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Rognog · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:09 am Post subject: My New Website

www.tomdheere.com

Please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!
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todd ellis · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:23 am Post subject:

hi tom - i get a "404" error on "reviews" and this is picky - but the handle on the case is pretty low-res & blurry which is a little distracting to me - the case is pixelated too, but not as bad.

i really like the all on one page aspect of the home page - gives viewers all they need up front.
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DougVox · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:49 am Post subject:

Hey Tom,

I'm not really one to comment on design, (I'm more of a "content" guy) but it does seem strange that your tag line and the line "Listen to my demos" are written in first person, while the rest of the page is written in third. Also, and this might be a personal thing, but I'd much rather see the large block of text be aligned left, rather than justified to stretch to the left and right margins. The uneven spacing that results always bugs me.

The grey text "Be the first of your friends to like this" is nearly unreadable on the dark blue background, and the RSS icon gets lost in all the stickers. Is there any way to move it up with the social media icons?
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JBarrett · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:40 am Post subject:

First impression: it feels busy. It's hard to read the labels on the main buttons on the left, partly because of contrast issues between the text and button backgrounds, and partly because the buttons don't stand out from the rest of the suitcase labels.

The bigger issue, though is that the main elements -- the "passport" intro, the main buttons, and the demo box -- don't stand out enough from the busy suitcase background. The thing with travel stickers is that each one is designed to say "Look at me!" That's great when it's the suitcase itself that's on display, but when you want visitors to look at your content, it should be your content that says "Look at me!", not the background.
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todd ellis · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:38 am Post subject:

tom - what if you kept the theme & simplified the background - making your own steamer trunk labels - then add your passport, logo & demos?

quick & dirty:

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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

JBarrett · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:27 pm Post subject:

Great mock-up, Todd! Simple and clean, yet it still has character.

Tom: If you go with Todd's idea, I also recommend removing the travel-label background from behind the demos. I should have said in my original comment that I DO like the general idea you were trying to create. It was taken just a bit too far, and ended up unclear as a result.
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Justin S. Barrett
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melissa eX · Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:44 pm Post subject:

Hey Tom:

I like the idea - but ( and maybe it's just me) I find the text on your blog, contact and reviews page difficult to read on the background. I want to highlight it to make it easier to read - which is making me work. Which I don't want to do when I go to a website.

just sayin'...
Smile

Darren Altman · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:49 pm Post subject:

Hey Tom. My initial thought was it's all too easy to get caught up in branding branding branding, but "Tom Dheere is your personal travel agent to the lands of e-learning, audio books, commercials..." Are you sure?
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SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:13 am Post subject:

Hey Tom, I like the idea, but something bothers me with the longer pages in the way the labels move off the suitcase when you scroll. I think being that the labels are stuck on the case they should stay stuck. What would be cool is for the suitcase to fly open when you click on a "link" label. But, then I guess you'd have to crawl under the open suitcase to get to the other links. Smile

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Rognog · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:57 am Post subject:

I really appreciate all of the input. I'm very disappointed that nobody has anything positive to say about it, but I'm grateful for your honesty. I worked very hard with my web designer to come up with something original, but I guess it's lacking in execution. I do have a backup design that's very pedestrian so I may wind up going with that.

Once again, thanks for your candor. I know it was well-intended!
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Tom Dheere - The "H" is Silent, but I'm Not!
www.tomdheere.com

Bruce · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:19 am Post subject:

Hey Tom, welcome to the shot down club. I submitted a design about a year ago that was pretty universally panned by our panel of judges....but, I learned ever so much from the comments.

I just went to your website and due to a slightly sluggish loading time the suitcase covered with stickers came in last. In that moment before the suitcase came in your site was clean and attractive. A solution to consider might me something as simple as deleting or muting dramatically the suitcase image, leaving the travel stickers on the side.

Not one of us has THE answer in website design, but if you look at the sites of everyone who's responded so far, they're generally clean and your eyes can quickly pick up the key items such as demos and contact info.

Keep thinking like a buyer of voiceover and not a provider when you design your site.

B
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Rognog · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:24 am Post subject:

Thanks, Bruce! I really appreciate the words of support. I am changing the suitcase and it should be ready sometime today. A big thanks to Todd Ellis for his mockup.
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Tom Dheere - The "H" is Silent, but I'm Not!
www.tomdheere.com

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:55 pm Post subject:

Much better! It's cleaner, easier to navigate, and retains your original concept.
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SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 2:10 pm Post subject:

I like it much better too!
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 2:34 pm Post subject:

Better now, but scroll the suitcase with the rest of the page. It looks like the stickers go flying off.
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