read.

 

Sorry, I don't intend to offend, its just my own personal opinion.

 

edit:

Just read your comments and I see what you say about essentially fading out the site, to make the CTA more inviting, but imo, if somebody comes across a site, one of the CTA "rules", is to make the user feel easy, natural almost when clicking the CTA.

 

The problem with your CTA is it feels quite 'intimidating' because the button is the first thing you notice, yet I dont even know what the question is.

 

If you have a look at my personal website in my signature, see how I lead in the viewer to my call to action. Also, the message I get across is red (sexy, passionate, dangerous etc) and the button even answers for them almost, with the way I use the text.

In all honesty I had no idea what else to say in my CTA. I spent days thinking about it, and the idea I went with wouldn't leave me.

 

 

It is a high calibre design, I just think trying to be 'out of the box', doesn't work here really for me from a designers point of view, however, if your target audience are aptitude test junkies, then it should work.

 

Good luck

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier on this, I didn't get an email through. I think, yeah if it was for everyone then it would be styled differently, but all the people using the site, or most of them, will be going on to work for banks, so it's focussed on capturing their attention really. Just looking at your site and the CTA you mention above, is it the 'create free websites click here' circles that go to Wix?

 

I know it sounds like I'm not listening to anyone but I honestly listen to everyone, regardless. That said, doing what people tell you to do is something completely different to listening. Thanks for your input on this, I think a lot of the same things are echoed by other people as well (grey text etc), and I missed it before, but you said about the logo being faded - you're right it is faded. I will look at making this sharp now

 

Sometimes it's a case of removing things rather than adding, I find. Leonardo Di Vinci (probably one of the greatest designers of all time) said - "a poet knows when he has reached true perfection, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", you can apply this to web design - but it must work (SEO, user experience and revenue). I'm waffling now. Thanks for your help

 

Edit: and when you say the CTA is intimidating, do you mean the 'Practice Tests' button on the home page?

Edited September 10, 201213 yr by WDF

Your design is good but text color is not comfortable to read. its my opinion.

Edited September 11, 201213 yr by majju

Okay I think everyone is saying the same - though, this might not be a bad thing you know - McDonalds design their seating so they become uncomfortable after 4 minutes, maybe people won't forget they are on there to get hold of a test, and buy one sooner rather than later?

 

Would it help if the background was darker?

Edited September 11, 201213 yr by WDF

Okay I think everyone is saying the same - though, this might not be a bad thing you know - McDonalds design their seating so they become uncomfortable after 4 minutes, maybe people won't forget they are on there to get hold of a test, and buy one sooner rather than later?

 

Would it help if the background was darker?

 

No no no no. Seriously, read the book I suggested.

 

These kind of gimmicks are ridiculous. You can't force people to buy something they don't want. You can positively encourage them to buy your product in many ways, but negatively impacting people to make them buy something? That's just being a push salesman, one of those ones who comes into your house and won't leave until you buy something, it makes you feel vulnerable, forced, unhappy afterwards, doesn't it? Don't do that. Stop trying to come up with outlandish justification for the fact you don't want to change your font colour from one grey to another.

 

As for McDonalds, they are a multi-billion dollar company and they have a lot more to care about than their seats (which to me sounds frankly ridiculous, I've sat in them many times and they're FINE). You are not McDonalds.

No no no no. Seriously, read the book I suggested.

 

These kind of gimmicks are ridiculous. You can't force people to buy something they don't want. You can positively encourage them to buy your product in many ways, but negatively impacting people to make them buy something? That's just being a push salesman, one of those ones who comes into your house and won't leave until you buy something, it makes you feel vulnerable, forced, unhappy afterwards, doesn't it? Don't do that. Stop trying to come up with outlandish justification for the fact you don't want to change your font colour from one grey to another.

 

As for McDonalds, they are a multi-billion dollar company and they have a lot more to care about than their seats (which to me sounds frankly ridiculous, I've sat in them many times and they're FINE). You are not McDonalds.

 

Well said Fran....I had to read the McDonalds line twice to make sure I had read it properly!

 

WDF- when you design something it can be very difficult to take a step back...accept criticism and try it out. If your going to ask people for their views then you have to take that onboard. The goal of the site should be to communicate clearly with the user, visually and with content, which should lead to a decent sales conversion rate.

 

If you try and make the site uncomfortable for users, thinking that they will buy quickly, well they won't..they will find another site that sells the same product. A percentage will buy regardless, but the chances of them returning to complete more purchases will be very low.

 

It's tough, but try and not be so defensive, it is not a sign of weakness.

