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General Design: Totally stuck with a design for a pottery website - what next?
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I'm working on some mockups for a pottery website (+ paypal shopping cart), but have run out of inspiration...
http://www.3stripe.net/beta/st_a_pottery_skillshare.png
I've got to use blue, and the squiggly font to some degree, as they are part of the existing identity. And I plan to have a selection of differnt b&w craft images in the header at the top.
Apart from that, not sure if it's working as a whole? I have tried having a cyan blue sidebar instead of the black, but nor sure about that either... maybe I need to get away from the whole header/content/sidebar thing and use a different layout? -
pretty standard layout, but way better than their current site
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hmmm... maybe there's something in the rounded feel to their logo....
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That font is horrable, it’s a shame you have to use it.
Try to use a more intresting(or the same, but with stronger contast between black and white) header image. Try to add something catchy about pottery – place some pots somewhere or something like that. Try to use more colors or maybe some icons for the shopping cart.
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- CommentAuthorthepowerofed
- CommentTimeJul 17th 2006
Here's some inspiration. Okay, no really though. IMHO, I'd hone it down with a nice holistic design. Maybe even pull some of that "ornamental" design that's incorporated in a lot of pottery. But, I don't really know the brand, so I can't really say that much. But, hollistic. -
You can get an idea of what they make from http://tinyurl.com/kdvu7
Lol at that last link :)
Not sure what you mean by holistic exactly?
Icons could help with the shopping cart, good idea... -
I'd love to get something of the feel from http://corkd.com/ into this somehow... but without being quite so trendy about it...
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New colour palette:
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- CommentAuthorthepowerofed
- CommentTimeJul 17th 2006
By holistic, I meant taking into consideration the entire process of "pottery," the whole (not just the pots themselves). There's a calm, zen feeling that people get when people are crafting their art.
Dealing with brands all day, I understand that you can't really mess with their logo too much. But, becasue they aren't a big (well-known) brand, I would comp up one design that could possibly redefine their brand — I mean just take a big swing and hit it out of the park. Even if that means redesigning the logo.
As far as imagery, maybe try and search stock houses for real beauty shots of pottery. Not saying that they can afford some of the stuff out there, but I know iStock Photo is pretty inexpesive (which you probably already know, too). -
Why you can’t suggest new colors? I mean you can keep the blue which is in the logo, but suggest something better – maybe they will like it becouse the outcome will be better that way.
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New concept: http://www.3stripe.net/beta/st_a_pottery_skillshare_2.png
(The column widths aren't quite right yet... the images should take up the same width as the central text, and the right column should be half of this again... but I need to get the original images which are a bit bigger to do this properly) -
Well, it’s better. But still seems to be too congeneric. A very simple design.
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I don't know what kind of feel you want to give the site, ofcourse this is just a concept. But I think beautiful images will make the site more catchy . . for now it gives me a pretty darkish . . . sad feeling. And I think non-serif fonts looks better for small text? or try adjusting the line-height a bit.
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Yep - i get a sad feeling from the site too. Do you have to use the serif fonts - i think sans would lighten it up.
Also, if the company has their heart set on these colours, try some variations in tones of the pallete. For example:
I guess the look and feel all depends on what the company is trying to convey. Eg: Do the want a hand-crafted feel - in which case maybe introduce some more free-flowing, hand-drawn stuff. I introduced hand-drawn lines to break up blocks of text on a client's site here:- www.supplysomethingnew.com/index.asp.
There are some really nice images on your client's site. I think these could be exploited more, but without knowing their brief, I'm not sure how much help we could be to you. We could list 100s of options but that would probably only serve to confuse you more. Good luck!
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I did think about the hand-drawn line thing.... hmmm didn't mean for it to look sad either! Maybe it got too serious. Thanks for all the input guys, I'll let you know what happens :)
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- CommentAuthorthepowerofed
- CommentTimeJul 18th 2006
Have you thought of giving the background a textured feel similar to what pots naturally (or hand made for tha matter) have? Might bring a little life into it. -
I would suggest something like this: http://www.zokacoffee.com/ give it some character, the whole pottery thing reminds me of "arts and crafts".
