I'm in the process of starting up a contracting business to do 3D work for the three colleges in my town. I'm hoping there's a market for it... even in the vet school I'm working for right now, I see dozens of ways that 3D could really help professors get stuff across to their students, or even ways that researchers could use 3D to sell their ideas to colleagues and the media.
The site I'm working on is http://www.eduvis.com/ . I'd really appreciate some honest critiques... imagine you're a university professor or department administrator thinking about ways to use a big fat grant. Would you be interested in this? What would make it better?
Thanks in advance!
[ January 04, 2005, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: Zeugma ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how they respond to things, but I think your splash page could be a little more exciting - maybe a huge 3-D image. I mean, who wouldn't be at least intrigued by a giant three-dimensional intubated cat?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Also, the rule going through the text is confusing.
And I'd lose the drop shadow behind "multimedia that works."
I like your color scheme in the logo texts (tan/red/blue) and think you should carry it throughout the rest of the page. The greys and silvers are competing for the main "look" of the page.
[ December 10, 2004, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Annie ]
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
And your webpage looks wonky in IE 6, you silly mac user you. (It looks correct, until the menu loads on the right, which shifts things around. not sure how else to explain)
[ December 10, 2004, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: TheTick ]
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Waaay too dark.
Also, you're likely going to less want to aim this at professors teaching, but at professors doing research, because that means funding.
1) such a professor can afford a 3D model for a research project that they wouldn't have the budget for in the classroom (many professors have essentially no discretionary budget for classroom expenditures).
2) it'll impress the grant committee, meaning more money in the future.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Oh geez, silly me posting this before I check it on IEwin!!!
No one click that link until I run downstairs and see how bad it looks! Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I disagree about too dark. Dark is the new pink.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Yeah - it looks weird in my browser.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
? There is no splash page on that site...
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
By splash page I mean home page.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Annie: that right there's a reason not to use dark.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm with fugu on the 'too dark' issue. Either make the background lighter, or increase the font size, otherwise reading it can give you quite a headache. And yeah, perhaps you should make it look a little better in IE!
Also: It's quite confusing to see the frame around the text ajusting itself every time you change pages... If you intended your site to look like a book, I think it's better to have a fixed format and just go to 'the next page' if you have more text. For example in that case you could 'bend' the corner of the page and put a "->" sign there, so people would know to click it to see the rest of the text.
[ December 10, 2004, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I think a well though-out use of dark is an excellent way to make a visually unique page that will stand out in the eyes of the common beholder.
It was the specific dramatic darks I used on this page that got another client interested in my design.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, Annie, it looks good, but your text color is yellowish white or orange which is VERY visible on black background, while on Zeugma's site the black text and the gray background don't mix too well, IMO.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I think that making the tan lighter would probably fix the darkness issue. My biggest gripe is that the larger font stuff looks pixelated.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I'm with fugu and Corwin about being too dark. It's the first mark of being an amateur work, IMO. Dark *can* work on a site, but it's far more difficult to pull off dark and clean than it is to pull off light and clean. Clean is the keyword. If it looks cluttered, it looks unprofessional.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Oh, dark can be good. However, perhaps a better word for that page is dim. It looks like someone's turned the brightness down on that section the monitor. The colors are dulled.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Wow, it's a walking disaster in IEwin! I've either misdefined a width, or something is breaking through a container and rearranging everything... this is going to take me a while to nail down.
Until then, though, thanks for the comments from the standards-compliant viewers! I'll add a "splash" page with a big graphic on it, and think about the darkness thing. For those who can see it, what about the content? It's all stuff I just sort of stream-of-conciousnessed. Still pretty hokey?
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I would definitely increase the contrast on the logo at the top. Dark logo on white background always works. Right now the logo just isn't very noticeable.
The main text is being upstaged by the navigation links on the right. They have too high contrast, IMO, and too prominent a spot on the page.
However, it's not that bad. It's clean and fairly well organized.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Switch the two body paragraphs around. The second one should be first.
It's not bad copy, but its size and position make it less desirable to read through. I would try to tell the whole story concisely in one or two large headlines that the visitor would read on the first sweep of the site. Then flesh the story out in the smaller copy. Tell the visitor right off the bat exactly what you have that they can get excited about. Don't give them vague cliche marketing hooks.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
I amusing FireFox 1.0 on 800 x 600. and it looks like the the gray box with your text information is offset. The body of light grey box shifted into the dark grey box that has your "home," "about," and "services" links. The result is your text (like "stuck in the information stoneage" is outside of the light grey background on the left side.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I'll let others give specific web advice.
I will suggest you need an actual working presentation, not just stills. If there are copyright issues, then you'll need to create one from scratch.
Ideally, you'd have one for each major area of presentation (engineering, chemistry, biology, physics, math, etc.). I'd start with one that has the widest application.
Dagonee
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
How much are you going to try to get for, say, a creation of similar complexity to the kitten one?
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Dag, by presentation do you mean a demo reel? I've got one, I just have to export it without my name in it. I'll embed it in the page when it's done, in the next couple of days (after I figure out what the heck is wrong with the code).
Fugu, it'll depend quite a bit on what the client wants, and how prepared they are for me (like, do they need their hand held through the entire process, or do they know what they want?)
The cat took me about a week to build and a week to animate, 80 hours, about the same as each of the three anesthesia machine modules, and I'd like to charge $40-$60 an hour.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Yeah, see, do you see a professor paying out over $3200 for a diagram for a class?
