Submitted by Paulo Zoom @paulozoom:
I’m the site’s author, so I’m biased. Instead of giving an opinion, I’m gonna give an insight on the motivation. The purpose was promoting myself, and also use the site to be my playground, to experiment with new stuff. I have a rule I follow everytime, and it says: “I must learn at least one new thing with each project I make.”
I’ve wanted to try some stuff for a long time, which I’ve done in my site: grid-design, customized design for every page, sIFR and big lovely typography. In this site, I tried them all.
I really like the nice simple approach to this site design. Nice color choices and focus on typography. I like the sub page designs much better than the home page. I’d like to see more context on the homepage, maybe a work sample or something else pulled in, however that’s just my taste.
Let’s see. Museo…check. Gigantic meaningless header…check. Letterpress effect on text…check. I know I must sound like a broken record, but this is a weak design AND it doesn’t even validate.
@john: thanks a lot for pointing the validation problem. It was really basic, but I forgot to check it when I put it online, eheh. But it’s fixed now, thanks 🙂
Thanks for your feedback on Museo, I’m seeing it quite a lot recently too, and that makes me want to change, probably to a paid serif typeface. It would be great if your opinions were justified/constructive, but thanks for your time spend writing the comment anyway.
Please try not to get defensive. I think my comments definitely have merit. If you’d like more detail, here you go:
1. The header is too large. The homepage is basically a splash page. It doesn’t provide any real information to the user. Why not show a current project or featured work, or a blog?
2. You aren’t using a custom design on every page. You’re using three color schemes on two different pages. The changes have no context and offer no real value to the page, unlike Jason Santa Maria’s site.
3. You’re using several current design cliches all at once. The letterpress look, Museo, the large “Hi my name is” header.
4. The copy needs work. Personal opinion, of course. You used the word stool four times on the homepage. You know that’s another word for poop right?
John, I think you have some valid points in your second post, as long as you explain your thinking behind it, but it would be great to try to talk about sites here without getting scatological. I also don’t think it’s fair to say it’s “unlike Jason Santa Maria’s site”, that’s like asking a band why they aren’t as good as the Beatles.
I think it’s also important to see Paulo as someone trying to get better at what he does, he’s young and the line “a web guy in the making” is fresh, honest, and a little self-deprecating. This is opposed to the normal “I’m a designer who designs awesome stuff” type site. I think the copy does get a little obtuse, more specificity would be great, but I don’t see it as the same as many other sites in that regard.
As to the use of Museo, it is everywhere but it’s a beautiful typeface, and it’s free. I don’t think anyone needs to apologize for using it, as if something that is paid for is automatically better. We need to use the hell out of it to encourage type designers to provide more great typefaces like Museo.
@john
Thanks a lot for your comments. I wasn’t trying to get defensive, I really wanted constructive criticism, and thanks a lot for getting back to UMS and helping me.
On (1), I definitively agree on showing more information on the homepage. That’s something I want to improve when I redesign it.
About (2), and if you want to get specific, I’m not using a all new design on each page. I’m using a different layout and colors, but there are some common design decisions I made, such as the typeface choice and the header design, just so the pages had something to do w/ each other, and so users can feel/know they’re on the same site. As a matter of fact, neither each page Jason designs is completely different. The header and comments layout are kept, and for a good reason, UI consistency.
About (3), I’m noticing these trends, and I’m looking forward to step aside from them. I like some of them, like the usage of big and interesting typefaces, but this is a way of learning and getting better. Now I know what I want to change and what I don’t.
Finally, on (4), some people have pointed out it’s too cryptic, and this was a difficult decision. I liked the metaphor a lot, and was aware of some of the issues w/ it. I went ahead, thanks for your opinion, and I’ll definitively work harder on this matter.
@Jay
You understood what I wanted to say about myself. I’m not a complete design dork, I know I get some things right, but I also know there are a lot of things I get wrong too. Gallery submissions are a way to get more criticism/opinions, and tks for your comments on this thread. Definetively agree w/ your opinion on the “unlike JSM” reason. 🙂
On the Museo choice, I really like it and used it because it was fresh and new, but know it’s not a differentiating factor no more. I still like it, but I’m looking forward to buy and use some typefaces from Dino dos Santos. He’s a portuguese (like me) typeface designer. His work is really awesome, and it’ll be my way to use some typefaces not really known in the web community and paying respect to his work. I’ll try to do my part it promoting portuguese design.
Tks a lot to both of you guys for the great and constructive feedback.