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Week 3: Vestiaire
Vestiaire is a hockey blog suggested by one of our visitors. You can view their current website below:
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:
- Clear, prominent navigation and logo
- Decent use of white space and content padding
- It’s fairly easy to see what the site is about
WEAKNESSES:
- The blog posts which are the most important content on the page feel like an after-thought, they’re pushed right down the page and are not given enough care or attention.
- Part of pushing necessary content down is the large gray images banner. This seems unneeded.
- The page feels a little overloaded with ads, this could be helped if the ads where better integrated.
- Whilst the general layout isn’t terrible, there is no attention to detail or design elements. Design wise it’s fairly dull and basic.
- It doesn’t feel like a typical blog. Posts and articles seem like filler content, and need a better typographical hierarchy and layout.
My Redesign
As always, I was limited by the 30 minute time-frame, but I tried to improve upon several of Vestiaire’s features, adding a few design flourishes and a clearer layout that promoted content over wasted space:
WHAT I TRIED TO DO:
- Give the website a more typical ‘blog’ feel. Promoting the articles/posts, adding in post images etc…
- Make the navigation even clearer, adding in current menu states for the current page.
- Add in design flourishes and give a focus on design details. Additions like the footer image of skates, and the hockey player outline integrated with a custom ‘read more’ button design help the site seem more professional.
- Maintain a consistent color scheme, balancing between grays and blues, with the occasional touch of red to echo the logo.
- I tried to frame the content better. Instead of just having all content on a white background, i emphasized a two column layout through bold background colors, and different colored content areas.
- Very importantly I stripped the content area down from three columns to two. Three columns was totally unnecessary, given that one column was only used for an advert. Two columns allowed more room for article content, and is less confusing for visitors.
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.
20 Comments:
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Another fantastic redesign, well thought out and a good colour scheme. A definate improvement over the existing site. For 30 minutes, that is excellent.
I would like to put the Thatcham Historical Society ( http://www.thatchamhistoriclsociety.org.uk ) for consideration of the next redesign. I am the developer and maintainer of the site. I can code HTML, PHP, MySQL, etc., however, I am no designer.
The website runs on Drupal 6 and we use a stock theme, thus cutting costs down. We do feel though the the layout of the theme is not the most attractive or user friendly and would love a redesign.
If we were selected, we would hope to make the template available as a standard HTML and Drupal theme for others to also benifit from.
Anyway, well done with the 3 redesigns done already.
Regards,
Nick
Sorry, above link should be http://www.thatchamhistoricalsociety.org.uk
I am in great need of help with my crappy site! I am an emerging photographer out of NYC so a great site is something that would stand me apart from the rest of the crowd!
Why should my website be redesigned… lots of reasons, but the one I consider the most important
We simply need to make it look unique, so that people can immediatly recognize us!
Take a look at it and consider it… or maybe for a future redesign?
Regards
I think that the blog layout looks awesome, however it just don’t seem to match the users background and logo, looks much neater then before
Thanks for the great comments and suggestions for next week everyone!
Vim: Thanks a lot
. I’ll be honest, I did struggle with the colorscheme a little, as the logo colors where a little too jarring for a full site layout. I’d have loved to have had more time to work on that aspect.
ummm, nice..
Yes I like the new design. Good job Tom! 2 columns work much better. Its a shame that ad has to be at the top. Those cars are still competing for the logo’s attention since all three (hockey player/2 cars) are dark/contrast. Not to sure how paying ads work. Can the ad area be sectioned off by some means: gradient, lines, box or match that darker gray letting the logo POP. I know it was only a 30 minute makeover but do paying ads get to determine what color is in their background?
Mare: Thanks! I think the top ad looks like a custom made one specifically for that site, so in a more thorough redesign I would redesign the ad to integrate better with the new layout.
Looks better…
Hello. Congratulations for this great redesign.
I would like to have the http://www.motelcisne.com.br site redesigned by you.
It’s a brazilian motel website that’s about 3 years old now (maybe 4).
Thanks in advance in the case my site is the chosen one.
Regards from Brazil.
Alyson
Looks much better, and only in 30 minutes!
The logo needs a redesign on its own..it’s crazy how the top graphic seems to throw off the rest of the site.
Thanks everyone!
Melody: I couldn’t agree more! It can often happen that a logo throws off the rest of a design as it’s generally the focal point.
I’m sorry but i don’t get the idea on this post. What’s the point to take only 30 minutes to redesign a website ? I mean, ok your redesign is not bad in 30 minutes but come on, you can make far better with another 30 minutes.
This design is ok but, there’s no personality in it. I don’t want to be rude, that’s not my point but I think you want to prove to your readers that redesign is easy.
No offense of course, i still like your blog. ^^
Hi guys,
I love the redesign you did with my website. I was wondering if I could get the .psd file? The website is based on a free CMS (joomla.org). I hope I will be able to convert the .psd into a joomla template.
Thanks for your time.
Melody: If you have a better idea for a logo, go ahead and email it to me at alex@vestiaire.ca
Hi, i really like this series of posts, i don agree with Aka “I think you want to prove to your readers that redesign is easy”, i think this kind of exercises give a sample of good design and usability. Congrats for this iniciative!.
My blog its called http://www.rockvertising.com and i want your feedback if its possible. Thanks man! sorry for my english!.
Hello, the idea is very original and promising:)
Well, I also like the redesign of my blog if possible, then the reason being that it is not very attractive (well I think) I’d like that AC is more technology oriented and high-tech and also graphics if possible.
Thank you.
The redesign looks much better than the original and is clearer and laid out professionally. I always enjoy these 30 minute redesigns and always look out for the new ones. Keep up the great work Tom.
Really the redesign looks good.
I think I shall try to do that about my site.
Thanks