Market it as a tool to better communicate grant-related information, and as a better sort of diagram in a textbook (to the professors and the textbook companies).
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
That's a good point, fugu... but there's a huge pot of money on campus for faculty who find ways to use technology in their teaching. It's fairly easy to get a grant from it, and that's actually what "paid for" the 2 hours of video that these animations were a part of. Cool stuff.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:Dag, by presentation do you mean a demo reel? I've got one, I just have to export it without my name in it. I'll embed it in the page when it's done, in the next couple of days (after I figure out what the heck is wrong with the code).
Yeah - something that shows the animation as well. That's your whole selling point, really. Otherwise, it's just lots of pretty pictures to them.
Dagonee
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I hate splash pages.
That is all.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
If I don't have a splash page, how else can I jazz up the home page? I can animate the logo switching from wireframe to finished render.... not too exciting, though. Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
I like splashing! In water....
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
quote:I can animate the logo switching from wireframe to finished render....
That would be cool.
You don't need busy, though, so much as eye-catching. I'm a fan of the minimalist aesthetic that grabs you with one central or large image and is cohesive enough to pull you down to be interested in the details.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Don't do animation loops. Those are so annoying.
I suggest a nice large three-d object jutting out of the center of the page and really emphasizing its three-d-ness.
Make the link to the Samples more prominent. Give them some eye candy.
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
A couple of things about the navigation bar.
First, why have it on the right? There's nothing wrong with breaking conventions once in a while, but there should be a compelling reason for it. As it is, it's a little confusing.
Second, the highlighting of the background (the <li> tags) works ok, but it's a little misleading. A mouseover usually indicates that something is clickable, so it's frustrating when it doesn't work to click everywhere in the rectangle. Also, I'd say use the background highlight or the underline, but not both, unless you can get them to happen at the same time.
My last complaint is that the navigation bar gives no indication of the current page, so you can feel a little lost. (This is exacerbated by the location of the bar on the right. Adding in a current-page-indicator would go a long way towards easing the break of convention I mentioned above.)
Also, not sure why, but Firefox appears to be incorrectly drawing the red highlighted "SERVICES" area on a mouseover -- the white line above is getting obscured. I don't know what to do about that one.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Oh, you can take care of the mouseover not equaling clickability thing by changing the a tag to block display.
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
Hey, as long as we're critiquing, can I get comments on this site I just put up a few days ago? I know fugu's seen one version of it or other, but I could always use some more feedback. It still needs some photos / drawings scattered around, and I'm going to add a gallery page at some point.
(Sorry to hijack your thread, Ayelar -- I can make a new thread on this if you'd like.)
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I think the layout works decently well on most browsers, but I'm not sure about the font size or the custom scrollers. Could y'all let me know if anything looks cut off, or if you can't use the scroll arrows?
Any other comments would be appreciated, too.
Thanks! Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
It's very pretty (love the retro look to the logo), but the scroll arrows didn't work for me. I'm using IE, if that matters.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
The arrows work fine for me, but I really don't like having to horizontal scroll.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
try some brighter colors maybe? as i was looking at it it all began to blend.........and the dark colors made me think of vomit
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
AR, are you using macIE? And dkw, what's your screen resolution? You shouldn't have to horizontal scroll! Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
ba-da-bump!
Does anyone else have trouble with the scroll arrows?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Scroll arrows still no worky on IE6.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Dang. Wonder what I did to break them.
Back to the drawing board! Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I like how the site looks, but the scroll arrows are not working smoothly. If I have to go through clicking arrows rather than using my mouse scroll button, they should be easier to use than those are, and they shouls scroll smoothly.
The visuals look great though, and I like the colors adn the graphics.
Kwea
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
The graphics look great, and I like the colors. But you could probably get away with increasing the layout size substantially so you don't need so much scrolling.
BTW, the scrolling worked for me in Firefox on a Mac. But there was a bit of a pause, so I clicked the arrow too many times before it responded.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Yeah, you guys are probably right. If the scrollers aren't going to work reliably, then I'll just have to increase the vertical space.
It Came from Outer Space: The Project That Will NEVER END!!!
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I'd make the entire graphic larger and use a cleaner font, not Times New Roman. The words are way too small and hard to read over your background mesh lightbulb, even Arial would make them slightly easier to read.
(Note: the graphics are fabulous otherwise and I wish I could do something even half that good from that standpoint!)
AJ
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
Slick!
The arrows work for me in Safari. I'd gray out arrows that won't have any effect, though. (So, the up arrow would be disabled when you're at the top and the down arrow would be disabled when you're at the bottom.) Otherwise very nice.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
try Comic Sans MS for you font.........it is about ten times easier to read.........increase layout size..........and ditch the brown........destroy the arrows.........otherwise good
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Not ComicSans...nonononononononono
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Thanks, Steve... but I learned my Comic Sans lesson a while ago... it's not exactly a respectable choice in the nerd community.
Does anyone know if there's a way to make text not look awful in Windows? I mean, Times New Roman and Georgia are just gorgeous when they're rendered on a mac... but oof, so blocky and flat and ugly on a PC! Not to mention the non-standard font size interpretation... still trying to figure out how to get around that.
Also, there is an awesome site that everyone should check out if they're developing websites... http://www.browsercam.com
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