Revision C
I took some your points, tossed em together, and this is what I came up with. Arun, I didnt follow your wording precisely, but I feel this still works. Evan, I like the rounded corners, and I'll play more with them tomorow when I have more time. Also, I'll flip the logo around and make it big. Whadya think?
Also, the site should still fit easily in a single window.
New, design, with 78% more FUN!!
Well, I like this new stuff a lot. I was able to bring back larger buttons, and actually GAINED space for content. Also, I set it up so that on topbar links rollovers only change the TEXT colour, so this should make evans job a bit easier. I really like 6a. Lemme know what you think
6a
6b
A different approach...
Okay, I was sort of playing with the new site design, trying to get it looking a bit slicker, and a bit more unified, cause with 4a+b, the plasticy topbar really wasnt meshing with the smooth, soft grey sidebar. SO I came up with this, which is a bit different from what we've seen before, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Yes, on one hand, it is slick ad professional looking, but it doesnt look as fun. It looks like an office, not a playroom, you know? So I guess my point is, do we want this thing to look professional or do we want it to be enjoyable? I find myself liking the older designs more and more. i liked the big toolbars and bright colors http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5702/681/1600/Homepage%201b.0.jpg
i think, that we could make a really fun website if we dont worry too much about white space and screen real estate.
Take a look at http://www.odeo.com/listen it's a really fun site to use, and it was always in the back of my head for the first few designs.
Anywyas, thats my two cents.
Here's a screenshot of the new design.
Logo update
Heres 1b.. the refined logo. I've found a map thats more north american-centric, added a few connection lines, and intersected them all over land. I didnt change the icons hair, since im not sure how it would actually make it appear more unisex. Perhaps I should use a more iconic character, similar to MSN's buddies or something like that. Let me know what you think.
New Designs: 3a and 4a
Hey. For 3a, I was trying to implement some of the things we'd talked about earlier; the thinner topbar, better colouring on the sidebar, etc, etc.
Then I had an idea radical enough to warrent a whole new build number. For 4a I decided it mightb e interesting to switch things up a bit. I tried to make it as space efficient as possible, and I kinda like it. It's a bit different, what do you think?
UPDATE
THe flipped 4a, called 4b, as requested
new logo
forum
http://peerlounge.com/index.php?showforum=22
Two more layout designs
Ok, ive busted out two more design mockups for your perusal. The first meets most of Arun's requests, and I quite like it. It's more streamlined, and more efficiently spaced. I didn't add the lines dividing the links, as he requested, however. Reason being for this, is that as the user browses the green nav. bar, the link will be highlighted with black, as illustrated. This should clearly distinguish word groups. I think lines or seperators would detract from the overall design. Anywyas, here it is.
For the second desing, I've introduced new concept: the sidebar. The sidebar, which I've tentatively named the "Navigator," will be a place for specific information that the user may want accesss to regardless of what page they're on... things like, most recent forum posts, external links, contact information for us, etc, etc. It should be fully functional and auto-updating, so that if a new post is made while the user is looking through the media section, for instance, they will be notified of that, and be givin the option to respond. It should be present on every page, except, I think, the forum page, since it would be redundant, but that really depends on what content we agree to put into it.
Let me know what you think.
New Layout
You prbly noticed this site looks different. I changed it.... that green was getting to me, sorry.
Site redesign
k.. i haven't fixed the logo yet, but i have made it smaller... also, i think that pink bar up there makes things a bit more interesting, visually... so big changes are pink bar + smaller logo area
Also, for the login/signup... i think it'll just say login all the time, and when click on it you are offered to either login or register. When you are logged in, it could just change to log out, if we want, or something else.
Discussions
Okay, so, lets try and keep all discussion of the site on blogger... no personal emails, they get too complicated, if you want, you can tell blogger to email you every time there is a new comme posted, or if you use RSS, there is a feed you can subscribe to, which is how i like to do it. for live group discusions, if we want to bother planning something like that, we have a few options, but the most obvious is a group chat in MSN, though i dont know how reliable that is...
anyways, site revamp comming up, watch out for it...
Also, try to comment on existing posts as its appropriate, like, if you like, say, the site design1a, comment on it, rather than making a new post to say how much you like....
ok, im done now...
Logo
ok guys, tell me what you think.
UPDATE:
I've done a mockup of the about page,
on flickr, tel me what you think
