Crit is always a valuable experience. It is similar to the post I made earlier about user-testing, it allows an outside, unattached view into your work and objective opinion based solely on improving the design and helping it reach full potential. This crit session was extra valuable as the client was able to attend and so we could get an educated viewpoint from someone who has been in the industry and is somewhat of an expert on the subject. We had one of the members of the class take notes for our feedback so that we could keep a list of what was said. This was my feedback:
- Bring drop in up and integrate into logo
- Too much space between logo and nav
- Brands are homepage are a plus
- CTA to buy tickets not prominent enough
- Bring ticket graphic onto homepage
- Make it clearer the bands are playing on the homepage
- Graphics are all good
- Colour in boxes on calendar
So overall everything was positive. People seemed to like the strong art style, the bold use of colour and typography. In fact everything to do with the visual/aesthetic style was very well received the only thing people found issue with was the functional side to the site. And even so there were only minimal issues and minor changes suggested.
There were a few major points I needed to address. I shall go through them here and how I addressed them:
The calendar app that I used was a free plugin. It is a great plugin, there is extensive options and functionality controls that can be controlled however, I could not find any way to customise the look of the calendar or the page it sits on. I found that a lot of my class mates had downloaded the same calendar plugin and had found the exact same issue when they went to customise it too. So unfortunately I couldn't change this aspect. It is annoying because I agree with the feedback that the calendar could do with a little customisation. The calendar I didn't see as an essential part of the site though as it is only a three day event and so I could forgive it looking funny as if the site/event was real I don't think a calendar of any kind would be included.
This was something I had completely overlooked. I hadn't thought about it at all until I went to crit. The second I sat down to present it I instantly realised it as a major shortcoming myself. It was later pointed out by my tutor and the client too so this was something I definitely had to address. This was brought up in conjunction with another point. I had my contact form on the homepage. So I thought I'd have a little double whammy of a re-jigg. Firstly I removed the contact form from the homepage and placed it into my about page.
The page used to be structured with the about page graphic at the top followed by a little information. Then after that was a little strip of white for the sponsors then the venue information was at the bottom in a black strip. When I added the contact form into the about page I also thought I'd re-arrange the page a little too as I felt it to be a little strange and sparse. This is how the page looks now:
I moved the venue section up into the white sponsor section. The sponsor section was a lot thinner and seemed isolated whereas now it seems included more into the site. This is how it looked before:
It sits accompanying another item so that it doesn't seem so abandoned. It also fills out the middle section with white making it look nicer. The contact form of course makes more sense this way.
Now, the homepage. This is how it used to look with the contact form:
Now I have removed that I had some space at the bottom to market the night side of the show. The performers and shows in the evening were only found after looking for them which is wrong. It should have been on the homepage from the start. I thought the best way to show it was to create a graphic. I was going to use some of the graphics I had previously created. But I thought that they didn't stand out enough for the homepage. The homepage needs to grab the attention of the viewer and get them interested right away. The only way to do this I could see was by using the bands logo's as apposed to my chosen fonts for the bands names. So I designed an image to go at the bottom and added it in and now this is the final homepage:
Not only does this make it more obvious that there is a night show and build interest in the event I also think that it makes the homepage work much better overall. There is a much stronger sense of graphical identity and the page grabs the eye a lot more.
This was something that was a subtle change for me. I really wanted to keep the logo with some room to breath. It really created a sense of showmanship and impact. The user is greeted with a strong, vibrant wash of colour with a sharp cutting image. So I did bring it up a little to compensate for people who may be viewing it on a lower resolution screen:
These are the before and after. As you can see it is a very subtle difference. I didn't want to impact the visual style of the homepage too much. However, this slight adjustment does account for lower resolution screens.
Calendar Boxes
The calendar app that I used was a free plugin. It is a great plugin, there is extensive options and functionality controls that can be controlled however, I could not find any way to customise the look of the calendar or the page it sits on. I found that a lot of my class mates had downloaded the same calendar plugin and had found the exact same issue when they went to customise it too. So unfortunately I couldn't change this aspect. It is annoying because I agree with the feedback that the calendar could do with a little customisation. The calendar I didn't see as an essential part of the site though as it is only a three day event and so I could forgive it looking funny as if the site/event was real I don't think a calendar of any kind would be included.
Make it Clearer Bands are Playing on the Homepage
This was something I had completely overlooked. I hadn't thought about it at all until I went to crit. The second I sat down to present it I instantly realised it as a major shortcoming myself. It was later pointed out by my tutor and the client too so this was something I definitely had to address. This was brought up in conjunction with another point. I had my contact form on the homepage. So I thought I'd have a little double whammy of a re-jigg. Firstly I removed the contact form from the homepage and placed it into my about page.
The page used to be structured with the about page graphic at the top followed by a little information. Then after that was a little strip of white for the sponsors then the venue information was at the bottom in a black strip. When I added the contact form into the about page I also thought I'd re-arrange the page a little too as I felt it to be a little strange and sparse. This is how the page looks now:
It sits accompanying another item so that it doesn't seem so abandoned. It also fills out the middle section with white making it look nicer. The contact form of course makes more sense this way.
Now, the homepage. This is how it used to look with the contact form:
Now I have removed that I had some space at the bottom to market the night side of the show. The performers and shows in the evening were only found after looking for them which is wrong. It should have been on the homepage from the start. I thought the best way to show it was to create a graphic. I was going to use some of the graphics I had previously created. But I thought that they didn't stand out enough for the homepage. The homepage needs to grab the attention of the viewer and get them interested right away. The only way to do this I could see was by using the bands logo's as apposed to my chosen fonts for the bands names. So I designed an image to go at the bottom and added it in and now this is the final homepage:
Not only does this make it more obvious that there is a night show and build interest in the event I also think that it makes the homepage work much better overall. There is a much stronger sense of graphical identity and the page grabs the eye a lot more.
Bring the Logo Closer to the Top of the Page
This was something that was a subtle change for me. I really wanted to keep the logo with some room to breath. It really created a sense of showmanship and impact. The user is greeted with a strong, vibrant wash of colour with a sharp cutting image. So I did bring it up a little to compensate for people who may be viewing it on a lower resolution screen:
These are the before and after. As you can see it is a very subtle difference. I didn't want to impact the visual style of the homepage too much. However, this slight adjustment does account for lower resolution screens.
Conclusion
These are the changes I have made. As you may have noticed I haven't addressed the call to action points and comments about the text on the homepage. This is purposeful. I will address this in the next post. This post is already beginning to resemble a short novel so I thought I should break it up a little. However, these changes are all really important things that have effected the flow and success of my site quite a lot I think. I am glad they were pointed out and I think that they all have made improvements.
The homepage is now a little more accommodating and a lot more visually impactful. It grabs the eye and attention and makes the viewer want to engage and learn more.
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