[Catalyst] Re: Catalyst site design drafts feedback thread

[Tobias Kremer]

> So it's subjective - the whole point of this was to provide -feedback- so
> the designers could understand what people did and didn't like. Telling us
> you'd be worried about Catalyst's future if we used any without a single
> bit of constructive criticism is ... well, frankly, completely useless for
> anything except insulting the designers who were kind enough to create
> mockups for us.

Point taken! I didn't mean to insult anyone! I'm sorry if that was the
impression I gave.

I find it highly problematic and cumbersome to discuss layouts from a graphical
point of view. One can argue about content, navigation, overall structure and
other logical things but often the pure design aesthetics just can't be put
into words. It's an emotional thing, thus my purely emotional response ;-) I'll
will however try my best to provide some constructive criticism:

(1) http://www.browsing.co.uk/cat

If I had to chose one of the proposals it definitely would be this one. With
some more polishing it could end up quite nice.

(2) http://agaton.scsys.co.uk/~matthewt/catsite/cat_mock_web_001.png

I really don't like the "mustard" color scheme which moreover doesn't work
together with the red catalyst logo. The picture takes up way too much screen
real estate.

(3) http://ion0.com/hx/cat/new-version-2-26.jpg
(4) http://ion0.com/hx/cat/catalystSiteDesign3.jpg

Too blurry, too much clumsy shadowing and glowing. Too many colors in (4) that
don't work together well.

(5) http://agaton.scsys.co.uk/~matthewt/catsite/catsite-Penfold.pdf

Way too simplistic. Fonts are too big.

> I am however, much appreciative that you've provided an example of what
> you think is better - perhaps you could include an explanation of why you
> think it's better, though? The point here is I'm presenting -first-
> -drafts- of ideas. +1/-1 can wait until the final designs are done.

Do you mean the other framework websites or my own proposal?

--Tobias