Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: Nikolas on Fri 03/02/2006 12:43:10

Title: Webdesign advice
Post by: Nikolas on Fri 03/02/2006 12:43:10
Hello! Once more in this forum!

I'm building a website for me and my music. With the usuall stuff. A bio, news, samples, links etc...

Because I know shit about web design and graphivc design I have someone doing it for me. And I find him very good at what he does.

anyway after a while he came up with these two jpeg to show me how it is going to be.

(http://www.nikolasideris.homecall.co.uk/1_a.jpg)

and

(http://www.nikolasideris.homecall.co.uk/1_b.jpg)

The first one is my bio page (which needs some updating...), and the other is an example for the samples page, while playing a video. (Forgive the greek language in the second pic)

I actually like it a lot.

It is clean, professional, very straight forward in all buttons and design and I even like my pics! But I always need a second, thuird, fourth and so on advice and comments.

So there you go... All yours... All paintovers are welcome...

Thank you in advance...

PS. the site name will probably be ni-si.com (From NIkolas SIderis). I find it small catchy and has an actuall meaning... You?
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Bartimaeus on Fri 03/02/2006 13:07:31
You're right, it looks great - very professional.
There're just a few things that bug me.

The green/yellow text seems really weird on the whole gray scheme you have going there. Also, the white boxes for the links looks a little too plain.
This is all just in my personal opinion of course.

;)
~Bart
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: DonB on Fri 03/02/2006 19:24:54
Since I once followed an education for this but I never finished it, I got something to say about this;

I do dig the design. and i loooove the yellow text on grey, in opposite to bart, as a matter of fact.. it really stands out and it is a very good piece of webdesign.. it makes the page more alive then just black and white.

but.. i would do an other coming-out color on each page.. to make all pages have an own identity while having the same style.

like.. all pages grey and white like now, but on each separate chapter of the site an other color of scrollbar.. (+ i made an extra cube at the left top of the side, i think it works out great imo..)

imagine the following pages all be different
(http://home.unet.nl/carl/anders/webnik01.gif)

(http://home.unet.nl/carl/anders/webnik02.gif)

(http://home.unet.nl/carl/anders/webnik03.gif)
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Corey on Fri 03/02/2006 19:33:03
i dont like that background much but thats just my opinion
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: DonB on Fri 03/02/2006 19:34:23
Serious corey.. please be more detailed nikolas cant work with that kind of vague arguments..
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: CaptainBinky on Fri 03/02/2006 19:37:19
I must admit, I too am not a fan of trendy abstract web page backgrounds (particularly grey ones). However, I do agree with the edits DonB did - the little square may be insignificant, but it really helps to define the yellow as a scheme rather than looking like the scrollbar is randomly yellow.

Oh, and I like the orange version best :)
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Bartimaeus on Fri 03/02/2006 20:17:15
DonB I agree with you that a bit of colour on that background is great for impact, I was just talking about the choice of colour - I didn't like the yellow.

I seriously liked the orange in the paintover you did... and even the green.

The yellow, not so much.
:D
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: ManicMatt on Fri 03/02/2006 20:23:21
I prefer the orange one too!

It's very slick, I like the erm.. ink splodge bits.

How about changing the look of the scroll bar next to the text on the character bio? i'm refering to the blocky arrows on it mostly. How about non-blocky ones or solid triangles?
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Kweepa on Sat 04/02/2006 00:01:28
I like what DonB has done, but I'd desaturate the "coming-out" colours (-60 or so in photoshop). Currently the scroll bar sticks out like a sore thumb.

I'd remove the scroll bar totally and allow the page to scroll normally, so that all that text can be scrolled into view at once. Why cram it into a little box? Bah.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: ManicMatt on Sat 04/02/2006 21:29:40
Good idea Steve, I can't stand little scroll boxes!
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Haddas on Sat 04/02/2006 22:04:40
alternatively he could have two arrows like so: < >
to scroll through the text as "pages" if you will.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Damien on Sat 04/02/2006 22:14:05
I like the design. What I would like to suggest is to clean the text areas so that text doesn't overlap that bubble-like noise.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Das Plans on Sun 05/02/2006 12:48:31
Hey there!

