NSU Website Redesign

[saquib]

I've been asked by the CSE dept to to a redesign of the NSU website. Having no doubt about the crappy website that currently exists for a university like NSU, my focus for this design was something clean yet rich in leaving an impression. I focused specifically on 2 things: The site architecture (so one has a clear idea where to find information) and content that makes impression (the message that's being sent). I tried to steer away from too much design, as this is the site of the whole university rather than the Architecture department, and also because I wanted to have things loaded fast. Of course the initial mock up lacks the photography that is one of the vital ingredients for some of the flash based content. My idea is to use the philosophy behind higher education as what's being said on the site, for this I have chose to select factors like "Dream", "Imagination", "Change", and "Belief" to be portrayed through the content. This is my initial stuff, took me a while as I've been a bit out of focus lately.

Internal stuffs at the Board of Governors have the project halted, and I don't know where it would eventually land. Nevertheless I couldn't help sharing this (I guess it's the new DD T-shirt).

[sarahbd]

nice one.. way better than their current website
i just don't like the green color on the box's title bar and the overall color scheme.. layout is very nice

sorry for commenting.. i guess you dint want comments but wanted to share..

[asifshahid]

Saquib welocme back. I have lot of comments regarding this design, shall I start? ok :


General question: Is there any special reason to choose violet color? Probably taken from logo. ok
Mark 1: Banner is so empty.
Mark 2: Don't use the light at corner for this.
Mark 3: chole, but change korte parle bhalo
Mark 4: Cool
Mark 5: Nice. Also try with Black(less opacity)
Mark 6: very nice.
Mark 7: Green Color looks Alien here
Mark 8: you have to play more with it
Mark 9: Nice but need better place. If this box is used frequently by faculties/students/staffs then definitely it should be in upper part of the site

Overall:
-Too much violet and darkish. feels heavy.
-Some places you used rounded corner and some places hard. Round looks fine to me
-Maintain the box gapes

Saquib these are just my opinions. Tumi amake ei design ta dile hoyto ei try gula kortam, tai bollam. Now its up to you

Thanks

[pagol]

ok.. good going...

my honest opinion... personally i don’t like color scream and i don’t mix blue green together. ok.. header not cool and fresh yet... top a text ta aroo ak size boro kortay hobay at least. apni banner onek gula student a picture use korchen.. amar monay hoi jodi one or two student use koren ta holay bhalo lagbay arooo....................

if u want to use blue color then use different blue color scream ok... for now that;s it...

never mind for my honest opinion

[KiLLSWiTCH]

I guess violet ta use korse based on what ever major color there is in the logo...and that bright blue isnt good So oi dik diye there are no options...so if i have to say anything abt the draft design i wud say its fine, just fine and just tweaking here and there will make it look aro better.

For instance...yes, the green looks out of place...also, the 3 boxes with those pic of 3 men in it...the bg color of the boxes look more closer to blue and not violet...parle correct it. Also stick to one style...as smasif mentioned...go for round rectangles...mix match korio na. center e image er bottom e "next" n "previous" ta gray box use korso...change it to something that goes with the color scheme. Also, place the "next and previous" boxes next to each other and on the bottom right corner of the main image placeholder...cuz in terms of usability..akhon ja ache if i want to click next i have to drag my mouse to the right and if i want to click previous, then i have to drag my mouse to the left...which is bothersome

If you want to use the secondary color of the logo (which is the sky blue)..then u can trying using that blue color for bullets n arrows...in terms of design theory you can use this bright blue as an "accent" that will compliment the overall color scheme. I think you can use this blue with violet to create a very nice vista-ish type top banner...oitar upor u can change the over color scheme layout as well. I may be wrong...kore dekhte paro. but plz post the changes, we wud love to see how it turns out once u r done

[saquib]

Thanks everyone for those tips. The best thing about the forum is having almost instant opinions, which really helps. The green definitely was an effect of carelessness. Spent too little time for that as I wasn't sure of the News & Events section, and also because it's more of an initial sketch. - I'm almost certainly going to work on the combination. About the viloet/blue work, it's hard to look elsewhere as we have to stick to the NSU's brand color. I always think working with shades of blue is "cliched", it's too techy, and used by too many people. Any suggestions on specific color codes that is around the color i used? somethings effect design a lot, for example the logo i have to work with... it doesn't work at all, and i don't want a typical banner... clean type kichu chachilam - i'll see what can i change.

This initial work is more on layout and site architecture, many of the design elements, like photos and icons are completely dummy stuff.

thanks for the comments, really meant a lot!

[asifshahid]

I think overall blue would be fine for this site as blue introduced several times in their logo. Ya must upload the new version unless you loose the contract