 

Stevo!

McDonalds seating - unfortunately for you Fran I lived with a girl who worked for McDonalds.

 

The site - sales are up over 10%, so I must have done something right, no?

McDonalds seating - unfortunately for you Fran I lived with a girl who worked for McDonalds.

 

The site - sales are up over 10%, so I must have done something right, no?

 

10% increase is good news. You'll probably not know the net effect of the design for perhaps 6 months. Once you have 6 months of sales done you can analyse the numbers and they will speak for themselves.

 

Hey I wasn't saying you were wrong...I was responding in a different way!

 

Stevo!

It's cool Stevo!

It's not quite working for me, and I agree with some previous criticisms.

 

To start off with, there's too many gimmicks. The Google style navigation is one of them. It's gimmicky and doesn't help the user experience. It is also too wide on wide screens, it should really be restricted to the width of the website. Google use this style because it is secondary navigation, with your site that would be fine also but there's no real primary navigation. So it doesn't make sense.

 

Another gimmick is the drop downs on the home page. For a start, they hide the content, which seems crazy to me, especially as there's no other visible copy on the page, except three bullet points and a header. It makes the page look confusing because it's not really telling me anything. There's nothing to engage me. It also seems strange to me that as a user I have to expand those boxes but then there's also a read more button. It all adds up to quite a confusing and uncomfortable experience.

 

I would suggest you have your drop downs further down the page and have some content above them that is already expanded, perhaps the first two. You're hiding all your content away, and it doesn't work.

 

You also have styling issues and the most critical is contrast. Essentially, there is none. Subtle greys are fine in some instances but paragraphs and headings should always have decent contrast. On a #fff background, your copy should never really be lighter than #444. Yours is #8 88. It may be fine for you, but for anyone with less than perfect eyesight your website is going to be a nightmare to use.

 

Light grey test has become common and popular among designers on their portfolios. That's kinda fine, it's your portfolio, do what you want. But on an actual website that provides information to clients and is selling products, low contrast text should only be used when it's not critical. For example, you might use #8 88 on the meta data for a post, it's not critical for someone to know which category the post in and you want the focus to be on the header and copy.

 

Personally I think you would be making a massive improvement to the site if you improved the contrast of the text by upping the grey to #444 or darker, and by replacing the strip at the top with a more traditional navigation.

 

I also think the CTA wording needs some thought. Conduct some A/B tests, see what works best.

 

Other than that, it's really not a bad site. It's pretty well executed, just feel these areas need addressing.

Edited September 13, 201213 yr by brightonmike

It's not quite working for me, and I agree with some previous criticisms.

 

To start off with, there's too many gimmicks. The Google style navigation is one of them. It's gimmicky and doesn't help the user experience. It is also too wide on wide screens, it should really be restricted to the width of the website. Google use this style because it is secondary navigation, with your site that would be fine also but there's no real primary navigation. So it doesn't make sense.

 

Another gimmick is the drop downs on the home page. For a start, they hide the content, which seems crazy to me, especially as there's no other visible copy on the page, except three bullet points and a header. It makes the page look confusing because it's not really telling me anything. There's nothing to engage me. It also seems strange to me that as a user I have to expand those boxes but then there's also a read more button. It all adds up to quite a confusing and uncomfortable experience.

 

I would suggest you have your drop downs further down the page and have some content above them that is already expanded, perhaps the first two. You're hiding all your content away, and it doesn't work.

 

You also have styling issues and the most critical is contrast. Essentially, there is none. Subtle greys are fine in some instances but paragraphs and headings should always have decent contrast. On a #fff background, your copy should never really be lighter than #444. Yours is #8 88. It may be fine for you, but for anyone with less than perfect eyesight your website is going to be a nightmare to use.

 

Light grey test has become common and popular among designers on their portfolios. That's kinda fine, it's your portfolio, do what you want. But on an actual website that provides information to clients and is selling products, low contrast text should only be used when it's not critical. For example, you might use #8 88 on the meta data for a post, it's not critical for someone to know which category the post in and you want the focus to be on the header and copy.

 

Personally I think you would be making a massive improvement to the site if you improved the contrast of the text by upping the grey to #444 or darker, and by replacing the strip at the top with a more traditional navigation.

 

I also think the CTA wording needs some thought. Conduct some A/B tests, see what works best.

 

Other than that, it's really not a bad site. It's pretty well executed, just feel these areas need addressing.

