Please critique my design for this site

Cianos

Hey,
To keep costs down I've put a design together myself for a new site I'm getting built.

I'd love some feedback on the look/feel of the site and any suggestions would be brilliant.

The wide image at the top will be a flash slideshow.

.jpg of design is here

Thanks very much

cormee

Hi

Overall I like it, nice and cheery, nice colours.

Your header is massive though, waste of valuable real-estate, I'd be looking to halve its height at the very least.

Your menu headings look cramped in those coloured boxes, reduce the font size and maybe round the corners of the boxes in keeping with your logo. From an SEO and accessibility pov you should if possible avoid using images for the menu items, try have them as text and use the coloured boxes as the background.

Try get a better photo for your main image, and instead of using Flash you should consider using a jquery slider ( http://demo.webdeveloperplus.com/featured-content-slider/ ) it's fully accessible and much better for your SEO. From a branding pov it would be good to reuse the rounded box in your logo as the frame for the two bikes, and again try use the green rounded box and the boxo font for your 'More Info' links.

You could also do with a h1 on the homepage and there would be no harm adding some more keyword relevant content in your welcome text.

Cianos

cormee wrote: »

Hi

Overall I like it, nice and cheery, nice colours.

Your header is massive though, waste of valuable real-estate, I'd be looking to halve its height at the very least.

Your menu headings look cramped in those coloured boxes, reduce the font size and maybe round the corners of the boxes in keeping with your logo. From an SEO and accessibility pov you should if possible avoid using images for the menu items, try have them as text and use the coloured boxes as the background.

Try get a better photo for your main image, and instead of using Flash you should consider using a jquery slider ( http://demo.webdeveloperplus.com/featured-content-slider/ ) it's fully accessible and much better for your SEO. From a branding pov it would be good to reuse the rounded box in your logo as the frame for the two bikes, and again try use the green rounded box and the boxo font for your 'More Info' links.

You could also do with a h1 on the homepage and there would be no harm adding some more keyword relevant content in your welcome text.

Really appreciate the tips. I have done a rework of it based on what you said and I think it looks way better now, thanks. Here it is so far.

I will ask my developer about the jquery slider, it sounds like it'd be a much better choice.

I decided not to round the corners of the menu buttons because I don't want it to be overloaded with soft curves. I was hoping the sharp corners brings more attention to the buttons as a result.

Edit: I tried it out with the rounded buttons...thoughts?

p

It's not bad, especially give you're not a designer. However, it's not up to professional standard, which may affect the impression of your business that visitors get.

cormee

p wrote: »

It's not bad, especially give you're not a designer. However, it's not up to professional standard, which may affect the impression of your business that visitors get.

Well in fairness to him it is above and beyond the standards of a lot of people I've seen who are selling their services and claiming to be professionals. If I was in the market for one of those bikes I don't think I would be put off by the design at all.

OP, I reckon the option with the rounded buttons look better.

Cianos

p wrote: »

It's not bad, especially give you're not a designer. However, it's not up to professional standard, which may affect the impression of your business that visitors get.

Thanks for the feedback. Any tips on how I could make it look more professional?

cormee wrote: »

Well in fairness to him it is above and beyond the standards of a lot of people I've seen who are selling their services and claiming to be professionals. If I was in the market for one of those bikes I don't think I would be put off by the design at all.

OP, I reckon the option with the rounded buttons look better.

Cheers. I'll probably go with the rounded buttons in the end.

p

Cianos wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. Any tips on how I could make it look more professional?

Other than hire someone, not really. You've done a pretty good job of it, but to take it to the next level it's a lot more work. It may well be that this is fine for the moment and taking it further is something to do in a year or two.

Cianos

Thanks again for feedback. I've done some more work on it here