I need your opinion please

good morning,

I need your opinion.

I am working on a site that i am implementing a bunch of new things (for me that is) including mal’s etc.

http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2

I know that there are things to be done. I am just wondering about the following:

a. picture quality (front showcase is just a place holder till he gets me the information there) on the rest of the site
~ if there is something more to do to make them sharper/pop - any suggestions would be gratefully welcome. (yes these are most of the pictures that i was removing the background from)

b. layout
c action workings
d flow

I do know that some of the pictures are large ( i have reduced them as low as I can go) -

Thank you so much

J


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1 - Spelling!

2 - Showcase caption colour - hard to read

3 - Hate the dropping in letters

4 - Font choice too bold and blocky for a delicate subject also not consistent

5 - Acquire? If you mean ‘Buy Now’ then say it!

6 - Mals, Brand the page so visitors know where they are and who they are buying from.

7 - Picture size You may have recognised that some of these are too large but you certainly have not reduced them as far as you can go DSCF3690B.jpg is nearly 2Mb with dimensions of 5066 x 1520px http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2/Resources/DSCF3690B.jpg

There is more but these will do for a start.

D


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Hi there,
I would mention and approve DeltaDave on every thing he pointed out…
There seem to be some interesting ideas that you want exploit to make your site interesting and attractive… However, although there isn’t much the first feeling I had when I saw it was heaviness and unbalance.
Because the background of most of your pictures is white, you might want to have the background of the site white as well. (even if it is tough on the eyes…) You might want to use a double lined frame for each picture if you don’t feel comfortable with a all white environment.
…and I would recommend you to follow what DeltaDave pointed out.

MArketing and Sales wise… I would recommend you to have a different layout. Drop that left hand navigation, use a nice carousel style for your times and since most of your items are “Gold”, use a black font that would be curvi-form/handwriting type…

Good luck,
D.


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  1. spelling - I have been just dropping in what he wrote - have not run a spell check yet… but i will next…

  2. The showcase will change without the captions (good point about the caption color)

  3. I know you do - client wanted it

  4. Your right - I have a few in mind to change (just need to convince client)
    5 I had buy now- client had a meltdown.

  5. Ok, thank you - i will look into that did not realized you can do it

  6. shoot - missed that one. I will go through again.

Thank you!! how are the clarity of the pictures etc and the flow?

J
On Sep 8, 2011, at 5:47 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

1 - Spelling!

2 - Showcase caption colour - hard to read

3 - Hate the dropping in letters

4 - Font choice too bold and blocky for a delicate subject also not consistent

5 - Acquire? If you mean ‘Buy Now’ then say it!

6 - Mals, Brand the page so visitors know where they are and who they are buying from.

7 - Picture size You may have recognised that some of these are too large but you certainly have not reduced them as far as you can go DSCF3690B.jpg is nearly 2Mb with dimensions of 5066 x 1520px http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2/Resources/DSCF3690B.jpg

There is more but these will do for a start.

D


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Thank you,

  1. would it be better if the backgrounds were clear? so the jewelry bounced off the sage green?
  2. is every page heavy? or just the front? and any suggestions?

when you say - Drop that left hand navigation, use a nice carousel style for your times… carousel style? for times? can you explain?

different layout… My client gave me a site he loves and I very much dont that I have been asked to mimic.

any suggestions?

Thank you again!

On Sep 8, 2011, at 6:28 PM, DaveW wrote:

Hi there,
I would mention and approve DeltaDave on every thing he pointed out…
There seem to be some interesting ideas that you want exploit to make your site interesting and attractive… However, although there isn’t much the first feeling I had when I saw it was heaviness and unbalance.
Because the background of most of your pictures is white, you might want to have the background of the site white as well. (even if it is tough on the eyes…) You might want to use a double lined frame for each picture if you don’t feel comfortable with a all white environment.
…and I would recommend you to follow what DeltaDave pointed out.

MArketing and Sales wise… I would recommend you to have a different layout. Drop that left hand navigation, use a nice carousel style for your times and since most of your items are “Gold”, use a black font that would be curvi-form/handwriting type…

Good luck,
D.


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PS I am not catching any spelling issues - just ran it

On Sep 8, 2011, at 7:38 PM, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

  1. spelling - I have been just dropping in what he wrote - have not run a spell check yet… but i will next…

  2. The showcase will change without the captions (good point about the caption color)

  3. I know you do - client wanted it

  4. Your right - I have a few in mind to change (just need to convince client)
    5 I had buy now- client had a meltdown.

  5. Ok, thank you - i will look into that did not realized you can do it

  6. shoot - missed that one. I will go through again.

Thank you!! how are the clarity of the pictures etc and the flow?

J
On Sep 8, 2011, at 5:47 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

1 - Spelling!

2 - Showcase caption colour - hard to read

3 - Hate the dropping in letters

4 - Font choice too bold and blocky for a delicate subject also not consistent

5 - Acquire? If you mean ‘Buy Now’ then say it!

