Hey guys, i’m sure that you’ve heard this a million times by now, but i’m stuck on creative ideas for a layout. I am a really good programmer / coder / dba / etc, but i almost COMPLETELY lack creativity for layouts! And we all know that no one will ever hire you if you lack DESIGN skills—no matter how good of a developer you may be.

Anyway, i was wondering if i could get some criticism for the FLASH version to a website that i’m getting ready to remodle (due to a company name change), and also on the new HTML version that i am in the process of brainstorming layout ideas for right now. I will provide a link for the FLASH version, and links to images of the HTML designs so far, and i would appreciate any helpful criticism.

The look i’m trying to go for is “dark” “modern” “cutting edge” “technology” “professional” “industrial” etc. I am aware that it is very difficult to have a “dark” theme that people will also regard as a “professional” image, but this is something that i am pretty firm on.

Here is the Flash version:
http://Ionisis.com/flash

Here are the html images.
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-1-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-1-2.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-1-3.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-1-4.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-2-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-2-2.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-2-3.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-3-1.jpg

The target market is small businesses, and personal / side businesses. I’ve had one client that i got from other work that i was doing elsewhere, and i decided that i want to continue working for myself, which is why i started this, but i’m starting to realize that—despite how well i may be able to program and code things, i may not have what it takes to “design” things…

I have been looking at what others are doing for a long time now, and bookmarking all the websites that i feel i can use for inpiration and guidance. I’ve tried so many ideas with Gimp (linux’s photoshop), but nothing comes to any satisfactory results. Here are some more of my blunderings:

http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-4-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-5-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-6-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-6-2.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-7-1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-7-2.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-7-3.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-7-4.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-7-5.jpg

I like where you’re going with this.

Craig - 07 September 2008 03:40 AM

I like where you’re going with this.

Ha! You are the only one :D. You know that i’ve posted this in other forums also, and they had nothing but bad things to say from beginning to end. Thanx.

I have been seriously considering paying a freelance designer for front end *design* work, as i could handle the xhtml css php mysql js, etc, but the problem is finding one that is decent at design, and who doesn’t charge an arm and a leg…

I’m still not going to give up on trying to improve my own design skills, though. I KNOW that eventually i will realize where i’m going wrong, and be able to think past it. For example, i am trying to create a “dark” and “futuristic” feel while maintaining the “professional” aspect. Well, it is not that it cannot be done, it is only that i cannot *envision* how it *should* be done, and so i end up creating disasterpieces.

For my personal websites, it would be almost adequate enough to literally “rip off” an existing design, and then modify the hell out of it until it becomes essentially “my own”, and suits my needs and tastes; but for the Ionisis site, this could not be done, because i really cannot find a really *dead on* example of what i am envisioning.

Hell, even my own personal sites (see signature) lack design talent. I *hate* this damned “designer’s block”! :(

Anyway, thanx for the tips.

By joe, i think i’ve got it! I came up with this by FREAK accident. I was trying to do something almost completely different, but it kept going in a direction that i didn’t want or like… until i tried experimenting with *textures*! :D

I’m still *sure* that there is more that i can do for it before i start coding it, but i thought that i’d just throw the “work in progress” out there for some critique along the way. Thanx all.

http://Ionisis.com/images/Layout-8-1.jpg

I am taking everyone’s advice, and *trying* to weene myself off the ‘future/tech’ theme, but it’s not coming very easy :D. Here are some new approaches at the whole “Professionalism” thing, let me know what you think:

http://Ionisis.com/images/Ionisis-2.0.1.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Ionisis-2.0.2.jpg
http://Ionisis.com/images/Ionisis-2.0.3.jpg

Even i want to learn the same Coding thing for new tech themes? Can you please tell me something more about this ?

I really do not think that i am one to teach about web ‘design’, but in the future i will be offering web ‘development’ articles on my website ( http://LinuxIntro.com )

The non-Flash version wouldn’t load for me - I got an “oops” error message.

However, I’ve had a look at your Flash version and I’d say it’s very creative and impressive-looking. Far more cutting edge than anything I’ve ever done. Having said that, whilst it looked very impressive, it didn’t immediately strike me that you were offering a webiste design service etc - my first impression from the picture and the “never sleeps” sentence at the bottom was that it was something to do with a big Vegas/New York style city.

Two small concerns - it took a long time to load (I would normally have gone on to the next site) and I personally hate music when I load websites - again I personally often leave websites with music.

Those little negative things aside, it does look impressive and cutting-edge. Well done!

Yeah i deleted all of the images as i did not see them fit to use. There is a plain html version to the website, but that is what i am trying to rebuild. I will probably have an option for you to turn off the sound while the site is loading when i rebuild the site. Also, the reason that the site loads a little longer than others is because of the video that is in the background. I am also going to see what i can do to reduce its size.

For now, i took the website’s front page ( http://Ionisis.com ) and put a ‘temporarily out of commission’ page up.

You can see the last layout that i create here:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Ionisis-1.0?content=88806

And a wallpaper based off that layout here:
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Ionisis-0.6?content=88807

Hey guys, i started a new thread for this site, because the design is completely new.

http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/S=d0f10c9c0c471527dc0ba27a6ecdc4698b5332cc/forums/viewthread/1198/

I don’t like the flash version that much. Well, honestly i don’t like flash very much but it has a great overall look.

Regards,
Debbie
Ordinateur portable pas cher

very clean site will look at new thread, but i do like it.

criticism is something we can avoid easily by…..............
iRenew