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Week 29: Commercial Star

Commercial Star.

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 is bold and engaging in terms of color
• Use of relevant imagery (i.e.: product shots)
• Use of calls-to-action

WEAKNESSES:

• The site is overly bright. The colorful backgrounds actually detract from the content.
• The menu is a little tucked away, and with everything else going on in the page doesn’t feel very prominent.
• Content is displayed very randomly. Blocks of content are dotted around the page, making it feel very disorganized.
• There are some calls-to-action, but no clear direction to the page. As a user I’m not sure where I’m meant to be clicking.

My Redesign

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

WHAT I TRIED TO DO:

• Integrate a cleaner color-scheme that is less distracting, and easier on the eyes.
• Design a clearer, more prominent menu
• Gave the users more direction, with a single, large, call-to-action button.
• Gave the content and layout more order, with a basic two-column design. I got rid of unnecessary content to make the design less cluttered.
• Added subtle design touches (e.g.: a background design pattern meant to evoke blades of grass)

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.

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

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.

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