Toy Painter Site | Critiques please?

[skinns]

Hey all. An existing client (Returning clients are the best) would like a facelift from his current site that I did 2 years. He is a “Toy Prototype Painter” for all the major toy companies. His portfolio is overwhelming (500 Figures) and displaying it is a task all in itself, but the content is so cool, that I enjoy working on for him. Not to mention, since he is an artist himself, he pays well.

Landing Page and then once inside its just a home page.
http://www.skinwerks.com/clients/wires2005/

[angerisagift]

looks great. nice job
sounds pretty cool i cant wait until its done so i can look at some of his work in more detail. from what i see it looks really good.
nice job with the site i like it a lot. i like the way you add some depth to it with the pictures overlapping the boxes so they look like they are in the foreground and like less of a picture....

-sean

[DeleteYourself]

Looks really nice.

The only thing I can even suggest is to move everything up, just a touch. I hate sites where the content starts below the halfway point. (Makin me work too hard to find the meat and potatoes.) So, if you pull the whole table up a bit so that the large-chested female is almost at the very top of the page, and thencondensed the green welcome/pullquote area, it would bring the main content up just enough.

Honestly, though, I was hard-pressed to find anything I would want to change.
Great job, skinns!

[DesignerScott]

excellent job so far. Definitely sounds like a fun gig.
Keep us posted

[Roo-1]

Nice...but there will be actual text right? This won't be an all image site using text images and not real text I hope.

[skinns]

Thanks all.

Roo-1. Oh definetly the text will be TEXT. This was just quick snap to get it up for the client approve the actual design.

DeleteYourself. Interesting point. I as well feel the same and when I was creating it, I though, lets see if I can make this work if I bring starting content a little lower.

My client went ahead and showed this to his "Client Companies" and he got back all the same responses. "QUICK LINKS" to his portfolio. So i will be redoing some of that "UI" work here shorlty.

Thanks all

[Big Perm-dizzle]

this is a kick butt cool subject go crazy if he lets you

http://www.portlandstudios.com/flash.php
http://ww.dj-art.com/

[Chris79]

I like the design quite a lot, with the way you've used the toys in the top graphic. One thing I would suggest on the front page...make the whole thing hot. Don't make your web surfer search to get in. JMO, FWIW :)

[SurfPark]

You have a lot of dead space going on. I suggest you either eliminate these spaces or use them. The area above and below the logo need the most work.

Also, I have to question your color pallette. This site is for a painter, and yet, the color use is very subdued. Why not kick it up a little? Add some more vareity?

[skinns]

DeadSpace, thats what you call it huh? In the design world we call that "Negative Space" it is just as important as the positive space within a composition. In fact probably a little more important. If gives a place for the eye to rest. The last thing you want to do is fill every little nick and cranny with graphics just because its available. Its a common mistake that we all have made while experiencing design in our lifes as designers.

My subdued color choices have been choosen specifically because of his portfolio. I'm trying to make his peices POP not compete with them.

Think of it like this. Whats the purpose of the site? To show off his painting ability, not how good I can throw as many colors into a webdesign as possible.

[Patrick Shannon]

Oooh, nice looking site. The only thing that doesn't sit right with me is the splash page...don't get me wrong, it looks very cool. Thing with splash pages is that it's that they don't serve too much purpose and forces the user to have to go through an additional page just to get to the content. It also took me a moment to figure out where to click to move forward.

I would personally like to see the content from the splash page in the header of the content page, think that would look very cool myself.

Oh, DeleteYourself is correct...too much space between Faye Valentine's head and the top of the browser on the content page, it forces a scroll where it may or may not need one.

[SurfPark]

DeadSpace, thats what you call it huh? In the design world we call that "Negative Space" it is just as important as the positive space within a composition. In fact probably a little more important. If gives a place for the eye to rest. The last thing you want to do is fill every little nick and cranny with graphics just because its available. Its a common mistake that we all have made while experiencing design in our lifes as designers.

My subdued color choices have been choosen specifically because of his portfolio. I'm trying to make his peices POP not compete with them.

Think of it like this. Whats the purpose of the site? To show off his painting ability, not how good I can throw as many colors into a webdesign as possible.

My mistake. I thought this was a critique thread. Sorry. :rolleyes:

The negative space I'm talking about the odd shapes caused by the design not following a grid. Many of your margins do not match. Obviously people can break a grid on purpose, but I'm telling you that you're either breaking it up too much or didn't consider the grid. Take a look at the picture I'm including. I've put a blue line at the end or beginning of all your text (including logos and menus). The problem seems to be that you don't have a stict grid. If you do, please correct me and trace it. Maybe I'm seeing it wrong.

As for the color options, I'm cool with the palette. As long as there is a reason for it (such as the client already having used these colors) then it makes sense.

Again, don't take my words as criticism towards you personally. I'm trying to help you on this project. Obviously you know what you're doing. So do I. Let's make it better :)

[skinns]

You have a lot of dead space going on. I suggest you either eliminate these spaces or use them. The area above and below the logo need the most work.

Also, I have to question your color pallette. This site is for a painter, and yet, the color use is very subdued. Why not kick it up a little? Add some more vareity?

Your first comment, the above quote; was missing the execution of your suggestion. This is what makes up a critique. Anyway let’s not re-invent the wheel again on this subject.

As for the “GRID” theory that you talk about, I don’t use any grid, templates, or complimentary color wheels when designing. I guess some do, but I can’t imagine making any new ground if I gotta wear the same shoes down the same path every time I take a walk.

Basically Surfpark, I just roll with it when I start a designing. Play the appropriate music, for the suggested theme and see what happens. But if I had to give someone a blueprint of how I work it would be based on “motion” and “rest” within a composition.

The below graphic indicates these 2 colors. The green represents “motion” where your eye travels within the design, a continuous circle. The red represents the “rest” points within this design. These are there for your eye to rest, which is also called Negative Space. They both compliment each other and both need to be introduced to make a design complete.

http://www.skinwerks.com/forums/design.jpg