project one critique

[aslychsm]

Hi, all! My name is Ashley, and these are my roughs for the project one preliminary.

The name of my fictional website is 'Hatchling', and it will sell dragon eggs. Which I hear are pretty "in" right now, considering Dragon Age: Inquisition just came out not too long ago, and Smaug in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and of course, let's not forget Game of Thrones with Daenerys and her dragons (April 12th, you get here sooner!) SO, it seemed like a no-brainer for me.

My top one is a little more serious, whereas for my bottom design I tried to make it more cute/cartoony. But to be honest, I probably spent more time making that dragon logo on the top rough, than creating ALL of these layouts. Everything was made by me, including that silly doodle and the eggs. I have plans to make all sorts of weird-looking eggs for the second project. But yeah, they're both really simple and minimal... and against white backgrounds... and pretty much look exactly the same...

Thanks for looking, any and all feedback is welcome!

[JonathonJ]

I really like the idea of your website! that dragon head is a very strong image.

I like the first option better, it looks like it could be a real website and its more sophisticated. On the product page, the seafoam green color is way to bright and needs to be toned down a lot.

Maybe for each page the whole color scheme could match the dragon egg color?

I feel like there could be more to this site, but its only a rough.

Good job.

[paulab]

Hi Ashley! I love your idea, very cool! I'm leaning toward the top rough (#2). It's very clean, however, there is a lot of negative space. Maybe a little scroll design on the sides, very minimal. Your image is awesome! Good job!

[elizabeth_mejia]

I love this idea! I would like a pet dragon! I really like the first one looks professional like it could actually sell real dragon eggs! the bottom one looks super cute but it looks like it would sell toy dragon eggs so I like the top one more for that reason. I really like how the second design has the different style of eggs so if you incorporate that into the top design it would be awesome!

[TsukiMizuDCC]

Ashley,

One of my favorite mythical creatures in the world. I love this idea. I am really attracted to the second rough because of the image of the dragon. That dragon immediately draws me into the site. On the inner page of rough 2, I love the image of the dragon egg and the description. But for some reason, I can't see some of the words and the "add to cart" button because of the color. I suggest you change the color to see those items. Rough 1 doesn't seem interesting to me because of the dragon image. But great job. Can't wait to see the final product.

[Sierragirlnv]

I definitely like the first rough. It has a classy upscale vibe and for those prices you should go with serious over cute! I do see a small contrast issue with the "add to cart" button but all that needs is a change of saturation. Maybe fade in a black and white textured photo if you want to take away some of the white space or an image of the dragon that the egg will turn into. That is a very clever idea!

[Instructor]

Oooof. Very nice work Ashley. Very nice work, indeed.

You've got two good designs here, but the first is just much stronger than your second. The dragon logo immediately catches my eye and intrigues me. A great use of a very simple home page to entice potential customers. The typography is excellent and compliments the logo well. The navigation, despite it's small size is easy to see and use, and the page highlight lets me know at a glance where I am. The layout is also easy to follow using a simple structure that is embraced rather than concealed and does a really good job of acting as a presentation space for the content. Contrast is well used throughout the design to move the eye around the layout and little hints of color call they eye to critical things.

My only recommendations would be to bold the navigation slightly and tighten the distance between the product and the logo on your inner page slightly. Otherwise you're ready to go.

A quick alternate suggestion though. My Safari is throwing a display error on the thumbnails (the full size roughs look as you intended) that looks pretty rad and may be an even cooler alternate idea. It seems to have inverted the colors and is displaying the dragon head logo and navigation as a pale gray on a dark gray background and I think it amplifies the high end look you are going for on your first design. Check out my attachment.

I'd be hesitant to adopt a dragon. They can't ever be tamed, as Daenerys is finding out. I mean, one roasted neighbor baby and it's all over. Great work on the website though!

[lingling_chen]

Hi, Ashley, I like your idea for this assignment.
It is a very “IN” shop: ), both design are very clear,
but the dragon head one really can caught my attention.
you did a wonderful job on the dragon head, keep going, I hope I can see more of your good works on your illustration.
By the way, the attach files from Michael is even better on giving audience a mystery feel, because the color scheme,
I think you should check it out. overall, good job, Ashley: )

[oasib]

I love your logo! It looks amazing!! Also the idea is pretty cool. I like both layouts, but like you said they have compliantly different feel to them, I think it be up to your if you want it more serious or playfull. As of now the red one works better, at the first glace at home page I was able to tell right away what this site is about. I think it is very to do that, and you definitely did it well. If your decide to go with more serious one, I would also make sure that that site will do that as well. great art work!! well done!

[georgia_novotny]

Hey Ashely,
I love your idea, so cool.
Cant wait for April 12th!

I like both of the designs but I couldn't see past the incredible dragon head you did on the first one.
Very demanding of attention and brings you into the site right away.
Very clean and professional looking design.

I would add some of the fun cartoon style from the second designs to the second pages of the first designs to sell the dragons.
Great concept, good job!
Georgia