I don't have a creativtive bone in my body. 1

[silvere]

Hi guys, I have a web page that I need to revamp. I have planned out on paper what I want and I know how to do it. The only problem is I have no creativity for the design. I'm going to take graphic art classes next semester, but that dosen't help today. Can anyone help point me in the right direction. Where would I go to start? Is there a patch I can download for creativity

Thanks
Andy

 

[silvere]

nor do I know how to spell creative

 

[deecee]

what are you trying to accomplish....what is your site about....what do you want to convey to your visitors....what...what...what

sometimes i just cant take it...then i realize its already to late

 

[silvere]

well it is a real estate and auction site. you can take a look at the current site if you wish...it's pretty bad.

http://www.hahnrealtyandauction.com

Thanks
Andy

 

[danielh68]

Hi.

That's great you are investing in a few graphic arts courses. As a supplement, here's a couple of books I would recommend. First, anything by "Robin Williams" (not the comedian) is very good for understanding the basic foundamentals of design. In particular, purchase "The Non-Designer's Design Book". It won't teach you how to draw, but it does teach you about typography and composition. One rule I'm able to still retain from the book, is the concept of "CRAP". "CRAP" stands for Contrast-Repeatition-Alignment-Proxity. The book explores each concept in detail.

In addition, buy a book on color theory. It doesn't matter if it's geared towards traditional art or digital, the end result is pretty much the same. Learn about analogous colors, contrast colors, compliment colors, symbolic colors, psychological colors, etc. Color plays an important part in terms of what you want to communicate.

Hope this helps,
DanH

 

[Kjonnnn]

Maybe our system is slow today... but it took a while for that puppy to load.

First thing, get rid of the gray and orange.

I would advise you to start doing a lot of surfing. Surf alot sites find sites the you like the look and color of. Also take note of sites that you DONT like, and why.

Make note of their navigation and ease of use. I'm not saying steal their sites, just let other sites give you ideas.

You can do all this now without waiting for a class. Then when you find what you like and where you wanna go with YOUR site, you can learn what you need to know with a real purpose.

Remember the net is very visual, so even if you site is an auction site, design it to make people wanna come back to it.

You'll be surprised how creative you can become. You just a neeed a jump start.

 

[Curisco]

What ever happens

DON'T GIVE UP

 

[zavsays]

Hi Andy,
These are just some suggestions assuming you wanted to work with the layout you've got (or for a revamp).

• The navigation bar up top is salvagable but it's too wide for the sparse information below. Move the email>help>policy stuff over the top-right of the picture in the banner and lob off about 2 inches from the right. Then constrain the site's width to the width of the banner. This would make the whole site more narrow (and look fuller).

• The gray background looks a bit too default. White might be a better choice.

• Loose the Helvetica and use a more interesting font for the front page. Don't drop shadow orange and black. They sort of vibrate.

• The houses in the listing sheet must be the same size for uniformity and be sure the text (addresses) is not wider than the image. Use a condensed font like arial instead of the drab/default times. And make the words "listing sheets" smaller

Good Luck.

 

[silvere]

Hey guys, thanks for your responses. I know that the orange is atrocious, but it is the company's color and they want it used in the web page. I will have to go pick up a book on the color theory...there must be some other colors that will go with it. Thanks again for your input.

Andy

 

[Guest_imported]

go to

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

and learn good design from bad design.
and speed read his book at a good book store

also, advice for making good web pages:

http://glinda.lrsm.upenn.edu/~weeks/misc/webadvice.html

http://www.coastlink.com/users/sbryce/tips/

Ten top mistakes in Web design:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

What makes a great web site?

http://webreference.com/greatsite.html

get an art book of Piet Mondrian:

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/mondrian.html#images