Indie Developer ...is another redesign needed?

[Westcoast-Games]

Greetings x10 fourmites!

We are an independent games developer and ...we come in peace.
....okay, seriously now ...I've finally gotten around to the job of redesigning the site.

The target demographic for the site, people who play computer games ….well, frequent gamers, maybe touching into the casual market.

Ideally, the site just has to look smooth, and leave you with a positive impression.

Anyway here we are: http://www.westcoast-games.com/


Constructive advice is welcome!

btw - IE6 is a no, no.

Thanks
Chris

[mcklovin]

Voted Acceptable -1 because the layout your using is fine, but the style ( colors, and gradients are pretty harsh).

Remember some times less is more when dealing with web design you should try to stick to a set of 4-5 colors. Your color palette isn't very appealing, color choices are very important, especially since your trying to sell games on your site. If it doesn't look 100% professional no one will trust you with their information.

[Westcoast-Games]

Nobody mentioned the grammatical error in the text in the first piece of news :dunno: ...looks like proof reading at 2am is really not my thing - lesson learnt.

mcklovin - that's for taking the time to explain your vote choice.
While I appreciate the point you're making, to boldly state that any colour palette isn't appealing, sounds like you're stating a fact, rather then your opinion. In all honesty I've had opinions from numerous sources stating quite the opposite view to yours.

Personally I'm leaning towards the view that the white background causes contrast issues with the other colours, so may play around with that, however the colour gradient is drawn from the logo, and is intended to provide interesting dividing elements and help anchor the logo wth the content.

Opinions Needed
I would be interested to hear whether others agree / disagree with:
- the white background causing contrast issues?
- the colour gradient is too harsh?

[Anna]

I find the design rather nice.

Changing the white space to one very pale shade of the same gray your content boxes have would probably make it easier on the eye.

[Westcoast-Games]

LadyAnna – thanks for the comment.

I've now changed the white background and light grey content box colours, using lighter shades of the sepia present in the horizontal colour gradient, as for me this makes it easier on the eye overall, and using lighter shades from the gradient does makes more sense - in terms of website design.

Happy to hear of any more potential improvements!