6 - Mals, Brand the page so visitors know where they are and who they are buying from.

7 - Picture size You may have recognised that some of these are too large but you certainly have not reduced them as far as you can go DSCF3690B.jpg is nearly 2Mb with dimensions of 5066 x 1520px http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2/Resources/DSCF3690B.jpg

There is more but these will do for a start.

D


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What Dave and Dave said. The products are quite expensive and I do not get a feeling of a quality product.

Basic design and layout constructs are absent. We have discussed a lot of these things before on FW Talk, layouts, grids, wireframes, mockups - provided links to showcases and inspirational sites. Here’s another one http://goo.gl/qvD6R

Marcel


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Thank you.

I had something simple and elegant and he wanted what i linked to earlier. I will look at the link and try to get inspired to a better site.

J
ps how is the picture clarity?

Thanks
On Sep 8, 2011, at 7:50 PM, Helveticus wrote:

What Dave and Dave said. The products are quite expensive and I do not get a feeling of a quality product.

Basic design and layout constructs are absent. We have discussed a lot of these things before on FW Talk, layouts, grids, wireframes, mockups - provided links to showcases and inspirational sites. Here’s another one http://goo.gl/qvD6R

Marcel


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Spelling - this may be a Brit - US thing but Jewellery is the correct word.

If he doesn’t like Buy or Buy Now then Purchase but Acquire does not really imply that you have to part with cash.

D


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I originally had the graphics wo a background to give the lightness and the client wanted the white.

I love the shop in http://wineshop.hunters.co.nz/wine-shop/

is that a doable thing in FW / Mals how you click red and it comes up with the reds?

also the checkable - is that doable in mals?

I do appreciate all of your ideas
On Sep 8, 2011, at 7:50 PM, Helveticus wrote:

What Dave and Dave said. The products are quite expensive and I do not get a feeling of a quality product.

Basic design and layout constructs are absent. We have discussed a lot of these things before on FW Talk, layouts, grids, wireframes, mockups - provided links to showcases and inspirational sites. Here’s another one http://goo.gl/qvD6R

Marcel


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Gotcha - ok. (in spell check here that spelling comes up wrong)

He is insistent on acquire… trust me on this one.

thank you

J
On Sep 8, 2011, at 8:15 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

Spelling - this may be a Brit - US thing but Jewellery is the correct word.

If he doesn’t like Buy or Buy Now then Purchase but Acquire does not really imply that you have to part with cash.

D


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different layout… My client gave me a site he loves and I very much dont that I have been asked to mimic.
http://www.solangeazagurypartridge.com
That site is Flash made… and its background is consistent with the background of the items displayed.

What I was saying is “use a carousel for your items pics” (there was a typo, items->times…)

It looks like there are many Actions that can be used in FW to mimic flash animation and to give some groove/appeal to your overall layout.

Cheers
D.


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I also find it’s hard
To read .
I have been changing the layout a bit
to
Make it lighter.y next step
Is the rest of the graphics and fonts

Http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe3

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 8, 2011, at 10:00 PM, DaveW email@hidden wrote:

different layout… My client gave me a site he loves and I very much dont that I have been asked to mimic.
http://www.solangeazagurypartridge.com
That site is Flash made… and its background is consistent with the background of the items displayed.

What I was saying is “use a carousel for your items pics” (there was a typo, items->times…)

It looks like there are many Actions that can be used in FW to mimic flash animation and to give some groove/appeal to your overall layout.

Cheers
D.


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Julie,

In addition to the previous comments by others, using Acquire for both the buying action - click on Acquire to buy an item - and to represent the various categories of jewelry - click on Acquire to view items by categories - is presenting a bit of problem to me and may be resolved with replacing Acquire with Categories ( or synonym).

Also, 1) the company’s logo should be consistent between the site and the blog - currently, different colours. 2) The action for Collections/Trenta Baroque is not working. 3) The usage of commas and periods in the jewelry’s descriptions
appears wanton.

Bryan


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Bryan,

I appreciate what you are saying.

the client is insitant on that word.

I did not design the blog at all he has had that up for a while.

okI will look at that action - thank you

He writes and refuses any correction.

THank you!

On Sep 9, 2011, at 8:25 AM, Bryan Irvine wrote:

Julie,

In addition to the previous comments by others, using Acquire for both the buying action - click on Acquire to buy an item - and to represent the various categories of jewelry - click on Acquire to view items by categories - is presenting a bit of problem to me and may be resolved with replacing Acquire with Categories ( or synonym).

Also, 1) the company’s logo should be consistent between the site and the blog - currently, different colours. 2) The action for Collections/Trenta Baroque is not working. 3) The usage of commas and periods in the jewelry’s descriptions
appears wanton.

Bryan


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Thank you all for your input.

does this look any better?

