kuvopolis Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 12 days ago I launched my new website, Media Shindig. The goal of my website is to provide movie, TV show, and music recommendations to users. Users can get these recommendations by selecting their and/or their friends' Facebook profiles. The system grabs their likes and bases the recommendations off of that. Alternately, they can enter movie/tv show titles and music artists manually. Unfortunately, I have been suffering a bounce rate in the mid 90s, no clicks on the Facebook "Like" button (except for friends), and no one has used the Facebook method (which requires user permission), not even my own friends who I asked to critique the site. I suspect it is because of a combination of aesthetic issues and trust. I know people are skittish about Facebook applications, especially on an external site. Though I had a karaoke site a few years ago that did not look great and had a bounce rate in the 30s and 40s. I am using Facebook ads to get clicks. There are some bugs in the whole site that I need to work out, but I am really focused right now on the landing page, because frankly almost no one is getting past it. I developed and designed this website myself. It took many hours, I cannot say how much. www.mediashindig.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 For me, the main problem is that the site is very unattractive. First impressions count for a lot, and a bright pee yellow site likely isn't conveying what you want it to convey. More detailed critique: 1. Your content has no room to breathe. You're almost flush to the left of the screen. Your rounded rectangle almost intersects with your headline. Your use of an ordered list looks is cramped (no vertical spacing between items), and looks like a term paper outline. There's also no real break between the description of the site or the actual search form, and the Facebook profile bit is completely out of place. Don't just cram everything into one box and call it a day. Think about logically grouping your content, and separating each part. Borders, boxes, the <hr /> tag, etc. can all reign the eye in. 2. I don't mean to be harsh, but the header is just embarrassing. It looks like it took about 5 minutes to make, at most. Some text and a couple stock photos jammed together isn't going to entice anyone. You need to do more. Create some branding - a logo/icon and core colors that represent this site/your business. 3. Like I said above, the color is very off-putting. Yellow on yellow is just loud, and not enticing. 4. Why do your buttons change shape? You do realize that changes the height of your rounded rectangle, right? It's unnecessarily gimmicky. There's more, but start there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuvopolis Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 I made some quick fixes based on your input, I will begin to rethink the header and other stuff. When you say "Facebook profile bit", do you mean the Facebook Like Box on the right? I am considering moving the site description/directions off to another page, thoughts? The stock photos are getting a lot of flack, I should probably just remove them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xyph Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 The drop shadow on the button text isn't visually appealing. The text should be part of the button, not hovering over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahngiel Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 The site is unappealing and featureless. I lasted no more than 10 seconds on the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuvopolis Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Thanks for the constructive criticism, troll somewhere else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahngiel Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Not trolling. You asked for a critique, and I'm giving you my opinion. Wasn't my intention to hurt your feelings, but you should open your eyes. Hovering over the over-inflated icons with misaligned radio buttons produces a red mutli-px border that forces the elements to move - fail. The color palate is atrocious to look at The "buttons" are not anything remotely close to a button There is no typography to speak of The icons make no sense User Interface is lackluster ... It's okay to be an amateur, but don't get butt hurt when you put your stuff up for critique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuvopolis Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 You basically said "Your site sucks" and ran away. That was not a valid critique. At least now you gave me something to work with. The red border thing I should fix. The color palate was taken from Colour Lovers, and was rated one of the best, http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/580974/Adrift_in_Dreams No typography? Any site with text has a typography. Now maybe mine is not good... The icons make perfect sense. A movie reel means movie, Facebook icon means use Facebook, etc. There are plenty of sites with "lackluster" user interfaces that do quite well (Facebook, Google). I am skeptical that adding more bells and whistles are going to convert users. An personally, I have read the other website critique threads and they were not nearly as scathing. The sites I saw were no great shakes either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahngiel Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 You basically said "Your site sucks" and ran away. That was not a valid critique. That's what your potential users are going to do when they see the site in it's current state. The color palate was taken from Colour Lovers, and was rated one of the best, http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/580974/Adrift_in_Dreams Regardless the rating of that palate, you've not implemented it with any care. No typography? Any site with text has a typography. Now maybe mine is not good... Words on a page do no constitute typography. How you use those words effectively is what does. The icons make perfect sense. A movie reel means movie, Facebook icon means use Facebook, etc. The icons are far too large for their purpose, and the screwdriver & wrench icon for "manually add" is illogical. There are plenty of sites with "lackluster" user interfaces that do quite well (Facebook, Google). I am skeptical that adding more bells and whistles are going to convert users. Reddit is also quite lackluster. The difference is those sites offer content that's easily understandable. Your site offers zero up-front information. The term 'curb appeal' that applies to real estate also applies to web sites. I can appreciate what you're attempting to accomplish with your site. But you need to put more effort into what you're doing. There are <div>s that have no business being in the DOM, fonts loaded via scrips, and a non-standard design across pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmith153 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 No, I agree with kuvopolis. Mahngiel, you didn't offer constructive criticism. You just slagged it and left it at that. You should have said, "The site is unappealing and featureless. I lasted no more than 10 seconds on the page. The reason for that is xyz and I suggest these improvements: a, b, c". You later offer some improvement advice, but why couldn't you have given that in the first place? His site looks like shit, but I'm only posting to show you up. I'm not a good enough designer to offer advice and if I were I wouldn't just say that and leave. Hopefully some good designers on here can help better than we can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 The main problem is that there's no layout to speak of. There's no real indication on how to use the site, and, even worse, why someone would want to. And, no, the miniscule 'About' link isn't good enough. The conspicuous Facebook stuff (why is it placed in the middle of the form?) makes it look like the site is built to simply grab user info. It's a form in a box. That's it. Good design isn't about rounded corners and mouse hover effects (some of which - the radio buttons - look hideous). It's about conveying information in a clean, visual appealing way. Like I said in my first critique, it looks like you spent 5 minutes on it. All of the problems remain. Shunting your term paper outline-esque instructions to a separate page isn't a fix. Changing colors without knowing how to use them isn't a fix. 'Media Shindig' in an ugly font isn't edgy, or cool, and memorable for all the wrong reasons. Stop rearranging the deck chairs and, instead, try to steer away from the iceberg. Shuffling around components that don't work individually won't suddenly click into a well-designed site. Look at professional sites for inspiration. Look here, too: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ http://designmodo.com/ http://designfestival.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuvopolis Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 With all due respect, Kevin, I did mention previously that I made a few quick fixes. I never implied that I revamped the site. Unfortunately, I had a lot of fires to put out in the past couple of weeks, both related to the website and not. I will concede to you that the landing page still has issues, but to say that "all of the problems" remain is inaccurate and demoralizing. I had the "how to use" stuff on the homepage, and I was advised by someone outside the forum to shunt it to an auxiliary page. So I do explain how to use it, perhaps not well enough, but it is there. I could work on more of the "why to use it". I have actually read Smashing Design, and I am starting to read the other 2 after you posted the links. I have looked at popular sites for inspiration. The current golden child, Pinterest, actually has a pretty bad UI, with its 6 columns, non-standard header, miniscule links, etc. . Reddit, as Mahngiel recommended, is pretty horrible as well (for example, the content has no room to breathe). But I will peruse more sites like Smashing Design and perhaps they will have some better examples. And JohnSmith, why do you think my site "looks like shit"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renfley Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Concept is amazing but if anything i would personally change would be the overall size of the site. possibly a 950px width with a possibility of a smaller font! Other Thoughts: I love the Concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justlukeyou Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 To be honest just look at the main media sites like Hulu and get a 'feel' from them. Dont copy but all need to glossy and easy to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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