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CommentAuthoradjustafresh
- CommentTimeJul 18th 2006
Do they have any cash for decent photography? Often these types of sites expect designers to work magic with poor product photos. Some really nice photos can add a great deal (perhaps even some stock photography?). -
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No budget for any new photography at all! (I'm being paid in '3stripe' decorated pottery for this :)
A subtle texture in the background might help to add some craftiness to it though, sounds good. -
Be sure to post pictures of custom pottery ;)
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- CommentAuthorthepowerofed
- CommentTimeJul 18th 2006
With a decent digital camera, the right aperature / shutter speed, and okay lighting, you can have some pretty nice shots. Grab a few tips online and there you go. I guess, as a full-time agency guy, I figure that if I work freelance I want it to look and sound really tight. And I'll even go overboard to make it so. No account people, no marketing dep't, just your skills, you know. -
- CommentAuthorlocomotive
- CommentTimeJul 18th 2006
If you aren't happy with their logo, don't try and diminish its presence - embrace it! Maybe that will work better in the end... -
Personally, I would have embellished upon the first design you showed us, #2 has even less emotion. First, however, I would modify the color scheme (cola had a great idea above). The photo needs color, and you don't need a huge budget for a nice shot from istock (lookie, here's another, and another, yadda yadda). You can get a workable version of any of those for $1.
I agree with your comment regarding the round logo, I think you can use that to your advantage. Maybe by creating a visual triangle? You can add something like a rounded footer to the right nav, and pull it together with a cute little vector pot icon - used to highlight "shop for pots" and "try your hand..."
Good luck! -
- CommentAuthorPettyRider
- CommentTimeJul 20th 2006 edited
Your being paid in pots!
That disclosed, any of your designs so far are 'worth' it.
Okay, okay, you're doing this to build your portfolio. I'd suggest (and some of these are just repeats):- Hand-made textures, lines
- Natural colors (kinda impossible with that blue, but work with it)
- Can't go wrong with serif headings/emphases and sans-serif body
- Logo and navigation on top line (get your blue here, then forgettaboutit), large, beautiful pottery image below with some marketing-phrase in a pretty font (maybe the squiggly one), and content below.
Generous example.. -
Yeah I actually saw http://www.dalitnetwork.org/ when I was doing research for this - although the content of this site is much less information dense. Thanks for the continued feedback everyone.
I'm currently tring to get hold of some nice b&w shots that were done for the original site but have since been spliced to pieces... then I'll decide what to try next... -
- CommentAuthorPettyRider
- CommentTimeJul 20th 2006 edited
I'll throw this in again, so the forum notifies you of a new comment:
Generous example..
Going for 'cold, dark, fancy, hand-made' while trying to avoid 'sad, creepy' etc. I used your color pallet, by the way.
Also, I'd suggest a bigger, prettier image in the sub-header area. I just yanked that one (cause I'm not staying up all night for this or anything)
And if the client says anything about the size of the logo, tell them that the purpose of the site is not to show the logo, it is to sell pottery. Then, apologize for being frank with them... -
Haha, ok, thanks for this!
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I like how it turned out
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Yap, it's better than the first one, but the menu's last item is hard to read becouse it's black on a dark gradient. I would suggest to move the dark side of the gradient more to the right.
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Good point. It looked a lot brighter on my iMac than it does at work... i'll move it over a wee bit...
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- CommentAuthorlocomotive
- CommentTimeJul 24th 2006
nice, although being a picky bloke studying art maybe having some textured warm-clay colour fade down and left from the top/top-right of the white header bar (quite transparent) could work... -
haha! I was actually going to try scanning a plate today but gave up....
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hello!
2nd version much better, cleaner and more space... less cluttered. I feel the logo should rest on the left hand side of the nav, and could be reduced at 80-90% of what it is now... the rest is flushed left anyway (and the english love flush left)...
cheers,
Reza
theorangeman.com -
- CommentAuthorobeydesign
- CommentTimeAug 8th 2006
...if it were me, and it's not, I would trash the whole thing and start over. I think the main trouble you're having is the photography, and the black background. From a design standpoint, black as a background is tricky to work with since type placed on it often looks weak. The photography isn't focused on anything in particular, so the viewer isn't really sure what's being looked at. I would get some nice close-ups of the various pieces, and rotate them using a piece of free-code from dynamicdrive.com, or someplace like that. -
wow i think we are close to having too many cooks in this thread... i think there's been more talking about designing than actual designing (my fault entirely)
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