Any suggestions… he wants elegant… and I am not grasping. I am looking at the links that you gave me marcel,

if anyone else has ideas / examples to get my elegance going… I would appreciate it. I am just blanking.

Thank you!!
J
On Sep 9, 2011, at 8:42 AM, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

Bryan,

I appreciate what you are saying.

the client is insitant on that word.

I did not design the blog at all he has had that up for a while.

okI will look at that action - thank you

He writes and refuses any correction.

THank you!

On Sep 9, 2011, at 8:25 AM, Bryan Irvine wrote:

Julie,

In addition to the previous comments by others, using Acquire for both the buying action - click on Acquire to buy an item - and to represent the various categories of jewelry - click on Acquire to view items by categories - is presenting a bit of problem to me and may be resolved with replacing Acquire with Categories ( or synonym).

Also, 1) the company’s logo should be consistent between the site and the blog - currently, different colours. 2) The action for Collections/Trenta Baroque is not working. 3) The usage of commas and periods in the jewelry’s descriptions
appears wanton.

Bryan


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The colours - or lack of - does nothing for me.

Your Plato quote floats over the rest when resizing the window.

Your item name text size at 36px is too big and Times is boring! Also create a body style for otherwise unstyled (font-wise) text.

Why is Be FABULOUS Do FABULOUS in uppercase when the rest is not? Use another method to distinguish it if you want it to stand out. Don’t shout.

Still huge pics in there

DSCF3715butter.jpeg
Dimensions 1253 × 745
File size 446.03KB
MIME type undefined
URL http://www.knightandhammermuse.com/Resources/DSCF3715butter.jpeg

DSCF3568a.jpg
Dimensions 2243 × 2238
File size 1.38MB
MIME type undefined
URL http://www.knightandhammermuse.com/Resources/DSCF3568a.jpg

DSCF3568a.jpg
Dimensions 2243 × 2238
File size 1.38MB
MIME type undefined
URL http://www.knightandhammermuse.com/Resources/DSCF3568a.jpg

To be honest Julie if you are trying to improve on http://prestigiousjewels.com/ - then you are pissing in the wind.

I know he insists on using ‘Acquire’ but it is meaningless to Joe Average.

I would Acquire a new client - I don’t think you are going to be able to please this one enough.

D


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Ok, LOL I was not even looking at that one. I realize that is flash and there is no store.

he wants this to have the store. and no flash which is fine with me.

He is insisting on times or the font from logo (impact shadow) Is there another font you would recommend?

color: I tried to get him white - / very pale gray - but no go.
caps w do fab?.. you got to ask him.

and any other actions / ideas that I can look at?
Pissing in the wind because I am still learning ;D?
I am feeling: bang head here at this time.

I have given better examples to him but to “ordinary” he wants like the one I mentioned below, and personally that does not appeal to me, an average joe shopper.

J

On Sep 11, 2011, at 7:21 PM, DeltaDave wrote:

To be honest Julie if you are trying to improve on http://prestigiousjewels.com/ - then you are pissing in the wind.


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Hi. Im more graphic than technical. elegant most of the time means
simple and balance. your design is simple but balance is missing. I
suggest you to try a bigger image of a detail of any of the pieces
combine with the logo and more style buttons, and keep in mind that
a good image worth a million words. Use photoshop and play with it
for a while, you will find that special image any time. Your client
site is about art there is plenty on his work to get what you need,
good luck. KC

On Sep 11, 2011, at 5:44 PM, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

Thank you all for your input.

does this look any better?

http://www.knightandhammermuse.com

Any suggestions… he wants elegant… and I am not grasping. I am
looking at the links that you gave me marcel,

if anyone else has ideas / examples to get my elegance going… I
would appreciate it. I am just blanking.

Thank you!!
J
On Sep 9, 2011, at 8:42 AM, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

Bryan,

I appreciate what you are saying.

the client is insitant on that word.

I did not design the blog at all he has had that up for a while.

okI will look at that action - thank you

He writes and refuses any correction.

THank you!

On Sep 9, 2011, at 8:25 AM, Bryan Irvine wrote:

Julie,

In addition to the previous comments by others, using Acquire for
both the buying action - click on Acquire to buy an item - and
to represent the various categories of jewelry - click on
Acquire to view items by categories - is presenting a bit of
problem to me and may be resolved with replacing Acquire with
Categories ( or synonym).

Also, 1) the company’s logo should be consistent between the site
and the blog - currently, different colours. 2) The action for
Collections/Trenta Baroque is not working. 3) The usage of commas
and periods in the jewelry’s descriptions
appears wanton.

Bryan


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On 12 Sep 2011, 1:12 pm, Chris wrote:

Hi Julie,

I’ve been reading some of your threads and decided this would be a good time to step in and offer you some advice.

Firstly I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that if one of your clients googles your name they will discover that their sites have been designed by a community here and not by you.

Thanks Chris, that’s a great piece of advice for almost anyone… I also appreciate the book references.
David


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