Site crit
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- fate
This is one of those projects that has changed forms a dozen times in the past year+1/2 in an attempt to satisfy myself. Right now I'm wondering what I'm going to do with it.
http://www.fatedesigns.com/fate
Problems:-The AE smoke sequence looks decent, or at least it used to before my over-analyzing eye got tired of it. Should I scrap that? It does tie in well with the smoke graphics, but it does drag down file size.
-Consistencey is poo throughout the site.
-The smoke graphics seem like a cheesey way to support the design.
-The logo is starting to bother me. Looks lame and chunky.
Am I being too cynical? And are there elements I should try to salvage if i decide to start over?
- Spix0
that smoke looks nice...very nice.
- alpinist0
The smoke effect is nice but it's a pretty major element of your design. How does the literal idea of smoke relate, conceptually, to your brand? Not that a transitional or background element is required to be tied directly to your brand message, but when it seems to be the central theme of the site, I feel like there needs to be some sort of relationship there.
The logo, for some reason, instantly says "athletic" to me, not necessarily design, and the angles do not play smoothly with the organic feel of the smoke.
That said, the execution of the smoke effect is very nice and I can see why you'd want to keep it. Perhaps you should think about a way to blend your brand message with the idea of the smoke, if only subtle, would justify such an element.
I think I saw a nice execution of an effect like this on a Discovery Channel promo. Was there any influence there? Just wondering.
- stewart0
blank window here...
...but hey, i'm the only one in the world with a setup like i have here at home, so ignore me.
- dippy0
what alpinist said
- tkmeister0
i like the smoke effect, but i think the logo may need some rework.
i am not sure about the transition smoke. if it's being used all over too much, it will get too much.
i know how we fuss around with our own site forever, but sometimes, it's good to get it down and have it complete.
looking forward to the final design!
- mevsthem0
smokin!
nah just kidding i didnt like it.
but it works in XP FF.
- Dancer0
I agree with Alpinist in regard to the smoke – "I feel like there needs to be some sort of relationship there"
But the ralationship between the smoke and the page transitions work well.
On entry I find it stange that you just have your logo and the 4 links in a row in seems kinda un-considered in relation to the rest of the site, almost random!?
Safari is also picking up a 2 "errors" missing 1.jpg and portfolio1.xml (perhaps cause your site is incomplete? :)
- fate0
Thanks alpinist and tkmeister for the crits, good food for thought.
There is also the problem that arises with the smoke effect --and this may be a personal observation--that if the smoke effect is not at least played forward, backwards, and then forward again, for the sake of "eye candy"...then it won't be worth the work or the extra load time. It's fairly easy to miss, a little under 1 second in total play time.
- dippy0
evan, the smoke is awesome. You're probably too used to it by now, but it looks fine. But alpinist is right about integrating that concept with the rest of the site.
I feel like you gotta work the graphics more -- everything's too minimalist, but minimalism isn't your theme. Your menu headers just kinda float there; they have no context or compelling structure. I've seen your other work -- it's good. Just develop a theme on paper first and then build the site.
Rock on, bro.
- fate0
Dancer, yeah, kinda of a clash of 2 concepts. Also there's a need to have a distinct introduction and then main site for the smoke effect, as mentioned in my previous post.
mevsthem, it'd help if you actually stated why you don't like it.
- fate0
Thanks dippy, I agree a lot with that and other comments. It's really not cohesive enough. I may play around with some basic grid design for a while before I redesign it again.
- tkmeister0
sometimes, it's good to loosen up, step back. once you set your theme on something solid, then actual work shouldn't take too long.
you need to think who your audiences are and what skill set you want to showcase most and how.
- sherman0
The MT logo sticks out too much and is distracting. Should be more like the copyright?
- blackspade0
havent read the thread, but your loading bar looks, i dunno, stink/amateur compared to the actual site
and yea I agree the smoke is a real nice look, but how does it relate to your name/work/brand ?
- fate0
blackspade, I had an old version up that stuck a big version of the logo, and a little introduction along with the loading bar. It worked better then, but I cut it out because it was just annoying the fuck out of me. But that's why the loading bar is so disjointed.
I'm not trying to get real deep into the concept behind the smoke. It just looks good, and I want to show off. If I can tie that effect into a theme, then good for me.
- JazX0
not bad, looks like some AE standard effect, but so what nice
- jarredbishop0
keep the smoke. its dope ( excuse the pun ). i agree with linking the logo with the smoke, and maybe think about linking it again with the nav.. but then again it could be too much..i dont like the background gradients tho.
dont worry too much about loading times unless you expect to be getting heaps of work from people on dialup..
just outa curiosity, what did you use to create the smoke animations?
- fate0
After Effects and procedural masks, along with a tutorial ...
- fate0
Alright, thanks for the crits everyone, I have some ideas on what to do now. :D
- instantok0
i agree that your logo is very athletic...with a name like fate it should be easy to come up with something whimsical that could reference the smoke animation...
if you want to show off the smoke jam then why not make a few more for main nav rollovers and subnavigation...
i guess what i'm thinking is that if you don't go balls out with the smoke and have some sort of bigger picture that it integrates with that it will be reduced to eye candy, which, in an otherwise very minimal site sticks out...especially since it is a single animation repeated...it's evident that it was a trick just picked up
the footer line (the one above the copyright etc.) looks weird being wider than the main body of the site...i think you can lose it altogether and just right align it under the body...
whoa...that was long...i wouldn't have so much to say if i didn't think it had potential