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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> Help with critique of new web site?
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06/23/2008 11:51:29 AM · #1
I've tried basing my web site of services from smugmug, zenfolio, squarespace and a couple of others, but there always seems to be limitations or issues of some kind. About two weeks ago I realized that all of the search indexing for my smugmug based site was highlighting descriptions of smugmug rather than David Nusbaum Photography. In a fit of frustration I sat down Sunday morning and completely rewrote my site from scratch using HTML and a flash based screen show. It doesn't have all of the online selling capabilities of smugmug, but the site really is about attracting potential clients first. At least now I can control the content and ensure that it's my brand getting highlighted rather than my hosting provider.

If you have a minute, can you take a quick look and offer an opinion. I don't like busy sites with a lot of words and only a few images to back them up, so I tried to keep it very simple and focus on the photography as the draw. Thanks!

www.davidnusbaum.com
06/23/2008 12:13:19 PM · #2
Things I like:
the simplicity and the clean look.
The slideshow is working well.
Navigation is clear and consistent.
Thank you for NOT forcing me to listen to music.
The photos are beautiful !!!

Things I don't like:
everything feels squashed up to the top, putting a bit of space in there would help a lot.
The navigation text is way too small, you're making me work hard just to read it, and to aim my mouse at it.
After viewing the slides on the home page, I clicked on "individuals" and kept seeing the same shots I just saw. I'd say use different ones, or at least put the repeats at the end.
I found the info text hard to read (because of the dark background, small font, and long paragraphs).
06/23/2008 12:23:06 PM · #3
Great site. Simple and effective. I would agree with Beetle, and make it more center in the vertical space. Also the font could be a little bigger for the nav bar and the about/services pages.
Another thing I personally found a bit confusing, is the Seniors menu. I was expecting photos of old people. Then I understood, what these were.
Other than that, great site, and really nice photos.

Good luck


06/23/2008 12:41:40 PM · #4
Originally posted by cptpoland:


Another thing I personally found a bit confusing, is the Seniors menu. I was expecting photos of old people. Then I understood, what these were.

Very good point, high school senior portraits are maybe unique to the US and even then may be more common is certain parts of the country.
06/23/2008 12:52:28 PM · #5
Thanks for the feedback!
Originally posted by Beetle:


I found the info text hard to read (because of the dark background, small font, and long paragraphs).

Do you think it would be better to go with a white or light gray background with dark text in the content box? That would be simple enough to do.
06/23/2008 12:58:43 PM · #6
Originally posted by Nusbaum:


Do you think it would be better to go with a white or light gray background with dark text in the content box? That would be simple enough to do.

Perhaps even a medium to dark grey. It may blend in better, be less of a screaming contrast to the rest of it, yet still make it easier to read.

Then again, it could look awful LOL...... keep experimenting for a bit, you'll find a good compromise, I'm sure.
06/23/2008 01:28:09 PM · #7
Pretty much agree with what beetle said. You might want to try a light grey on black which is easier on the eye.
Also you might want to add a copyright statement.

I liked the site and thought it was quick, not complicated and not in your face and the photos are excellent. Good luck

06/23/2008 05:59:45 PM · #8
Personally I think that photos looks a lot better on a dark background, but then you have to freedom to experiment. So try a few things and see what works.
06/23/2008 06:43:13 PM · #9
Originally posted by cptpoland:

Personally I think that photos looks a lot better on a dark background, but then you have to freedom to experiment. So try a few things and see what works.

We weren't even talking about the photos, we were talking about text and text boxes.
06/23/2008 11:57:47 PM · #10
ss

Message edited by author 2012-07-21 22:03:51.
06/24/2008 10:18:56 AM · #11
Originally posted by delta:

Actually i really like it. The only thing is the off centered text, and boarder that should be fixed. The ABOUT needs to be expanded for sure, should include some photos of yourself or more organized information. But overall i like simplicity. I bookmarked it :P
Mind to comment on mine??? //www.timtapscott.tk

I'd be glad to comment on yours as well. Can you tell me where you are seeing off centered text and boarders? Either I'm missing it or the CSS is not working right with your browser.

