30 Minute Redesign: Nick Throlson
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PSDFan Extra
Week 21: CAMASEJ
In the space of 5 minutes I can identify some of the key strengths and weaknesses of this design, and sketch out a mockup.
STRENGTHS:
- This is probably the best designed site that I’ve had to redesign, it’s clean and professional.
- Great color-scheme, nice header area, fairly clear menu
- Clear typography, consistent font usage
WEAKNESSES:
- The menu is clear, but there is no ‘active’ menu state, you don’t know what page you’re on
- There seems to be quite a lot of obsolete content. Particularly in repeating the menu in the left column, and displaying the ‘users online’. These aren’t really needed.
- The ‘about us’ welcome text is displayed like a blog post, despite it just being welcome text. This format is confusing.
- I personally prefer a more liquid site design, this design feels a little narrow and closed off due to it’s layout.
My Redesign
As always, I was limited by the 30 minute time-frame, but I tried to improve upon several of CAMASEJ’s features, adding a few design flourishes and a clearer layout that promoted content over wasted space:
WHAT I TRIED TO DO:
- Convert the layout to a liquid layout, opening it up a bit more.
- Add a menu ‘active’ state to make navigating the site easier.
- Cut out all unnecessary content, focusing on what is important.
- Made the welcome/about text more clear, rather than a confusing blog format.
Comparing the 2 Designs:
Here is a quick comparison between the original design and my 30 minute redesign. Sure, my design could be more polished, but I believe that a lot of the basic elements have been improved upon, creating a more pleasant browsing experience.
How and Why To Enter Redesign Saturdays
You can have the chance to have your website redesigned in next weeks post. All you need to do is leave a comment to this post with your website address and why you think it needs a redesign.
The Benefits of Getting Your Site Redesigned Include:
- Most obviously – a FREE redesign job!
- Your website gets exposure to PSDFAN’s thousands of readers
- You understand how to improve your website. This isn’t just a redesign, it’s a lesson in design.
- You will get emailed the .psd of your redesign and can do whatever you want with it!
So please, leave a comment today for a chance to have your website redesigned next week!
About the Author:
Tom is the founder of PSDFAN. He loves writing tutorials, learning more about design and interacting with the community. On a more interesting note he can also play guitar hero drunk with his teeth.
12 Comments:
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Great, sutil, but a nice improvement.
Let me submit to the next week this site of mine, a real state: http://rivaspropiedadesmdp.com.ar/
That was a great challenge there redesigning such a site because at first instance one does not know where to start.
How does events calendar work? Because I want a similar calendar but I can’t find it…
I’m glad everyone liked this redesign, it was quite hard because I actually liked the original design, so didn’t want to completely change it.
Hugolatra: Sorry, but you might need to submit that site next week. As I mentioned in Thursday’s vote post I’ve already redesigned the site for next week due to the fact that I’m going on vacation tomorrow.
Pacoffl: Well I just laid out a dummy one for this .psd, but I know that you can get some great WordPress plugins if that helps
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Ok. thanks!
Tom, Nice redesign or should i say twik as thats more what you did. Cant wait for next week. Hopefully it will be a little more challenging.
Very nice clean design. I can only find fault in the middle section where you left part of the original site. I think it’s randomness here and it’s not as clean as you usualy did. However I assume you were time limited and wanted to keep some original site heritage and it’s fine to do that. Also a jpg compresion also take a part in my subjective appraisal of that element.
Generally I’m impressed as always and it’s good to see your way of working. Thank you for your post and sharing your style and knowledge.
I nice redesign, as mentioned it didn’t need too much doing to it but those little changes can really make all the difference to a site. Sometimes it takes an outsider to be able to identify these small changes and I think you have picked up on the key factors really well.
Jack: Yeah, I really didn’t see any point totally restyling this website as sometimes a redesign is best just to improve/tweak existing features.
Sebastian: I quite liked the middle part of the design (hence I kept it in the redesign), but I guess it’s a matter of different tastes. Thanks for your critique though, I’m really glad you liked the final result!
Stephanie: Yeah definitely, I always try and get an outside perspective when I’m designing
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what a design. i really like the color of the design.Thanks for share this great and clean design.
THanks for the redesign . I have not yet recieved the psd files .
Sometimes it is harder to start with something that is already functioning well and only tweak it to make a better design. I like how you should how just a few minor changes can make a big difference.
I would agree with Sebastion though I felt like the middle section needed a little something. The fonts were just okay and the contrast makes it hard to read. Maybe with just a little more contrast and a different font it would stand out a little more.