My new freelance website

leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Hi, I'm new here so I'll introduce myself my name is Le-roy Staines and I'm a small-time freelance website and graphics designer from New Zealand.

I'm looking for some good forums where I can get strong opinions and suggestions about websites I create for my customers and this looks like a good forums to 'test' so to speak. Though of course I'd be looking to put my input in and help others as well :eek:)

Anyhow I was wondering what people think of my website it's http://www.dvigraphics.co.nz

Cheers,
Le-roy.
 
leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Dont forget $1000 New Zealand dollars is only 703 US dollars!

I'm just going by what my existing clients pay me. In fact, It's lower. Though to generate further work and branch out I might need to be more competitive so I'll see how it goes.

Thanks for your thoughts! :eek:)
 
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bluecollar01

New Member
I think it looks nice but think it's distracting that all three modules (logos, marketing, websites) change at the same time. I would suggest changing the timing so the first one changes then a few seconds and the second one changes, a few seconds and then the third one. Just my opinion though. Thanks.
 
Web1

Web1

New Member
Like the design..dragon is cool and does not put me off, but maybe superflurous and not in line with corporate feel you have and need to project.

I think consider only having 1 row of page links, I prefer the black with icons. At moment you have two rows of differing style. I think navigation would be better consistent. You could still keep the orange bar in, just as a color contrasting graphical element, with less height. Just suggestions.

Otherwise I like it alot.
 
anna

anna

New Member
Hello Le-roy, good start to your design; I like the sleek look of it.

My only suggestion would be to balance out the top and bottom just a bit. The design seems a bit top heavy and chunky to me.

The top has so much red and black, and seems very heavy; then most of the elements below that are white and sort of fall off the page- until you get to the very bottom.

I hope this makes sense! The design is very nice, just work on balancing the top and bottom a bit.
 
leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Cheers Web1 :)

I'll take these in to consideration. I've been half and half about the menu all along but in the end I do like it and I want to be different. It might be too much for users to get their head around in the first 30 seconds though so I'm still deciding on that one!

It's good to get input from others :)

Anna - I can fully see where you're coming from but in the same breath I want to grab their attention as soon as possible and somehow get them to the contact us page or the quote request page. I'll be revisiting it regularly so I'll have a bit of a play with the balance when I get some free time and see what comes out of it.

:)
 
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Sam Sebastion

New Member
Hey Le-roy,

My opinion: simple, elegant, and I disagree with Anna's statement about your design being top heavy. I think that when looking at your site the user is shown all needed information to decide whether or not if they want to stay and find out more. If they do stay they can scroll all the way scroll down and now the whole screen is taken up with content from "Logo, Website, Hosting" links right down to your footer. Which is significantly easier on the eyes with more specific examples of your product.

All in all great job in my view.
 
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aracaris

New Member
I like the concept, and agree with the poster above me that the content should be focused at the top. With websites I don't think being top-heavy is generally a bad thing, though it is possible to go too far.

However some of your contents are disappearing under your footer in FF, and your search button on the top is partially covering up "contact us" in both FF and Opera. Also in Opera some of your background images you used to create the shadow effect not lining up right.

These things make the site look "glitchy" (I can't think of a better term right now). Fix those problems, and I think it's really going to be quite good looking.

Below is an image of the issue in Opera, and next to it the issue in FF.
 

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leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Thanks sam and aracaris!

I've done testing in IE, Firefox and Chrome but I must admit I have neglected Opera.
Everything is ok in Firefox however; what version are you using?

I must look in to that! Problem is getting multiple versions of browsers to test on is so much hassle!
 
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Aunique

New Member
Greetings Le-roy,

The site really graps my attention but I'm also one to be different but looks good so far.
 
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chrisbkrh

New Member
i wont humor you - here's my feedback

not really feeling the character in the logo

not really digging the red drop on the navigation text - just make it bold and white

i would move the about us - blog and that entire 2nd navigation to the bottom and make them simple text links - its a bit confusing as is

in firefox - any reason your content div is top:-1px?

also think about your hierarchy of information... people want to see how you design so provide clear examples before offering a free design quote (by the way this sounds desperate) - this layout looks all too much like so many other sites out there so it's not terribly awe inspiring - .

hope that helps...sorry if i am too blunt but im sure you're not here to get back pats - you're here for real critique. good luck.
 
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aracaris

New Member
I just updated it very very recently

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100401 Firefox/3.6.3 GTB6

I have to say personally I really like the dragon. But I do agree with the comment on the free website quote.
 
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leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Maybe the dragon is too beastly. I always liked it but I am worried it doesn't exactly spell out professional. I'm going to keep the navigation for now, I like it.

Content div is -1 in firefox because it was the easiest fix for the edge borders of the menu overhanging on to the page.

Should be A-ok in Opera now. Havn't yet reproduced that text issue in firefox.

Cheers gals n guys :eek:)
 
leroy30

leroy30

New Member
Hmm in regards to that firefox issue I'm running the same version except for "Windows NT 5.2" instead of "Windows NT 6.1" - I was unaware there could be discrepancies between windows versions-?
 
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walkclothed

New Member
As far as the dragon goes, I would make it a bit smaller. Kind of like it's lurking around the huge DVI letters. It's curious, but looks up to them, you know?

Also, I think that big orange box with "FREE DESIGN QUOTE" in caps, and also the three buttons below it, are too bold. It makes it look a bit too busy. I would make the FREE DESIGN QUOTE much smaller, and change the color of the entire box to something a little less offensive - maybe white, off-white, light grey. There's not enough contrast between your link boxes and the background. It's just too orange and it scares me off.

Obviously Logos, Websites, and Hosting are your main selling points, so I think it's fine to keep them where they are and that size. I'd keep them orange if you can give the background a color that will contrast more. And definitely shrink the free design quote and perhaps place it below the 3 buttons and to the right, kind of like a subscript to them.

Just my opinions of course.
 
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Gimli

New Member
massive respect

Vertical line deviders in navigation on hover state really poke my eyes, they always emerge into close up when bcg color is involved... try to remove them on hover state.

I know i am little to dedicated to details but... hmm we all have something which makes us happy.

All in all great work and massive respect.
 
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