Whats "missing" with my site design. Criticism please!

[Major_Disaster]

Hello all,

Ive slowly been designing a new website. Ive created the design and have created the required pages and filled with filler text. I think it looks good, but i also think there is something missing. It doesnt jump out the page. I dont think its particularly memorable or special. I was wondering what your thoughts were?

Thanks for all your (constructive!) comments

The site is here: http://beta.ryanballard.co.uk/

Cheers

PS I know there is no logo - that is yet to be designed (not by me!)

 

[3dcandy]

pretty clean, not bad at all. I'd have a longer delay on the nivo slider though, it gets pretty quick! It's also very grey and monochrome, which is, for me, why it doesn't "pop" at all...

 

[fez]

Same here, the scroller needs to go about half speed. And maybe add a highlight colour that you pick up on link hover or when you hover on one of the drop downs, the little 3 squares are a different colour.

 

[simisker]

Hello all,

Ive slowly been designing a new website [...]

Still?! Blimey!

Nice to see it's still clean and minimalist, anyway

An accent colour is the most obvious suggestion, but if you want to retain that monochromatic look, then there are two things you can do to give it that extra something: typography and more generous whitespace.

Your handling of Trebuchet as display text is really admirable; unfortunately Trebuchet only comes in two flavours: medium [passable at best] and bold [godawful].

I'd look at experimenting with some good webfonts; and by good I mean ones that are appropriate to the style, the product, and have a wide range of weights, from hairline/light to black. Judicious use of contrasting weights of even one font family can have a dramatic effect on the 'personality' of a site, and help guide the user. Proxima Nova springs to mind as a versatile example with a huge range of weights/scales.

Also play with font size. Sticking to 12-24px isn't necessarily a broad enough range for 'style' and impact.


Similarly, be more generous with whitespace around some areas. Use it to suggest priority/importance. Also, squares are inherently more stylish than rectangles - their even-sided proportion implies deliberate design decisions - so see if you can work them into the layout anywhere [whilst maintaining a balance with other non-square elements, of course].


Hope that helps... you finish it

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

Your website is quick to load and I like that.

Just a few seconds wait annoys me and I wouldn't bother waiting. I know most are not as impatient as me but imo the speed of your website really stands out to me.

I like the clean look and not having to scroll much (or at all) downwards to see everything.

Clicking on the 'about' tab comes up with an error.

 

[eXor]

I like it. That Nivo slider has some nice transition effects.

I'd left align 'Bearings', 'Power Transmission', 'Aerospace' to match everything else.