Candles Beta Site in testing

jaressloo · #1 (**permalink**) 01-14-2008, 04:28 PM

This site is not done yet...but the design is done for the most part.

Let me know what you guys think! I'm always curious to see how other people view it.

http://www.vccandles.com/beta

When you post a reply, please leave your browser type and version, just so that I know how everyone is viewing it.

Thanks!

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 01-14-2008, 07:12 PM

I like the green. Are you going to put something in the top left in the big green space? Looks kinda empty there.

Also I think it would look nicer if you extend the green down the left nav rather than stopping and starting with the white background. The left nav just seems to stop suddenly.

Nice blend of the two candles in your header.

(Firefox 2.0)

jaressloo · #3 (**permalink**) 01-14-2008, 07:25 PM

Yeah, that top big empty green section will be for their promotional stuff. I guess I should add some dummy text there or something to show that.

One of my other friends also said that I should extend the green down farther. I think I will do that. That's 2 votes for extending the green on the side nav!

Thanks for the comment on the blend of the two candles on the top. I used photoshop and I basically started using it the day that I made that gradient fade and that painting technique thing. I'm working on getting better at photoshop...so if anyone has any good sites (aside from just googling...which i do every day...i couldn't live without google), let me know!

Thanks for the comment Lisa!

foong · #4 (**permalink**) 01-14-2008, 07:50 PM

Nice green color but I don't know about others, I have a feeling the grey bar does not seem adding the extra spice to the overall color tone.

Anyway, I am not a good web designer or graphic guy, so no need to take it too serious

Overall, it's a good clean looking design.

lisa · #5 (**permalink**) 01-14-2008, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaressloo

I'm working on getting better at photoshop...so if anyone has any good sites (aside from just googling...which i do every day...i couldn't live without google), let me know!

Me too. I really love PhotoShop and just like you, I just Google something when wanting to learn something new. I'm picking up a little by little as time goes on. Such a powerful program. The more I learn, the more I like it.

DavidS7 · #6 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 06:43 AM

Hey there jaressloo,
I noticed that in the sidebar where it says Design Your Own Candle, when your mouse isn't above, the words crash with Shopping Cart.

Firefox 2.0

DS

Rob · #7 (**permalink**) 01-15-2008, 09:02 AM

I also like the Green, but I'm feeling that theres almost a double header. I personally think you should shrink the green block to fit in with the header.

I like your concept of the design and the buttons fit in really nice with the rest of the template. As your footer its very small and I find it very hard to read, it would be great if you could enlarge it just a tad.

Great site and keep up the hard work.

jaressloo · #8 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 01:08 AM

So, I've done a little more updating to the site so that it makes a little more sense. We're almost ready to go live. I'm in the process of writing their login functionality right now.

(Just in case you guys figured it out...the login function is not working properly yet. I have it set that way for a reason!)

Let me know what you guys think!

ssmorgan · #9 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 01:39 AM

jaressloo,

I love it.

So, are you the owner or are you designing the website for the merchant?

KevinCamon · #10 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008, 07:08 AM

Jaressloo,

It's a good start for your design. My rule of thumb when building websites is that you will never complete your design process. I always start out with the building blocks and frame and then continue decorating the site as times goes by.

So, your candle site has a lot of potential, so don't just stop there. My opinion in most sites, when I visit a site for whatever information I am searchin for I tend to look for something that will catch my attention, otherwise I will move on to the next site. If you will allow me just to be real, the first impression that I got when I visited your candle site was that it was sort of "dreamy". I guess that's because of the soft green colors and the fading that you have in your top banner. It looks kind of transparent to me and makes me look harder for information. I believe that if you have a white background, then your main surrounding colors need to be dominant for the eye to develop a comfortable visual hierarchy.

Also, one other thing. Your left nav column is great, but when I read the text in the middle and it extends to the right of the screen where there's no right nav, it just seems kinds of loosly open. Meaning, your site will look a lot better, and it will help your visitors feel organized a little when reading the content of your site if you include a right nav to sort of close in the middle text. It will also give your layout a design consistency.

These are just my thoughts and what I see........

Nevertheless, continue working on improving the look of your site. Visit the site as if you were an actual visitor and think how it would effect you visually.

KevinCamon

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