GRC 175 Learning and Discussion Forum

I'm posting this ONE page, that's all I have right now, so ppl can see something to comment on when you come in to do your critiques. I've had such a mental block. Looking at the BAD WEBSITE https://laornamental.com was just so overwhelming, but frankly, I looked at some of YOUR guys' work, got some hope that this COULD be done, then, I don't need to reorganize the TONS of info they have on the splash page, I can put them on the next pages, and in drop-UP menus, in this case. I did the Site Needs & Goals and, surprise! It liberated my vision to put the 'correct' (to me) parameters on the design/style/look. CRAZY and TOO MUCH and CROWDED were characteristics I wanted to eliminate, not reorganize. I happen to have taken the photo of a beautiful wrought-iron driveway gate on a visit to a friend's home in Woodacre, CA, a couple of years ago, and I'm so delighted to give it a venue for show! So, here they are, and I will add the rest later. Feel free to suggest any ideas you have, I appreciate it.

Hi Elle,
I like how you cleaned up this website, and I'm always a fan of big pretty photographic backdrops, cant wait to see how you handle this.

oof what clustered site, I like the new design it is definitely an improvement on the previous site. I like both your color scheme consistent throughout the page and your use of the photo background. I am not sure about the nav from a UI perspective though, having the major categories at the bottom kinda threw me off and maybe repositioning them would help with the flow of the redesign. Awesome start, looking forward to see what you do moving forward.

Excuse my language, but.
This website is originally a huge cluster fuck of things everywhere.
Your redesign makes it look better on the eyes and much easier to read. Going forward, you should think of what to do for the inner pages. If I were to click "Garden Gates", I would be taken to a simple page stating the sizes of gates offered and how much each would be. Then a section to make reservations for the said gate to be installed.

Hi Elle
I think you have improved this website a lot. It looks a lot more organized for sure. I think i would work on cleaning it up even more by adding navigation to other parts of the website.

Hi Elle!

You have a really good start here - I think you were right on them oney with using a hero image to dominate the home page and simplify all the navigational items fro mthe original website (and boy do they ever need a redesign - YIKES!). Honestly I think three quarters of your homepage looks excellent 0 I think you used the image well and I like the navigation being at the bottom. However, I think you owuld do yours website redesign a huge service if you redesign/simplify their logo. I think their logo is also (like their website) wayyyyy too busy. If I were you, I would come up with a simple text logo, remove the "top brands, fast..." bold text in the bottom left corner of the image and stick their new logo you design there (remove the other gate n fences logo as well as it's not needed). It would free up some space on your bottom navigation, giving it more room to bread and feel way less crowded. I would also save the imagery of gates and gate openers for when you do the product page/catalogue and just make simple buttons for Driveway Gates, Gate Openers and Garden gates.

Again I think you are very much on the right track in cleaning up/simplifying the homepage but you may have to go that one extra step with the logo and remove even more stuff that is redundant OR stuff that can exist on another page within the site (like the pictures of the gates/ gate openers). Hope that helps! Great job on creating a very strong starting point to build off of - that is what preliminary's are for! High five!

I think you have a nice start here and I totally feel you about having a mental block. I found it hard to expand on an already conceptualized bad idea.its hard taking something so bad and making it less bad lol. I think that the homepage is nice to look at, but the font I don't think that you used is fitting, I feel like a font without seraphs is more professional looking because it allows the viewer to focus less on reading the information and more on the images of the gates and other services that your page has to offer.

Your pic is certainly better than about anything they have on that website, Elle. That's for sure!

I'll back you conclusion that you needed to simplify the design. That thing was a cluttered mess. I also agree with you on the decision to pivot toward photography. Nice selection of photo as well. I think that serves to really summarize what his website is all about. And maybe make a few people jealous and want to buy a big ornate gate in the process. Never underestimate the fragile egos of the rich. Keep the skew toward photos up as you build the inner pages as well. The more inspirational photos, the more fancy gates you'll sell! Good color choices as well. They reflect the photo and also go with the outdoors/yard theme of the website. Nice type choices. Very classy and monied, two things the target audience of this website want to be or be thought of as. I like the idea of "dropup" menus. They should work just the same as the dropdown menus I demonstrated in my prerecorded class on the 29th but point upward. Nifty!

Make sure all the strokes around the edges of your tiny images are even. Maybe run the green menu edge to edge and make it semi-transparent. I'd also recommend enlarging it enough to give everything in the menu a little more margin so it can breathe a bit. Maybe shrink all the objects in there just a bit to add margin. I'm curious to see how you'll handle the increased text content on the inner pages. I suspect a big, semi-transparent box above the nav with different full screen pics behind it in place of this gate pic.

Good work! I'm certainly excited to see more.

Hey,
I like your redesign, it keeps the original designs ideas but modernizes it. The text is the only problem I have. Its both to big and in a weird place. though I dont know where you should place it and if you make it to small it would be hard to read. Great job anyways.

Hey Elle,
I really enjoyed how you took the photograph for the website's header image, it adds a personal touch to the whole redesign that is very fascinating to see. Additionally, I also like the layout that you had designed where you moved the navigation bar to the bottom rather than keeping it at the top in order to let the viewer take in the photo of the metal gate fully; this also improved the navigation bar really well where it doesn't feel too overwhelming as it did in the original website, my only suggestions for this would be making the pages/buttons a bit smaller so that they don't feel too cramped (shoulder-to-shoulder) inside of the rectangle.

Besides this, my only other suggestion would be working on the taglines on the bottom left of the header image, they are somewhat getting lost in the busy background behind them, so applying a drop shadow behind the text or an almost transparent, colored rectangle will help them become visible again to the viewer. But other than that, I think you are on to a good start! I can't wait to see how you will design the pages for the inside!