Please critique my social media website design

[akurtula]

hi

I would be grateful if you could tell me what do you think about my designs, and most importantly what do you think is wrong and should be changed

this is the home page:
http://min.us/mv698F

This is the inner-page:
http://min.us/mv698F#2

(as you will see, the two images are in a slide show, so you might not need to click on both of them, but better safe than sorry)

Thanks for you recommendations

[akurtula]

any thing related to my designs would be much appreciated :)

[guido]

The colors are nice, and the metallic silver header really stands out from the blue background. The particular shade of green in the white graphic doesn’t seem to relate to anything else, but other than that you have the beginnings of a visually appealing site.

But:
1. In your header, “a under graduate” should be “an undergraduate”; “post graduate” should be “postgraduate”. Or, if it’s preferred where you live, “under-graduate” and “post-graduate”.
2. Make your “Login” and “Register” tabs fill the available space. The empty space to the right of the Register tab looks out of place.
3. You have an unfortunate mix of left-justified text and center-aligned text; your banner is centered but the “About”, “Terms”, and “Privacy” fields are left-justified. Pick a single alignment and use it everywhere.
4. There’s too much empty space (“white space”) under your header. Try the same space as above the header, or perhaps twice that.
5. Your dark blue primary div (with the white graphic and the login section) is misaligned horizontally; the border on the left is about three times as wide as that on the right.
6. Your login button doesn’t seem to relate graphically to anything else; perhaps make it the same shape and size as the username and password blanks, and line it up with them?

Good luck!

[akurtula]

guido, thanks for the detailed review, I am going to apply all your recommendations. needless to say, I totally agree with them (now that you pointed them out)

did you have any thing do say about the second (‘inner’) page. When I created it I was not sure whether it matches the first page

thanks again

[guido]

I actually like your secondary page more than your home page. The pale gold and the soft gray-green work well with the blues, and the overall typography is quite nice.

Things you might look at:
1. In the header, the title is too far away from your logo, and doesn’t relate to it very well in any case. Moreover, the tagline really isn’t aligned with anything, and into the bargain is too close to the left edge. Consider dropping the title so that the top of the “U” in “University” lines up with the top of the logo, then slide the title over to the left until it lines up with either the dark blue/medium blue transition in the body, or the “G” in “GO”; then put the tagline (still in the soft green) right after that in the same font size, alignment, and weight as the title. The color difference alone is probably enough to differentiate them, or you could put the tagline in a lighter weight, or you could add something (a colon, a pipe, or…) to separate them.

2. On the home page, the flying hats almost completely obscure your logo; I hadn’t even noticed it was there (or, at least, what it was) until I saw it on the secondary page and wondered why it wasn’t on the home page. I’m not convinced the flying hats are doing much for you anyway, but that’s a decision you should make. It’s imaginative but at the moment I don’t think it’s really helping. If you keep the flying hats, you should have at least a few on the secondary page for continuity.

3. Also on the home page, you don’t have the site title at all. I missed this before (my apologies) but “whether you are…” isn’t a title, it’s a tag line. Your home page header should say “University Get Together” first, and then, in some more subdued fashion, the tagline. On top of that, you have one tagline on the home page and a different one on the secondary page. More accurately, I suppose, you have a tagline on the secondary page and a marketing blurb on the home page. Do the title/tagline on the home page like you do on the secondary page, and then think of an appropriate and attention-getting way to layout the marketing blurb (“whether you are…”) as a separate item.

4. Speaking of your logo, you need to work on the 3D thing a little; in particular the left (inner) edge of the right-hand stem of the “U” shows a face that ought not to be there. Similarly on the upright and the crossbar of the “G”.

5. Again for continuity, and also because I think it’s a better color anyway, consider using the soft green for the left-hand puzzle piece in your home page graphic.

Hang in there ;o)

[akurtula]

Thanks for the detailed analysis, that is very very helpful. I am glad that, over all the design does work; I am going to apply all your recommendations

Thanks a lot

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