Thanks!
06/24/2008 07:15:45 PM · #12
ss

Message edited by author 2012-07-21 22:03:42.
06/24/2008 07:26:43 PM · #13
Originally posted by delta:

Actually i really like it. The only thing is the off centered text, and boarder that should be fixed. The ABOUT needs to be expanded for sure, should include some photos of yourself or more organized information. But overall i like simplicity. I bookmarked it :P
Mind to comment on mine??? //www.timtapscott.tk


I went ahead and took a look at yours as well.
I really like it, you have some beautiful pictures, the only thing I really didn't like was when you click on one of the Nature, Life, or Landscape links at the top.. It took me a minute to figure out how to close out of it, maybe if the close was a little bigger, or in the top right where closes usually are, it would help.
06/24/2008 08:03:02 PM · #14
thanks ya il try to tweak that a lil. by the way i like your artistic photos, they are all really good. Check your spelling in your Services page, im not sure about the other pages but i found a couple errors there, (ie spelling "...portriat services..."
06/24/2008 09:11:25 PM · #15
I like the slideshow... very beautiful shots. I hope you want a critical recview of your site because that\'s what I\'m going to give. These are just my opinions of course so take everything with a grain of salt. I approached the site as if I were looking for a photographer. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful images in the slideshow.. no problem there. Like I said... nice shots... very nice. Now what I don\'t like. The title (and really all of the writing) is very small. It says to me that you don\'t think your that important and are unsure of your abilities. Bigger is better. Your navigation bar seems to have the same types of shots in all of the categories. Maybe It\'s just me that doesn\'t see a discernible difference between them. While the shots are nice there aren\'t enough of them that I would feel comfortable with your abilities either. When I read the about section I noticed a couple of errors in the copy that make the site seem amateurish and as if you put the site together yourself (which you did of course but I dont want to know that as a customer). I also felt like you were almost begging for business rather than telling me how I need you to tell my story with your unique abilities. Maybe you should think of your copy more like you would a resume... less words more whitespace concentrating on what you can do for me and without some idea of the cost to me I instantly assume it is going to be expensive or you would let me know up front. It\'s either that or you don\'t have a grasp of what your work is worth (maybe you don\'t if your just starting out but you don\'t want your customer to know that either). I hope I\'m not being too hard on you and I\'m certainly no expert on web design but It probably wouldn\'t help you if I didn\'t tell you exactly what I thought. It\'s better than anything I could put together and I can\'t even touch the photographs (really nice). Good luck.

06/24/2008 09:18:02 PM · #16
I like the way you have taken control of the entire presentation. That feeling of ability and professionalism comes over well. There are minor beauty tweaks that you can sort out - David Nusbaum Photography should, IMO, be a graphic rather than plain text. That is a key part of the frontage. Good luck.
06/25/2008 12:05:52 PM · #17
Sorry for the slower response, I got pulled into a little urgent boat repair yesterday. I appreciate all of the feedback and am pulling out the mac to do some updates right now. And dponlyme, you were definitely not being too hard on me.

1) Increase the size of the text.
2) Consider light background with dark text on the About and Services pages.
3) Center title of image box or left align title over image box to keep lines simple
4) Fix typos
5) More images to show depth of capabilities
6) Either differentiate images in the categories or make categories more distinct

I am struggling with item 6, not because of the comment here but because I saw that issue early on and didn't know what to do with it. I have never like traditional portraiture but really enjoy documentary and editorial style portraits. From a business perspective, I believe there is a market for a non-traditional approach and last year half of my work was for people in the mid-twenties to mid-thirties who wanted to define themselves through some creative photographs. I think this is probably and byproduct of the fact that this generation was so heavily impacted by popular media. I have no idea how to categorize my work to reach this market. What I have is a style that I believe can be applied to:
- Senior Portraits
- Individuals looking to define themselves through creative images
- Models looking for portfolio images
- Trash the dress (wedding and prom)
- Commercial and editorial portrait work
I would rather write computer code the rest of my life then create idealized family portraits in perfect light that say absolutely about the people in the frame.

Thanks again for the input and please let me know if you have any thought about those categories.


06/25/2008 05:01:39 PM · #18
Originally posted by delta:

Actually i really like it. The only thing is the off centered text, and boarder that should be fixed. The ABOUT needs to be expanded for sure, should include some photos of yourself or more organized information. But overall i like simplicity. I bookmarked it :P
Mind to comment on mine??? //www.timtapscott.tk


Can you get rid of the ad at the top? Try putting <noframes> tags around your <body> tag, like so:
<noframes>
<body>
</noframes>
This has been known to work for other ads like that.

