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30 Minute Redesign: Cameroon College of Arts

30 Minute Redesign: Cameroon College of Arts

By Tom Ross, 31st July, 2011, 18 Comments

(30 Minute Redesigns - Articles)

Week 62: Cameroon College of Arts

This week I will be redesigning: Cameroon College of Arts.

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:

  • The site uses a very coherent color scheme, which helps tie together the college brand.
  • The homepage features all key content (latest news, gallery updates etc…) so it’s easy to digest new content.
  • Typography is fairly clear, and uses good contrast against the background, making it very legible.
  • The navigation is nice and prominent, and uses a useful drop down system.

WEAKNESSES:

  • The content feels a little random, like a spread of uneven boxes/grids. The site just seemed to lack order.
  • Some aspects feel obsolete or overbearing. For example the login form takes up a lot of room, is very bold/distracting, but isn’t really a main feature of the site.
  • There is a lack of visual hierarchy, the eye doesn’t know where to go and I’m not sure which content is most important.
  • The site is a little bit plain and boring. It needs some design touches to liven things up and make it look more professional.

My Redesign

As always, I was limited by the 30 minute time-frame, but I tried to improve upon several of Cameroon College of Art’s features, adding a few design flourishes and a clearer layout that promoted content over wasted space:

MY AIMS FOR THE REDESIGN:

  • I stripped away all obsolete content from the original (overly large login box, users online etc…). This led to a more focused user experience.
  • I added some subtle designer touches to help make the site look more professional.
  • I added a bold welcome area, and gave the design a better visual hierarchy, drawing the users eye down the page in a more linear fashion.
  • I integrated a clearer menu, with hover/active states, making the site easier to navigate.

Before/After:

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 30 Minute Redesigns

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 principles.
  • You will get emailed the .psd of your redesign and can do whatever you want with it!

NOTE: I can only accept sites with English content, as foreign language websites are simply too hard for me to work with.

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.

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18 Comments:

  1. Fazreen says:
    July 31, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    Love the footer. Clean and simple.

    Reply
  2. Robby says:
    August 1, 2011 at 3:23 am

    This one came out great Tom! I really love the blue banner, it brings the perfect amount of color to the the design. Keep it up buddy.

    Reply
  3. Marco says:
    August 1, 2011 at 12:36 pm

    Tom , you are Great. Thanks a bunch for the eyecatching redesign and your comments. I love it . We will be taking these into consideration

    Reply
  4. Pastor Rasheed says:
    August 2, 2011 at 1:54 am

    Tom, nice work as usual, you are gifted. Can you please redo our church website? victorylivingtoday.com It could use a touch from an expert. Thanks

    Reply
    • Tom says:
      August 2, 2011 at 6:22 pm

      Thanks, I’ll be sure to include your site in this week’s poll, although it may not win as it’s not actually that bad! Best of luck though.

      Reply
  5. Dez says:
    August 2, 2011 at 7:33 am

    Hi Tom, i’m following your 30 minutes redesign from a long time, you always do a lovely job.
    I’d like to submit this website to be redesigned:
    http://www.uncledogrock.com/?lang=eng

    It’s the website of Uncledog, an italian rock band of friends of mine. The website is in english/italian, so it wouldn’t be a problem.

    Keep up the good work ;) Bye

    Reply
  6. Gera says:
    August 2, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    Tom, it’s just me or you do the same layout redesign over and over again. Always the same footer, typo, etc… it would be nice to see something more creative.

    Reply
    • Tom says:
      August 4, 2011 at 2:34 pm

      Hi Gera. I wouldn’t say all my layouts are the same no, if you look back through the archives you can find quite a lot of variety amongst the designs. I do love doing sites that are more ‘creative’, but more corporate or professional/clean sites often don’t allow for this. That’s why on the weeks where I can redesign a fashion site, or music site I tend to have a bit more creative freedom.

      Reply
  7. Vu says:
    August 3, 2011 at 12:24 am

    I like how you made it clean and simple. It now looks more fresh and appealing to the eye.

    Reply
  8. Lelis says:
    August 3, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    Hi Tom. You do a great job with sites redesign.
    My site to redisign is dragoesdosul.webcindario.com. I know that the language not is english, but i need it pleas. ‘^^

    Thanks and congratulations.

    Reply
    • Tom says:
      August 4, 2011 at 2:36 pm

      Thanks Lelis. I’m afraid I can’t accept your site for a redesign though, as I can only work with English sites. It’s simply too hard to figure out what’s going on on the website if I can’t read the content or navigation.

      Reply
  9. Logan Moore says:
    August 4, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    Hey Tom,

    I have always considered myself to be more of a programmer instead of a designer. I’ve never even spent time trying to learn proper design like I have coding. I began using stumble upon for design sites and found PSDFAN. I have thoroughly enjoyed your tutorials and this redesign may have been simple but it made the site much more professional.

    I have a site http://www.ministrytxt.com and I have never really took the time to create a nice design for it. I would love for you to re-design it.

    Thanks,
    Logan

    Reply

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