harsh critique on website's look (sorry it needs help)

[al]

Hi there. First of all, I'm looking forward to trying out metro again for what it feels a decade long without using it.
Ok.. My suggestion is to spark up the graphics on your site.
The site overall gives a negative gestalt of your product on first glance.
The colors looks very muted and dead. it sorts of gives this faded, dull, impression of it. I mean, grey fonts over dark muted green it's a good way to not make anything stand out at all. SPECIALLY YOUR LOGO!!
Also, the graphics, or lack of thereof, kind of sucks. Nothing sticks to me as a positive reinforcement, visually, for staying longer on the site. There aren't enough snapshots of the product up front either.

if it weren't because I've known the product from past experience, I would've gone somewhere else fast. the site screams "amateur", it does the opposite of enhancing metro. Hell I've seen open source software sites with more sparkliness than this one.
You need a revamp pronto. At least a color makeover.

[Scoot]

I don't have a problem with the website layout....or colour. The aquamarine is probably a good counter to the red of the metro icon.
You may find Al that the Sagan logo in the corner is a registered trademark in that design and colour so you don't mess with it (yep Sagan was around when graphics were in their infancy).

The site flows through the different areas well except when you go to purchase and you end up in the agora page.....it's sort of it's own beast.


The products page could do with the number of tracks and aux busses underneath each app so at a glance the differences between metro, LX and SE can be seen straight away and then the user can click for more info to confirm which one they're interested in.


If anything, the page that needs to dazzle the user is the homepage and a few decent screenshots here would add a lot to it.
Also removing the "1980's" reference (actually the first sentence can go) would make things sounds less dated and the mention of Deck should disappear.


All the other pages seem logical and designed for the purpose.
eg. If you go to a links page you want it full of decent links not a bunch of distracting rubbish.

[Jerm]

I agree with all of Scoot's good comments.

[al]

Welp. the impression I get of the site it's that it isn't very cohesive.

The designer did a safe job by just sampling colors off the logo. That's ok, but it's what they've chosen to do with it that makes me cringe a bit every time I see the page. Understand that it is not the color, but the lack of contrast. and by simply sampling a slight darker tone of green you don't create a whole lot of contrast in that area.

The color scheme on the navigational bar is murky and dull, it isn't crisp and clear. As opposed to the sharp contrast of black text over white background that's the content area. It throws your eyes off a bit when you shift between those two areas.

The grey in the logo is close in tonal range to the color background, only the background has a green bias. I don't have a problem with the logo itself at all. It's the choice of sticking to a mute tone range of colors that doesn't make anything stand out at all. it flattens things out.

The off state of the links on the nav bar give more unity to the murky look. The rollovers could work if the background weren't green as well. And while we're on it, the design itself (the shape of the nav bar block) looks like an outdated design for an ISP circa 1995. it's a boring template.

The content itself outside of the navigational bar, it's well laid out to me. Although, as I've mentioned before, there's little representation of metro's logo or metro's interface on the front page. And it's the only product of Sagan as I understand it.
I don't know why it isn't more prominent on the front page. You could translate that simplicity of metro if you were to display the UI from the get go, it's what makes it unique.

The product itself isn't all that prominent and in its overall tonality isn't red, there are hints of red on the box, but that isn't nearly enough to counter what it feels is a big solid block of green.
The box itself looks kind of sloppy, not very sharp, worse, it looks worn out at the bottom of the box (fading to grey).
The stock image of the girl is murky looking as well, and simply flipping horizontally the same image below, worsens things, as if no one would notice that. really, it's thoughtless.

Something as small as changing the color scheme on the left navigational bar could improve the look of the site a bit, a temporary patch of sorts.

Btw scoot, I never mentioned anything about altering the logo in any way.

[al]

note that I'm not putting down the information regarding the app on this site. that part is well covered. it's the visual representation of the app that I tihnk is lacking.

[Jerm]

Al,

I think your comments are appropriate and I understand what you are saying.

I would love to see what you would do to make the site look better, if you are so inclined.

[al]

I'd love to. I'll email you later with details.