Nusbaum, I personally would use a different (serif) font (this is personal preference though)...also, I'd make the specification about monitor sizes smaller and the "ENTER" much larger -- maybe even make the image clickable. I agree that the writing is small, but I don't really think it detracts from the website...
06/25/2008 05:11:50 PM · #19
Originally posted by JesiLynR:


Nusbaum, I personally would use a different (serif) font (this is personal preference though)...also, I'd make the specification about monitor sizes smaller and the "ENTER" much larger -- maybe even make the image clickable. I agree that the writing is small, but I don't really think it detracts from the website...

Ya.. I should have pointed out that based on yesterday's feedback I bumped the main font size from a 11px to 14px, so what you saw wasn't as bad as it was before. I also added the new 'entry' page because I got messages from two people saying they could not see any images. The entry page has a single images that rotates with each refresh and points out the Flash is required. This also removed the entry slide show that was redundant with my "Individuals" slide show.

I'll look at fonts too, that area of design is definitely a week point for me. Would a serif found be more readable for the main text?
06/25/2008 05:45:34 PM · #20
Originally posted by Nusbaum:

Originally posted by JesiLynR:


Nusbaum, I personally would use a different (serif) font (this is personal preference though)...also, I'd make the specification about monitor sizes smaller and the "ENTER" much larger -- maybe even make the image clickable. I agree that the writing is small, but I don't really think it detracts from the website...

Ya.. I should have pointed out that based on yesterday's feedback I bumped the main font size from a 11px to 14px, so what you saw wasn't as bad as it was before. I also added the new 'entry' page because I got messages from two people saying they could not see any images. The entry page has a single images that rotates with each refresh and points out the Flash is required. This also removed the entry slide show that was redundant with my "Individuals" slide show.

I'll look at fonts too, that area of design is definitely a week point for me. Would a serif found be more readable for the main text?


Ah, okay, cool. I was wondering about that with the other comments...

I don't know if readability is an issue as much as it'd look more professional (in my opinion at least..). Some good ones that I use are Garamond, the Goudy family, and Adobe Caslon (although many people may not have this one, as I believe it only comes with Photoshop). Or you may want to find a better sans-serif font, like Helvetica Neue or Frutiger. The main thing I was talking about with the font was your Individuals slideshow, actually...
06/27/2008 01:08:14 PM · #21
Originally posted by JesiLynR:

Originally posted by Nusbaum:

Originally posted by JesiLynR:


Nusbaum, I personally would use a different (serif) font (this is personal preference though)...also, I'd make the specification about monitor sizes smaller and the "ENTER" much larger -- maybe even make the image clickable. I agree that the writing is small, but I don't really think it detracts from the website...

Ya.. I should have pointed out that based on yesterday's feedback I bumped the main font size from a 11px to 14px, so what you saw wasn't as bad as it was before. I also added the new 'entry' page because I got messages from two people saying they could not see any images. The entry page has a single images that rotates with each refresh and points out the Flash is required. This also removed the entry slide show that was redundant with my "Individuals" slide show.

I'll look at fonts too, that area of design is definitely a week point for me. Would a serif found be more readable for the main text?


Ah, okay, cool. I was wondering about that with the other comments...

I don't know if readability is an issue as much as it'd look more professional (in my opinion at least..). Some good ones that I use are Garamond, the Goudy family, and Adobe Caslon (although many people may not have this one, as I believe it only comes with Photoshop). Or you may want to find a better sans-serif font, like Helvetica Neue or Frutiger. The main thing I was talking about with the font was your Individuals slideshow, actually...

Thanks!! This was my first attempt at this type of a slide show and I don't have any background in graphic design. I'll play around with some of those fonts, especially in the slide show. Since each slide is a jpeg I don't have to worry about the fonts in the browsers.
06/29/2008 01:27:37 PM · #22
I like the updates. It looks good. The only thing that sticked into my mind was, why did it suddenly put me at the portraits album. It should possibly have a home page or something thats a "home" for viewers to land on.
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