tenchi_63 — Wed, 17 Mar 2004 17:25:33 +0000

i gotta agree about the blue. Way too much and it doesn't match the product.
I also don't like the blurry border effect. The menu needs to go too, plain roll-over text with shadows...i dunno, it just doesn't cut it for me.
As far as the design of the site, it is very elementary IMO. It needs a lot more pizzazz if you wanna get people to buy your item.

Megan — Wed, 17 Mar 2004 14:39:09 +0000

I agree with what others have said about the blue here. It's an entirely inappropriate colour for this site. Choose a colour that relates more to the product. The tan on the current site works well in that respect. YOu could take one of the bottle labels and mimic that. The one you've used with the beige center and coloured border would be a good idea to work from or you could choose another one from their products. Lots of good examples there.

Otherwise this is a reasonably good design. I like what you've done with the little border along the top and the way the bottle overlaps several elements. However, I really dislike the use of TNR as a font here. Try Garamond or Georgia or another nice serif font. Good idea to go with a serif for this design though. I also think that the navigation bar should be moved down below the header graphic. It's not noticeable enough where you've got it now since that isn't an expected location for navigation. At first I expected to find it in the left column area.

About the blue - did you ever read an article about the meaning of colour? Do you know why most fast food restaurants are some combination of red, yellow and orange? Because orange is an appetizing colour. Blue is the opposite of that. Blue plates are sometimes reccomended to dieters because it might help them to eat less. It's an unappetizing colour. Therefore, blue is not an appropriate choice for a food site.

Britton — Wed, 17 Mar 2004 01:24:11 +0000

There's no accounting for taste . . .

teammatt3 — Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:20:43 +0000

I like the old one way better, it has a little more color contrast. The old one also has a cooler logo box thing. The new one is ALL blue, nothing very interesting on the page

The Webmistress — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 08:43:16 +0000

I personally liked the old one, maybe a little bland but nice colours. Yours is too blue and the shadows do absolutely nothing for me, IMO they just make the site look old and they make the bottle feel flat.

icerider — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 06:25:09 +0000

Looks good, but like they said, it would be nice to see the full bottle and too much blue. You could add in some white as it usually goes well with blue, or even a new colour scheme but with the same layout, possibly a brown or red one. It looks great and better than the current one!

nicora — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 05:34:02 +0000

Well, I must say, I do like your interpretation much better than the original.
I do, however, have some problems with the design.

First, your menu items are well placed, but the drop shadow is way too distant. Decrease the size... a lot, then shorten the distance, maybe even play with a stroke.

The flowery borders are great. I like them very much.

You have the same problem, IMHO, with the cart graphic - plus the cart icon does not fit. Think of what the old Italian markets would use for gathering goods, or maybe think of a more "Tuscan" way to display the cart.

I like the way the inline graphics look with the inset rounded corners and all, but you copy overflows on the borders. Make it stay within the width of your graphics. I also think you should find another font, color or size. Probably all 3…

There are a lot of things I like about the site, it just needs some touch up work.

Good job.

fifeclub — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 05:13:00 +0000

I like it. But first of all, I don't think their current/old site is all that bad either. It may be a bit boring but but it's clean and simple for a simple old-type product.

Back to your page. I like your treatment, how you've got a lot of old time elements. The horizontal bars are "frayed" and broken with classic leaves. Font choices are appropriate and your layout is good.

My biggest problem by far is way, WAY too much blue. Everything except the bottle is blue. Aside from all the rest of the blue, I really dislike the photos being turned blue. It distorts their products and generally looks like it is a mistake. Their current site has lots of tan, which works well for a "rustic" old-time feel.

Also, the top of the bottle missing bothers me. I understand that if you show the full bottle the label will be much smaller, but it still makes me feel like I should be able to scroll up there.

Except for the blue-overload, good job.