talkmagic.co.uk

Hi ive finished my new website and would love to hear your thoughts on it...

http://www.BLMagic.co.uk

Thanks Guys!

Awful, in a word.

Slow loading, even on broadband, and quite bland.

The idea of using organic flow rather than blocky layouts is alright, but there's so much lacking in terms of design.

Something quick, dynamic, and more interactive would do far better.

erm ok then... it dosn't fill much of the page.... erm theres no vids so pointless having an option yet....photos are reasonable and well laid out.

before i rip into the site can i just ask.
its it going to be a comercial site.
is it going to be your online business card.
what part of the demographic are you selling to, teenaghers and below.
weres the stuff about what youv'e done, your skills, styles you do and what your willing to do.

your profile tells me squat so i can't give you any advice regarding advertising for your demographic or region that would certainly help.

please note this is constructive critisism and please don't be offended, i know its hard but your standing on stage naked waiting to be apraised, expect a few eybrow raises, possibly a few sniggers too.

seige wrote:Awful, in a word.

Slow loading, even on broadband, and quite bland.

The idea of using organic flow rather than blocky layouts is alright, but there's so much lacking in terms of design.

Something quick, dynamic, and more interactive would do far better.

Wow. Cutting. There's a fine line between honest criticism and rudeness. I don't think it's 'awful. However, that background image, which I quite like, could do with being made larger - it looks like you've designed the site for a 800x600 res or something and it's not scaled. Also, if it does fill the entire background it might start looking a little too busy... a la many hideous myspaces. There are no videos yet, but I'm sure they're coming. I'm also sure you could write a short paragraph about yourself too - that would be very useful. It's definitely snazzier than my website!

Loads quick enough, but only fills half the page !! Pretty poor as far as design goes. I wouldn't rate it one out of 10, but each to their own. If you are genuinely serious about having a professional website, get someone to do it for you !! And pay for it, you get what you pay for !!

it isn't the worst site i've seen. however, i have a few points to make:

-the whole site is a bit bland
-i don't think it is very professional to click a camcorder to be redirected to a youtube account with no videos
-i think you need a good prfoile explaining a bit about yourself, background and magic

however, it isn't amazingly bad. i think it just needs a bit of work

Well I was expecting a better response than that.. I know its not great, but I was quite pleased with it and thought it was an original design. I know there are no videos just yet.. but they are coming.

Thanks for the response, it all helps

Swest wrote:Wow. Cutting. There's a fine line between honest criticism and rudeness.

Yeah, there sure is. And I kept to the 'honest' side of it.

One harsh lesson learned by ANY creative type is that you must accept criticism. Beating around the bush and sugar coating things for people isn't going to do any good for anyone. Look at Michael Kras, as a prime example.

When someone asks on a forum for a subjective criticism, that's exactly what they will get.

I didn't even MENTION the fact that there was no 'real' content, nothing that a search engine or screen-reader could grasp. The whole site is basically a set of large, very slow-loading images.

The 'main' part of the site, entitled 'home.png', is 432kb. This kind of file size is about 10 times what your maximum PAGE SIZE should be, with ALL IMAGES INCLUDED.

As I said, the use of an organic type representation is nice, but the execution, content, and technical implementation are awful.

I think it looks quite good, maybe a lighter border around the picture would look quite good, and try to center it. Also Try to make the file sizes a bit smaller.

Fair enough Seige, I agree with much of the criticism already raised, and I just hope that MagicLondon takes it on board, and that as a new user on this site doesn't take this too much to heart. I must say it is quite a testament to Michael Kras that he hasn't done this, and, for all his fallibilities has stayed around and for the most part taken it on the chin. Please do the same MagicLondon!

I understand where you're coming from, but I've always maintained that if you can't take criticism, you shouldn't ask for it.

It's far more useful for people to be honest about things than to patronise.