Hey

 

I recently put a site up on the internet which is a game review site. The idea is that it reviews games for people and then offers a low cost purchase link to amazon if they are interested. I don't like advertising so you will notice that in most parts of the website, there are hardly any ads.

 

If you could give me some ideas on what to improve / change or what you guys think looks good, that was be awesome!

 

Universal Game Reviews

 

- Chris

Its clean and simple. In some ways a little too simple, it might be worth playing about with the header and making more of a feature of the title. At the moment everything is on the same level so you don't know where to focus, so just giving the header a little more detail it could help the whole site be lifted from just another site into something really nice.

 

 

It might also be nice to add a little colour difference or something to the columns so that each column has its own space rather than both being the same. I think you will find that, that will make it look more spaced out and just let the content sit a bit better on the page.

 

 

Other than that I do like it, its a good starting point and a few tiny little changes will make it look really great. So good job

I agree with Dizi, a nice clean layout and design, but it's clean because there is nothing really there to not make it messy. Header needs changing and it's letting the side down, I would suggest you divert your attention to a graphics designer because a little bit of money to a graphics designer could add a whole new dimension to this, potentially, great site.

nothing like trying to sell your services

 

I don't think you need a graphic designer, as its just needs a few tweaks, so don't be discouraged, just expeiment a little

Hey, thanks for your nice comments and suggestions.

 

I trust your opinions since I am new to the whole webdesign thing so what sort of changes to the header would look good? Possibly some colour changes or are you speaking about images in the foreground? Mainly I am wondering what aspects of the logo to keep and what to redesign.

 

Also, do you mind If I put together some other sample logo's and place em here for you guys to review which one is best or do you think it's not necessary.

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

indeed the header can be improved. also the navigation. the content area is ok

How about playing with the idea of games characters and adding more to it, so it is a collage of images rather than just a couple of images. You could also play about with transparent bits so that it isn't all boxed in.

 

Here is a quick example I made to show you what I mean...

 

Just quickly here is what I mean about it not all being boxed in...

 

 

I know its not the greatest collage in the world, but at least it shows you my idea, I am sure if you play about with it you could create something much better

Wow, that looks really nice, thanks

 

I will go off and download a heap of pictures to put together something. I don't want to use your picture but I will try to use some the techniques you did. I'm not an ace in photoshop but layers and filters are pretty easy Well, the simple filter effects anyway

 

I will post what I have come up with soon.

 

Thanks again

 

BTW, do you know any good methods I could try to increase site traffic. I tried linking in forums, advertising, reviews for companies, contacting companies, everything.

 

I konw it takes time but any other tips that could help increase traffic and possibly attract customers to buy the featured products?

 

Thanks

Unfortunatley it takes quite a bit longer then 4 or 5 days to build up traffic... but if you keep doing what you're doing then it'll come.

I'm happy that you like it and that it has given you some ideas on how to do yours, I can't wait to see what you come up with

 

As for getting people onto your site it will take time, it is one thing to get people onto the site for a quick visit it is another to get them to come back again. So keep up with it, providing intresting and different topics and you will see your site get a bit more interest as time goes on

Just quickly here is what I mean about it not all being boxed in...

 

 

I know its not the greatest collage in the world, but at least it shows you my idea, I am sure if you play about with it you could create something much better

 

This one looks better but maybe you could consider using game characters without any background as if thew were popping up from the top section of the panel. That would look really cool imo

Okay, thanks for the tips

I have three different styles, one of which is the old one and two similar new ones.

 

I firstly want your opinion on whether they are better then the first and secondly if I was to put one of the new ones as the header, which one?

 

Thanks

 

Original Below

 

 

New Header # 1 Below

 

 

New Header # 2 Below

 

I like the way the characters are coming at you and seem to be 'together' in the second one. Is the text supposed to be blurry or has someone slipped whisky in my coffee! But I definitely think Dizi's steered you on the right road.

Just a silly question too... are you allowed to reproduce graphics from games (i.e. copyright)?

I like the way the characters are coming at you and seem to be 'together' in the second one. Is the text supposed to be blurry or has someone slipped whisky in my coffee! But I definitely think Dizi's steered you on the right road.

Just a silly question too... are you allowed to reproduce graphics from games (i.e. copyright)?

 

That's a good point... I'm not sure if you're aloud to use graphics from games.. but when someone put a homer simpson picture on their site they got contacted straight away.

 

Also I think what he has tried to do is a motion blur.. except it'd be better if he lowered the opacity so it didn't make it really blurry yet still gave it a good effect.

Just a silly question too... are you allowed to reproduce graphics from games (i.e. copyright)?

 

Depends on your site, I reckon. If it's not generating any money, you'd probably be fine (fair use and all that). But it's a different ballgame if you start having ads, paid membership or anything like that to bring in money because that's then commercial use.

 

Some companies will have policies which allow you some amount of use of their artwork, but you'll have to look on the company websites or write to them to check.

Okay thanks.

 

I dont think the company will be making much money for a while but when it does see some revenue I will make sure I contact the companies to see if they want any money for their graphics being used or whether they want them taken off.

 

Thanks very much for your comments but which one, original, new 1 or new 2?

 

Thanks

Imo, number 2.

It looks nice, Id recommend having it as a website rather than a blog because it would be quite difficult to search for reviews otherwise

I have to agree with Sussex Chris.

 

Also you need to specify what platform the games are for. I'm assuming it's PC games based on the reviews I've read.

 

If have a proper website instead of a blog it might be easier to add modules for user reviews, some kind of scoring system (like 8/10) etc.