Hello everyone. I am currently finishing up the last day of my Mobile Media Design 1 class at Full Sail University which centers around using Photoshop to construct desktop and mobile design applications for the web. I am just not getting out of the class what I had hoped to and really struggling with developing actual designs with ideas that I have.
I'm trying to develop a new site design for my company. I developed a blueprint to tell where I want certain elements of my design to go but as far as coming up with a mockup for the site is still out of reach. I was hoping I could gather a few ideas from anyone willing to help me work on my skill level.
My website is for a local independent wrestling company that is called Kansas Outlaw Wrestling. Even though we are a family oriented company we do like to stretch the boundries of rough but not hardcore wrestling. So that should somehow work into the design as well as the company colors with red, black, and white.
Here's what I developed as a blueprint for the site:
@chrisburton. I know HTML and PHP. I'm a coder not a designer. I want to improve my skills on designing but unfortunately don't have any ideas for my own web site. There's a few ideas I like that wwe.com an impactwrestling.com do that unlike to implement but would also like to do something different at the same time.
Designing for yourself is probably the hardest thing I've personally ever had to do.
Since you have the basic layout that you want, I'd start out with sketching ideas for a logo or even hire someone to create it for you (even designers hire other designers to do this). From there, select which typefaces you want to apply to your headings and body copy (I always work on typography first). After that, select a color palette and everything should really start to fall into place. There are countless resources to help you.
Typography (webfonts)
http://Webtype.com (more expensive but has the best quality) http://MyFonts.com (I personally like them due to the self hosting option) http://Typekit.com (Great quality for little to no budget)
Although they're most likely not the style you're looking for, here is just a shortlist of really great indentity designers that I would personally hire.
Well in this case I would like suggest to watch some of the earlier episodes of screencast's about slicing webpages and creating webpages.
IMHO I would start [here] (http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/1-converting-a-photoshop-mockup-part-1-of-3/) and then continue in sequence all the way to episode #12ff. I am sure you find that most valuable.
He doesn't have a design mock-up, he has nothing more than a layout mock-up.
That said, I would suggest that he takes some elements that he likes from the previous website (assuming this is a replacement) and see if they can be re-used.
Visitors, in my experience, aren't great fans of complete refreshes...they like things to stay (mostly) the same. That's not to say that a complete overhaul isn't sometimes beneficial but if you are targeting a specific audience it is only logical to keep doing what they like.
If this is NOT a replacement, then a search around some template sites to see what KIND of things he likes might be beneficial.
Hello everyone. I am currently finishing up the last day of my Mobile Media Design 1 class at Full Sail University which centers around using Photoshop to construct desktop and mobile design applications for the web. I am just not getting out of the class what I had hoped to and really struggling with developing actual designs with ideas that I have.
I'm trying to develop a new site design for my company. I developed a blueprint to tell where I want certain elements of my design to go but as far as coming up with a mockup for the site is still out of reach. I was hoping I could gather a few ideas from anyone willing to help me work on my skill level.
My website is for a local independent wrestling company that is called Kansas Outlaw Wrestling. Even though we are a family oriented company we do like to stretch the boundries of rough but not hardcore wrestling. So that should somehow work into the design as well as the company colors with red, black, and white.
Here's what I developed as a blueprint for the site:
http://kansasoutlawwrestling.com/images/kowblueprint.jpg
Here is the first mockup that a couple of years ago I paid a company to create:
http://kansasoutlawwrestling.com/images/wrestling.jpg
I remember that website!
I think you forgot to ask a question, though!
I am struggling developing the actual mockup. Taking it from a blueprint to an actual design mockup that fits with the idea of the company.
What have you done so far, @wildman?
Just the blueprint so far. I honestly don't really know where to go from there. I'm looking for some guidance.
@Wildman Do you know any HTML?
I would simply go top down. Start by conceptualizing the header, sketching some things out, then whipping it up in Photoshop.
Edit: Wait, are we talking about design or code?
I think we're talking design.
@chrisburton. I know HTML and PHP. I'm a coder not a designer. I want to improve my skills on designing but unfortunately don't have any ideas for my own web site. There's a few ideas I like that wwe.com an impactwrestling.com do that unlike to implement but would also like to do something different at the same time.
Designing for yourself is probably the hardest thing I've personally ever had to do.
Since you have the basic layout that you want, I'd start out with sketching ideas for a logo or even hire someone to create it for you (even designers hire other designers to do this). From there, select which typefaces you want to apply to your headings and body copy (I always work on typography first). After that, select a color palette and everything should really start to fall into place. There are countless resources to help you.
Can you show me some good resources that you go to?
I'll write up a quick list of what I use and post them soon.
Typography (webfonts)
http://Webtype.com (more expensive but has the best quality)
http://MyFonts.com (I personally like them due to the self hosting option)
http://Typekit.com (Great quality for little to no budget)
Color Palettes
http://kuler.adobe.com
http://colorschemedesigner.com
Although they're most likely not the style you're looking for, here is just a shortlist of really great indentity designers that I would personally hire.
Louise Fili - http://www.louisefili.com
John Passafiume - http://dribbble.com/johnpassafiume
Jake Weidmann - http://jakeweidmann.com
Jessica Hische - http://jessicahische.is
Spencer Charles - http://spencercharles.com
how about looking an my website
@Htmlmainiac
With respect...No!
Well in this case I would like suggest to watch some of the earlier episodes of screencast's about slicing webpages and creating webpages. IMHO I would start [here] (http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/1-converting-a-photoshop-mockup-part-1-of-3/) and then continue in sequence all the way to episode #12ff. I am sure you find that most valuable.
@ralf100 I think you are missing the point.
He doesn't have a design mock-up, he has nothing more than a layout mock-up.
That said, I would suggest that he takes some elements that he likes from the previous website (assuming this is a replacement) and see if they can be re-used.
Visitors, in my experience, aren't great fans of complete refreshes...they like things to stay (mostly) the same. That's not to say that a complete overhaul isn't sometimes beneficial but if you are targeting a specific audience it is only logical to keep doing what they like.
If this is NOT a replacement, then a search around some template sites to see what KIND of things he likes might be beneficial.
Otherwise, hire someone.
Great thank you, Paulie_D.