this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2010
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I'm not a designer, but put together this site design in Photoshop and would love some feedback. (self.web_design)

submitted 5 months ago by SimonS

I'm a developer who decided that he'd (probably stupidly) do a favour for a family member. I have read a little on design and made a living for the past 4 years turning PSDs into websites, so figured I'd give it a go.

here it is

I'm reasonably happy with the result (the footer could definitely do with a tweak or three), and reckon it won't be too difficult to turn into a working Wordpress Theme. But really, I'd like critiques, design WTFs that I've missed, room for improvement, that sort of thing.

So thanks /r/web_design - tear me a new one.

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personsaddress 11 points12 points 5 months ago[-]

What language is that? None of my customers can read that language. You're fired! I'll get my nephew to do it!!!! (word for word quote from one of my clients)

SimonS [S] 4 points5 points 5 months ago[-]

I sent it this morning - she phoned me up 30 minutes ago with that exact query. No joke.

surfwax95 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Another reason I don't use Lorem Ipsum.

I'm not espousing this as universal truth, but for myself it's more useful to start developing the content first. That is, gather all photos, text, et al before designing. This way you know what exactly what to provide for in the design.

I've found that this method is a) easier and b) I don't have to deal with clients not understanding what "for placement only" means.

goobersmooch 3 points4 points 5 months ago[-]

Clients are stupid.

ChiperSoft 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

The only problem with this is that then your clients see your mockup, think it's a screenshot (despite you telling them explicitly that it's a photoshop) and leap to the conclusion that you're already done.

A week later you're not even half way through the site and the customer wants to know what the fucking holdup is, even tho you told them it would take a month.

surfwax95 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Well, in my case you'll notice that I never mentioned doing static mockups. I always develop wireframes and UX flowcharts first, then go straight to markup/CSS.

I've found it to be a lot better this way.

silentbobsc 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Yeah... I can't count how many times I've had to explain Lorum Ipsum text... I had a church site I was doing and they claimed it was a satanistic phrase. Apparently, they'd wiki'd the phrase and just glossed over the "used as boilerplate filler text" part at the beginning of the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorum_ipsum

ScurvyDawg 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

I had some clients ask me why the page was in spanish? LOL

electronicdream 0 points1 point 4 months ago[-]

Same here...

doerie 4 points5 points 5 months ago[-]

Some small remarks:

The openings hours are at the bottom. That's one of the most important pieces of info on the page.

The phone number doesn't really look like a phone number or isn't different enough to capture the user's attention. The call to action as a whole should be an eye-catcher. Try integrating it with the header image.

Perhaps you should replace the text of the new menus with images of the food and the price. But only do that if you have high quality images. They need to look jummy. :)

ChiperSoft 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Holy crap, I had no idea that was a phone number. I thought it was just flavor text.

malanalars 3 points4 points 5 months ago* [-]

needs more cowbell!

edit: seriously, I'm not a designer myself, but here's my opinion: you use a lot of drop-shadows and gradients. nothing wrong with that, but they need to be much more subtle to look elegant...

hoffnutsisdope 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Yup the worst thing you can do is use the default setting on almost anything adobe especially filters. It's the easiest way to separate yourself from those designers just starting out... ie: they all have the same look.

rallyscag 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Agreed. It would look much better with more subtle shadows. I'm not really a designer either, but I've found from general tinkering and readings that subtlety is key.

SimonS [S] 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Elegance wasn't something I was going for, but you're right - they could definitely do with some tightening up.

seopher 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Heh, I know that place. Went to Uni in Norwich. Cool story I know, but true.

evil_music 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Looks good. I'd add a page with directions and a map. That's usually one of the things I look for when I visit a restaurant/store website.

KICKERMAN360 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Thoughts: I don't think a road house will need all those social media sites. The Book Now" looks out of place, perhaps use that snazzy font. The footer (where the sidebar overlaps) will cause you trouble I believe.

It looks alright though, a little generic however (stock photos, social media etc). Good job, but next time, don't do a project for family or friends. It only leads to more headaches like (8 months later) "Hey, can you add this really quickly" sort of things.

SimonS [S] 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

I don't think a road house will need all those social media sites.

You're definitely correct there - it just felt like a nasty hole in the footer (worst reason for putting anything in ever, I know).

The Book Now" looks out of place, perhaps use that snazzy font.

I might try that actually - didn't know whether that would be too much all in the header though.

The footer (where the sidebar overlaps) will cause you trouble I believe.

I've kinda done that on purpose to challenge myself a little and to make the site ever-so-slightly less generic.

It looks alright though, a little generic however (stock photos, social media etc)

The milkshake is actually a slice of some professional photos that they've had done - it's going to randomly change. The "We're open" thing is there for a reason in that it's going to change to a closed sign outside of opening hours (a cheap gimmick, I know).