When I saw this post two days ago, I started doodling over it a bit, and somehow I came up with this. It's totally different, I know, and the content area is way too empty, but I thought, what the hell, I'll post it anyway. Maybe you can get something from it.

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/nisi_stein.gif)

Anyway, I like the original design, too. A lighter orange maybe would work for me, instead of this retina-burning green and yellow.Ã,  ;)

See you around...
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: DonB on Sun 05/02/2006 14:16:56
HerrStein.. I do like your design, really.. but I love the original one way more.. I think yours is way too default for an "artist" like Nikolas, he needs a more artistic layout like the original posted here.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Das Plans on Sun 05/02/2006 14:36:00
Yeah, I guess it really is a tad "default" ... good choice of words!  :)  Plus, it looks more like something, that would suit a hardrock-adventure-game-DJ-whatsoever better. What with the font and all ...
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: DonB on Sun 05/02/2006 14:38:36
Now I read it better what I said i see i didnt used the right words tho.. I ment i think the menu on the top from left to right is too default.. the way you made it is very artistic! But not suitable for a classic music artist like nikolas.. i think it would indeed suit perfect for a game maker studio or something.

EDIT: Would be a shame to put such a layout to trashbin.. use it for your own game studio or something :)
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Das Plans on Sun 05/02/2006 15:16:42
Hehe, nevermind. Just as we're speaking, I'm putting in the logo of my own super sophisticated, top-noctch game creation studio ... which has never even produced anything.  ;D
On second thought ... Maybe I should work on a game instead?


Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Nikolas on Sun 05/02/2006 18:32:44
guys thank you so much for all this...

Donb: I will probably ask the designer to change the colour (probably to orange something), and also, Steve I will desaturate it a little (although I like a bit the "lighting" feeling that you get). I will also put somewhere else some colour to have a little more balance.

And I will definately clean the text...

Also I will change the bar arrows...

Now a little more detail about the website...
Aanother idea I had was to seperate the classical music I write and the music I write for games. I find that a classical concerto alongside with an electronic tune would be too much... I want to differentiate on the two "styles" or paths of my music...

What do you think on that?

btw, you haven't told me how you find the name www.ni-si.com ?
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: ManicMatt on Sun 05/02/2006 19:50:36
Well, nisi is a legal term of something I can't remember.

It's not exactly catchy, but I don't really see a problem.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Oneway on Wed 08/02/2006 11:57:02
The name is not one i would choose i think. I don't know if you already claimed that domain name or not, but try playing with more letters.

Ni-si doen't sound powerful enough, doesn't make me want to find out what's behind it.

After toying with the first 3 letters of your names i came to the following:
nik-sid
sik-nid
sink'd
skiddin'
disk in

I'm not saying these are any good (i don't really know what to think of them) but at least you may want to experiment a little more.
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Ashen on Wed 08/02/2006 12:15:51
QuoteWell, nisi is a legal term of something I can't remember.
nisi, in the legal sense, I think means temporary, subject to change, not finalised (as in a decree nisi which may still be altered, as opposed to a decree absolute).
Which might be fitting if you plan to update a lot, or might just be confusing for any legal-types who find the site accidentally.

Is there a reason you decided again your full name (e.g. Nikolas-Sideris.com)? If not, I think it could work. If you're definately against it, Nik-Sid.com sounds better to me.

(On an unrelated note: I have a domain I don't know what to do with. Seemed like a godd idea at the time, but now I'm reluctant to use it...)
Title: Re: Webdesign advice
Post by: Sean on Wed 08/02/2006 19:13:26
Music is never constant and it always changes perhaps Nisi represents that well?

I prefer your full name though to be honest. NiSi sounds a bit 'forced'. Really up to you though, your music kicks ass so what does the name matter?  ;D