Week 13B: Mid-Progress Critique & Looking in New Directions

For the mid-progress critique, I presented the two versions of the homepage I'd been working on.  Both are having major technical issues, which were very obvious.

Version 1

Version 2

Critiques:

• Image replacement for background on tablet/mobile
• Round edges for green span
• In version 1, navicon too small; menu should be showing first, then clicked to hide
• Include home in navigation; some users may not recognize logo is clickable
• Background image could be a slideshow
• "Top-Rated NonProfit" competing with logo; too large
• Hide nav for tablet/mobile only
• Social media & awards should be taken out of nav & put into a footer
• Perhaps awards could be included on about page
• Subtle social media can be included in navs; needs to be subtle & STYLIZED
• More line height in nav
• Smaller buttons
• Social media & contact should be moved to bottom of sidebar
• More left padding to green span; add name
• Rid of lines in menu; replace with padding
• Replace navicon with "MENU"

There was great concern about whether I could actually bring this site to a successful fruition.  With that said, I decided to do some further research.  First looking into some other sites who had successfully pulled off some aspects I was hoping to work into my design, like the Pew Center's wide image slideshow & a sleek side nav as exhibited on the websites of Philip House, Haberdash Fox, & Bienville Capital.

I also considered going a totally new direction, doing something less experimental that would be more within my skill set & would not keep me up all night. 

This new direction uses a more standard layout & features such as large explanatory icons.  The sketches above show that I would still plan on using large imagery, though in this case more a hero image, with a caption in a transparent overlay at the bottom of the image.  Perhaps this would contain a link to some sort of feature on the website.  Below would be the oh-so-standard three-icon system.  I'd use this to highlight their mission (upcycling), the store (brown paper bag), & the craft room (paint brush).  The footer would contain award badges, copyrights/address/contact, & social media buttons.