And I know you're right on that last point - it's a favour I've been owing them for a long long time, so I can't really grumble. I'm hoping to make as much updatable through WP as possible to avoid that.

Thanks very much for your input, it's given me more to fiddle with before I start the build.

KICKERMAN360 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

I was in a similar situation too. A friend asked me to do a website for some people he knew, but I was getting paid though. I did exactly what you did, used Wordpress so they can update it themselves. A few weeks later I went and checked the site to see if it was alright and I saw size 16px, Verdana, all caps across the home page. Perhaps it would be wise to give them a quick web101 too.

jaymeekae 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Tighten up the drop shadows a bit - they're huge
Some of your light blues could be lighter - the blue around the "Route 66" text might pop more as white.
The red text of the menu links is quite messy against the pale blue - also you could add a little more breathing room around the links - they look squashed in. With that font, are you going to make them images?
I like the footer banner but i don't like how the menus panel extends into it.
The main red image is a bit weird - i'm sure you could find a nicer image to put in there.

gadimus 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Looks nice I'm not a designer either so anything I say is just personal preference... One thing I have an issue with any mock-up are fake text and posts to fill them out. It's not too hard to put together some real headings and genuine content. It also helps bring the site to life. Whenever you make a site you're going to have learn how your customer does business to an extent and that knowledge should be enough to throw content out there.

I also don't really like the menu because its too open and the milkshake is freaking me out. I hope the site has like 20 different potential backgrounds there that can rotate or randomly generate on load.

SimonS [S] 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Agreed on the content thing. It's laziness on my part, but it's a freebie so I don't feel all that bad.

Menus are similarly lazy, the idea is that they'll shrink / grow to suit the content (using cufon for fonts). And yes - the milkshake is a placeholder image that should change randomly.

Cheers for giving it a look over and being constructive.

davvblack 6 points7 points 5 months ago[-]

Nah, don't listen to gadiumus about the content thing. It is not the role of the designer to set up content, it is the client's. Try to goad them into sending you stuff ahead of time as you mock up layouts, but don't waste time creating non-news for them to put (or you might hear "This looks great, just use it" for nonsensical stories you faked.)\

Did you specify if the site will look exactly the same in IE6 or not? If you did promise as such, the rounded dropshadow footer overlap thing will be a pain.

SimonS [S] 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Did you specify if the site will look exactly the same in IE6 or not? If you did promise as such, the rounded dropshadow footer overlap thing will be a pain.

I haven't specified that, no. I reckon I can make it happen though!

davvblack 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

Er, to clarify, your life will be MUCH happier if you don't promise anything on IE6, and consider 'working well enough' to mean that all text ends up on a background more than 50% different in luminosity and all links are clickable and NOTHING ELSE.

SimonS [S] 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Oh, don't worry - I know that. I've worked most of my career swearing at designers for giving me shadows and rounded corners for the most corporate of clients.

If I do fail in my efforts to make it work, I'm more than happy to accept that and degrade gracefully - I just like the challenge.

submax 1 point2 points 5 months ago[-]

You can make that layout work just fine. As a tip though, remember that drop shadow and outer glow both extend out a lot farther than you first think they will, so either cut the image up larger then you think you need to , or decrease the size of the filter.

Since it is a restaurant, If you're looking to fill empty space where you have the social media buttons maybe a map or directions would be best. I like the large, bold food images as well, hopefully they can get some nice ones done of the location and menu items. I would think you want good looking food on the user's mind constantly.

jeebusfeist 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Good point about the drop shadow and outer glow. I hate it when I cut off part of the effect when slicing but don't notice until later.

gadimus -1 points0 points 5 months ago[-]

While you're right that it is not the role of a designer to generate content (and I know that it is a crappy situation to get that request) its more my personal preference than anything.

Lorem Ipsum IMO tends to confuse people and other faked content can be off-putting for some clients. I'd rather not confuse people more than they need to be... in my case I tend to work with small local businesses that are already terribly confused about the internet... Like I said, I'm not a designer and I'm really just regurgitating what 37 signals told me.

davvblack 3 points4 points 5 months ago[-]

Lorem Ipsum confuses people once, but 'real looking' fake content always runs the danger of getting published, because it confuses both the client AND the designer in many cases. You really want holes to be explicit and visible.

gadimus 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

Good point. I probably will still throw real text on pages make instead of Lorem Ipsum when I do sites. I should be posting one for "review" within the next few days :)

user24 0 points1 point 5 months ago[-]

I really like it. Maybe move the opening hours higher in the page; I imagine that'll be the most common reason people will be visiting, and you don't want to hide it under the scrollbar.

What happens if there isn't enough latest news to fill the box? And you need a "more" link in case there's too much.

But over all it's really great. Good job.

edit: But then, I'm no designer either, just a seasoned web developer.

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