 

 

Nothing on the site is a gimmick - it's in place for a purpose, and that purpose is to maximise conversions. If you want to call things that assist with conversions, a gimmick, then that's fine. With the nav bar we found that users we using the top nav too much and not clicking through to the buy now page on the old site, so we decided to reduce it's dominance on the page to direct users where we want them to go. This has worked. When it's on wide screen, this is even better as people will use the top nav even less, and use the CTA even more.

 

The drop downs - there is a lot of content on the site, so before we bored them to death with 2 hours worth of reading, we wanted to seduce them a little by making ALL content on the site visible in as smaller space as we could on the home page. The information is easier to digest than before even though there is a lot more to digest, and as a result, the bounce rate has also reduced but SEO (impressions) have improved (but this will take a few weeks to see the real effects). About having a bit of copy at the top - I have to say that I think what's on the home page is the right amount for the sorts of people that will be using the site. It's not telling you anything because you are not just about to study an MBA, are you? It's meant for people who would already be very aware what psychometric tests are. If you were a candidate about to take an MBA, there's more than enough to engage you on the home page, trust me.

 

I don't want to have the drop down further down the page as I want users to immediately see that the site provides 2 things - Information and Products - this is why 'Information Overview' and 'Products' are side by side.

 

What other styling issues are there other than the light text? My eyes are not great but I can see this fine, some of the guys are also the same but can read the text fine. I hate to say it but is there a bit of parroting going on here? As I can't find anyone, and I mean anyone who cannot read this completely fine? No joke, I even asked my Grandma who is 87. This might be a best practice thing, but I'm struggling to see why I need to change the colour, no pun intended.

 

What's 'light grey test'? You said above - 'low contrast text should only be used when it's not critical' - exactly. What's critical for the users here is that they actually practice the tests. Users land on the site - practice tests - pass their psychometric tests - get into a really good job - done.

 

I'm definitely leaving the nav as it is, as it's working how we want it to work. As for the text, I've not heard a good enough argument, or any evidence to justify the change. Sorry guys, I know you all have lots more experience in web related stuff than me, and you think I'm not listening but I honestly am (listening isn't doing as I'm told, or agreeing). I think I will leave the site this way for now and see how it goes, sales are up. But I will make my next site the most contrasting bloody site you lot have ever seen. I'll post her up on here and we can go again

 

Seriously though, thanks.

Edited September 13, 201213 yr by WDF

What other styling issues are there other than the light text? My eyes are not great but I can see this fine, some of the guys are also the same but can read the text fine. I hate to say it but is there a bit of parroting going on here? As I can't find anyone, and I mean anyone who cannot read this completely fine? No joke, I even asked my Grandma who is 87. This might be a best practice thing, but I'm struggling to see why I need to change the colour, no pun intended.

 

What screen did your Grandma read it on?

What screen did your Grandma read it on?

 

An iPad 1 and my laptop screen

Edited September 13, 201213 yr by WDF

Different quality/calibration of screen may explain different people's reactions to the contrast. Also, someone may be able to read lower-contrast text fine, but be more prone to eyestrain after a while than if the contrast were higher.

 

Just a stab in the dark, because the site appears to be down at the moment.

Doesn't load for me?

Yeah well you will probably say they same when you see it. Would be interesting to split test the different text colour though. And yeah the servers are down.

I'll wait till it's up before i offer any opinion on it.

In regards to the text to background contrast I don't think you should leave it simply because you can read it personally. Would it really look bad as a dark grey? It would be a lot more readable. What about the people reading on their phones or tablets outside where it's bright? A poor contrast just makes your site a lot less accessible.

I'll wait till it's up before i offer any opinion on it.

 

Sorry Mike I nearly reported you then, instead of clicking on quote

 

I think you will say the same as everyone else, I honestly don't think anyone on here will say that what I'm saying is feasible.

Edited September 13, 201213 yr by WDF

If you think everyone will say the same, doesn't that show that general consensus is your site is difficult to read? It's a 2 second job...

Sorry Mike I nearly reported you then, instead of clicking on quote

 

Would've just come to me anyway

 

I think you will say the same as everyone else Mike, I honestly don't think anyone on here will say that what I'm saying is legible.

 

Having real bad eye site (One eye and even that needs glasses) i can tell you that the minute a site has poor contrast i'm outta there.

Black text on white is just as bad to be honest. Obviously i can't see the site we're talking about but it does seem the general feel is to darken the text a bit.

If you think everyone will say the same, doesn't that show that general consensus is your site is difficult to read? It's a 2 second job...

 

No, it doesn't. It tells me that you 'say' that is it difficult to read. Not that it 'is' difficult to read.