Smarthome homepage webdesign - Feedback session

[bog015]

I would like some feedback for my design. It is in german because we are situated in a german speaking part of the world.

Back story, it’s a website which will guide a customer with smart home elements to a new build or existing house. The key element is the configurator.

The header element will be a video

Could you give me feedback on:

• Visual Hierarchy
• Composition
• Colour use
• any other UX or design optimisations.

[CRHain88]

Visual Hierarchy/Composition: Satisfactory. Large image, boxes underneath, boxes all the way down. This is pretty standard on the web these days and while it’s not revolutionary or groundbreaking, it gets the job done.

Color Use: Satisfactory. You chose a color and kept it consistent throughout. Without knowing the brand, or German, it’s hard to say whether or not you’re making good use of the color. It’s not the most colorful site, but it’s not unpleasant to look at either.

any other UX or design optimisations. I have a few critiques:

1. Just so you’re aware, the most important item in your navigation is the contact button. That might be what’s best for this site, or maybe you might want to direct users more-so to the shop or the Konfigurator.
2. The hero image you chose doesn’t show a single smart-home product. Unless those windows are connected to the wifi somehow.
3. The image under Konfigurator is very nice. When we go back to talking about color, it would be nice to see if you could incorporate the palette from that image in more of the site. Especially further down when you talk about whatever “Bereiche” means.
4. It looks like your Konfigurator has a progress indicator (1/4). Good job! It minimizes distractions but also lets the user know how far in the process they are.
5. What is “Beleuchtung”, and do you really want it to have the same icon as your logo?
6. Smart videos: I like that you’re including videos. Sometimes it’s better to show. Good job.

Questions

1. Why is some of the site German, some English? You randomly have copy in here that says, “Start configuring your Smartest Home and let one of our qualified specialists guide you through from initiation to insulation.”
2. Is this for a real client? Do you intend to build this out? If so, I think it’s a good start. If it’s a portfolio piece or something for a project, and you intend to keep both the English and German, make sure spell-check.

[Just-B]

I’ll just comment on four of the first things that distracted me from focusing on the message being communicated.

1. It’s a photo of a nice home, but there’s nothing obviously “smart” about it. Shouldn’t the photo have some indication of smart-home technology being present?

2. The emotional quality of the photo is just a bit melancholy, which is unlikely to be the best emotion to evoke from a potential customer.

3. The curtains are messy, which might seem irrelevant, but this inattention to detail is a quality you don’t want people to notice or subliminally associate with the product being sold.

4. The boxes immediately beneath the large photo seem forlorn with their typography seemingly abandoned in a sea of blue. Since they’re important links, I’d pay more attention to the compositional relationships within those boxes.

[bog015]

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve already moved onto the 3rd version. To answer your questions.

1. Some is in german and some is in english because it’s a mockup. What I added textually is english and what is already given is german with some exceptions.
2. Yes this is for a client. I had a little creative block so asked here.

[bog015]

The photo is a placeholder, I’m my newest version I have added a video icon. It was always intended to be a video. So the photo is going to be replaced anyway. Thanks for the input. The boxes underneath I have also removed from my newest version so remove clutter.

[CRHain88]

Cool. Please post your revisions if you can. It would be nice to see how this evolves.

[bog015]

Here are the 2 newest updates from this morning, I got new feedback this afternoon on these 2 designs, which one do you prefer?

[CRHain88]

I prefer the video to the right of the text. In general, I’m over the “big text on a big image/video” trend.

My other feedback about colors and icons still applies, though. Especially with the logo and Beleuchtung having the same graphic representation.

[bog015]

thanks CRHain, I have now continued updating the page and removed now the icon so it’s not the same as the logo. What would you recommend with colour?

[CRHain88]

See my initial feedback:

The image under Konfigurator is very nice. When we go back to talking about color, it would be nice to see if you could incorporate the palette from that image in more of the site. Especially further down when you talk about whatever “Bereiche” means.

[bog015]

do you mean the illustration?

side note: in the header the plan is to have a short clip from a commercial played automatically without sound. I’m afraid, for now that image is a placeholder, unless we don’t produce a video, then the image will stay.

I prefer the version with the video on the right also but the customer prefers the other full width image/video…
Now it’s about convincing him

[CRHain88]

Color Yes, that illustration has some beautiful colors in it. It would be nice to see some of those colors elsewhere in the design. Just a suggestion, though.

Hero Image
If there’s a risk of the image staying, then make sure it’s a good image.

If you put the text over the video, there’s a chance that some of the text will be hard to read at the size you’ve set it. Imagine trying to read small copy while the image behind it keeps moving. It’s very difficult.