[Alaska-Design]

Hey. I'm starting up a new company with my friend, and we're just finishing up the site, it all needs to be validated and touched up etc but we've finished the template and almost all of the content. Anyway, if you could check it over, gimme some feedback etc etc I'd really appreciate it - dying to get started with this new project. We're doing pro web design, MyPanel and software development. 2 Ko00oo0L 4 sKULE m8

www.alaska-design.com/24g

Ta very much.

[oli]

did you do the gel icons?

[Alaska-Design]

we got someone else to do them for us

[adras]

Hmm, city of toronto photo, aren't you guys in england?

[Alaska-Design]

Yes but we're appealing to the WORLD!

[mark]

Seems very familiar to me...almost like macromedia. Even if it didn't seem so similar, I'd say lose the gel icons and tighten up the header space. In fact the whole design needs to be a lot tighter...those icons are really fucking everything up.

[C4D]

I like the icons but the guy has a point, they can be compared to macromedia or even MAC icons? The MyPanal2 section looks like the colours have even been taken from macromedia products?

Still its very clean, crisp and looks very professional. The flash needs to be a bit smoother, maybe up the frame rate and add some easing, oh and you cant read any of the text? but its still a good site.

Loose the "untiteld document" too

[cam]

the current index page would be entirely superflous if you spent a little more time on the navigation

the huge section headers "mypanel", "design that works", etc are overkill when you also have the large header graphic at the top of your content section

icons are very nice, but seem a little on the large side

site definately has potential, just seems a little disoriented just now, like it needs some focus/centralization.

[tomson]

Looks very amateur and the page layouts are poor - a terrible use of space. You could learn a lot from the "less is more" mantra.

The user journey is also questionable - maybe think about housing everything from a single homepage (as opposed to the splash type page currently) and highlighting your different products and services from there. It all seems a bit fragmented at the moment - no cohesion.

[Alaska-Design]

hmm ok some interesting points - thank you

[Alaska-Design]

Originally Posted by tomson

Looks very amateur and the page layouts are poor - a terrible use of space. You could learn a lot from the "less is more" mantra.

The user journey is also questionable - maybe think about housing everything from a single homepage (as opposed to the splash type page currently) and highlighting your different products and services from there. It all seems a bit fragmented at the moment - no cohesion.

That contradicts the less is more mantra, having it all on one home page? There's so much to say .. that's the problem. I think it'd look very crowded. Keeping the home as the selection/splash page it makes it easy to choose where you want to go, it's all pretty straight forward I think.

I disagree with saying it looks amateur.. I think that's a little unfair.

I'm thinking about sizing down the large headers, I still like the ones at the very top.

[tomson]

Originally Posted by Alaska-Design

Keeping the home as the selection/splash page it makes it easy to choose where you want to go, it's all pretty straight forward I think.

Assuming you know where you want to go. Which is unlikely for anyone visiting the site for the first time. Have you done any user testing?

Originally Posted by Alaska-Design

I disagree with saying it looks amateur.. I think that's a little unfair.

Given that you are saying this company "specialises in advanced web design, creating the perfect solution" and "we believe that we can create something visually outstanding and fresh, keeping ahead of today's modern web fashions" then i stand by my comments. I'm not saying that you cant create "something visually outstanding and fresh" but there is nothing (yet) on that site to back up your claims. Infact what's there at the moment contradicts those claims.

Originally Posted by Alaska-Design

That contradicts the less is more mantra, having it all on one home page? There's so much to say .. that's the problem. I think it'd look very crowded.

As i_am_cam touched on before - a well thought out navigation would work wonders. You should really think about the IA and the user journey involved in navigating around the site - after all your job as the designer is to produce the best possible solution to the problem. And there really isn't a huge amount of content on that site.

S'up to you what you do with it though - just thought i'd pass on my thoughts as I think you're capable of doing a much better job.

[Stickman]

Those icons are too big. The blue text tucked above the headings looks bad, as does the map, and the layout seems random.

There's something not nice about the whole thing that I can't put my finger on.

[Alaska-Design]

Originally Posted by tomson

Assuming you know where you want to go. Which is unlikely for anyone visiting the site for the first time. Have you done any user testing?

Yeah we have, no one so far has had any problems getting around until now, but I can see your point. I think most people would already know where they want to go, we offer 3 different things.

Originally Posted by tomson

Given that you are saying this company "specialises in advanced web design, creating the perfect solution" and "we believe that we can create something visually outstanding and fresh, keeping ahead of today's modern web fashions" then i stand by my comments. I'm not saying that you cant create "something visually outstanding and fresh" but there is nothing (yet) on that site to back up your claims. Infact what's there at the moment contradicts those claims.

I wouldn't agree with that, overall I don't think it's a poorly designed site, it just needs a little tweaking, the layout is almost there.

Originally Posted by tomson

As i_am_cam touched on before - a well thought out navigation would work wonders. You should really think about the IA and the user journey involved in navigating around the site - after all your job as the designer is to produce the best possible solution to the problem. And there really isn't a huge amount of content on that site.

I think there's a lot to read, and as we're a new company just starting out we have hardly any work to show off, so making the most of our homepage is all we can do at the moment.

[mark]

I've got it...it looks like bloggers.com

there's a lot wrong with this site as it stands and I think tomson has made some very valid points.

Sorry, but I reckon you're long way from just 'tweaking' it.

I'd just start again to be honest...you're trying to sell yourselves as an agency but are then giving to much prominence to the 'sub' brands. The user pathways are very difficult to navigate as there is a lack of global navigation; I reckon the photography is stock cliche madness and the content just does not work in the contExt of the layouts. Oh yeah...gotta lose the icons.

[Alaska-Design]

I don't think it needs to be redesigned entirely, there's certainly some guidlines to work with. I'm surprised this many people have had trouble navigating the site, we tested it on about 20 people who all really liked the site and found it very easy to use.

I dunno, I hate having to defend myself, I honestly don't think it's that bad

[Mik]

is it for the blind or hard of seeing?

[cam]

Originally Posted by Alaska-Design

I dunno, I hate having to defend myself, I honestly don't think it's that bad

Then don't change it and go with what you think is best. All we can do after all is offer constructive criticism

Good luck with it

[lucidcreations]

You don't need to defend each comment just take it on board and say fuck it to the stupid ones

[3jorn]

I really like the "main" pages, but the "splash" page really didn't do much for me.
I think you have done some very nice work, after you actually get in to the site, but the splash is still the first thing you see.