I’ve been working on a redesign and relaunch of a website for the last 4 or 5 months, so this entry was embargoed until today — it should appear once that site is launched publicly.
A couple of weeks ago someone obviously leaked the development site because I received a bizarre, unsolicited, and frankly obnoxious email from some “design” company. The very fact that they were trolling for business by criticizing our design shows that they need a primer on marketing.
First, let me clue you in on the site. Here’s how my predecessor designed it.
And here’s my redesign.
Now, let’s see what the geniuses at Pacific Web Solutions had to say about it.
To whom it may concern,
Some recommendations for your website as we\’re web professional
service. A friend of mind sent me a link to your company website
http://dev.appraisalworld.com which looks different from the actual
http://www.appraisalworld.com. Here are our comments for the site, we hope it
helps you improve.
First of all, all yellow and blue blocks really throw the users off.
Second, all fonts are too big for regular browser at normal resolutions.
It looks like kinder garden here.Third, if your company is supporting different business models such as
Lenders, Appraisers, Homeowners, why don\’t you design easy navigations
right on the top or dropdown menu for each business models. And those
models should be on top menu, not at the bottom of each page like what
it is now.Forth, the 3 yellow blocks represent 3 business models on the front page
look like a skate board to me. This is not the way website attract
viewers. It\’s more like brochure or weekly newsletter design styles.Fith, the website has too many colors like candy bars. The top is
stretched to both ends, the bottom is not.And much more, but for now I hope that could help you improve a little
bit on your new site.Best regards,
Team at pacificwebsolutions.com
I’m glad they didn’t mention grammar and spelling, because that would have been one irony too many.
Their comments about design would be laughable in any instance, but the fact that they are making judgments about the users and “business models” without any knowledge about our audience whatsoever is hilarious.
And I can’t help wondering what the “much more” is.
Now, just for more grins, what say we take a look at their idea of a well-designed site? 2004. Way to keep up to date there.
