Our new website - what ya think?

davejacko

Any comments welcome - http://www.smudgedesign.ie

DonkeyStyle \o/

Very slick.

forbairt

I must say ... rather shiny ...

I don't normally like flash sites ... but its rather well done.

I'll assume no html alternative ?

Also is the text meant to appear slightly smudged ? as your name implies ... or am I finally in need of glasses

leeroybrown

Normally the only things I expect to resize my browser window are nasty adverts. The site works fine on a small window so why should you go to the trouble of making me think you are an idiot?

Also, the background music goes on for too long and is a tad overbearing.

Other than that it's quite slick.

don.juanito

Fairly Classy

DeBeere

Very nice!
Professional.

projectmayhem

very slick. i almost contacted you, despite not needing design work at all

anyway, a non-flash version of the site would be good for people who don't have broadband

seaner

its a bit toooo cool.

if u know what i mean.

eamon234

I liked it a lot - doesn't rely on Flash too much - design is perfectly understated.
Good interactivity and great Portfolio presentation - I always find this section of Design sites really boring but this time it's much fresher and easier to navigate
Well done!

davejacko

thanks everyone for the mostly positive feedback. i am looking at a few issues you pointed out, scrolling, text clarity....

tried making the text a bitmap font but it looks crap, so i just darkened it a bit and put in some letter spacing, the fact it was WHITE on BLACK made it a bit blurry, hopefully it will be better when i upload version 1.1.

i wanted to make it a short load and if you didn't want to watch the video you didn't have to. didn't do a HTML version because frankly only about 3-5% of people don't have Flash, the site will run on dial-up (except maybe the video which would take a while to load), any potential clients will have broadband anyway - sorry if it sounds arrogant.

Thanks again everyone.

BostonB

Generally I block flash as 90% of is fluff or ads. Unlike the others I think the site is just ok. I'm not a fan of a dark backgrounds a light/coloured text. Seems to be a common stylistic theme in your work. I know theres a lot of debate about that, and a lot of designers like to be different. But I don't like it. Its tiring to read text on very high contrast on dark backgrounds.

http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/agecontrast.html
http://www.fuz.co.uk/colour04.htm

The text here and there isn't Anti-Aliased that well, probably because of the smaller size and colour. Maybe clear type is interfering with it. One little annoyance was that when I looked at the websites portfolio, once I looked at a website, I couldn't go back to the index of websites, by clicking on websites. I'd have to click on another button then click back on websites index. Same with other stuff. I didn't look further than that.

zAbbo

BostonB wrote:

Generally I block flash as 90% of is fluff or ads. Unlike the others I think the site is just ok. I'm not a fan of a dark backgrounds a light/coloured text. Seems to be a common stylistic theme in your work. I know theres a lot of debate about that, and a lot of designers like to be different. But I don't like it. Its tiring to read text on very high contrast on dark backgrounds.

http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/agecontrast.html
http://www.fuz.co.uk/colour04.htm

The text here and there isn't Anti-Aliased that well, probably because of the smaller size and colour. Maybe clear type is interfering with it. One little annoyance was that when I looked at the websites portfolio, once I looked at a website, I couldn't go back to the index of websites, by clicking on websites. I'd have to click on another button then click back on websites index. Same with other stuff. I didn't look further than that.

I'd agree with this, is there a html alternative.

RobertFoster

leeroybrown wrote:

Normally the only things I expect to resize my browser window are nasty adverts. The site works fine on a small window so why should you go to the trouble of making me think you are an idiot?

I second this point. I only stayed on the site a few seconds as I closed the tab when my broswer was resized.

BostonB

I should add I respect the effort and work thats gone into it. Its a hard business to be in and if you can make it work then fair due. I liked some of the sites and print stuff in the portfolio.

Gordon

It's nice, really well done, and I like the dark background and colours.

Just don't do the resize thing, it's really not cool. And also Firefox blocked the popup window when I tried to open a website you have done and after that none of the flash links worked, on all of your website.

Gaspode

I admire the work - it is very slick looking, but from the moment I clicked your link, it took 40 seconds to get to a page that only says click here to enter. Then another 50 seconds for the page to load up.
even when that loads, the 2 video sections took another 20 to 30 seconds to load up.
If I was looking for a companys website, I would have clicked away after 20 or 30 seconds of waiting for the first page. BTW I am using broadband, but dont forget that even with broadband, traffic can slow things down a bit. If a customer has to wait, they will move on (that my opinion anyway - I expect any site I go to to load almost instantly)

Having said that the overall presentation of the site once it's loaded is very professional and slick, as a design house website should be. The text is a little small though.

Lastly, I'd agree that a html option should be available for those who dont have broadband or the appropriate flash add-ons, or who are experiencing a slow-down in broadband speeds

Deliverance

Cable broadband user here.
Loaded up nice and fast, worked well throughout the site speed wise. It is really smooth and fairly seemless, nice use of transitions from page to page. Love the attitude on entry, very inviting. First impressions work well.

Enjoyed the stereo sound and choice of music, the site strikes me as being energetic experimental and exciting with a fairly original use of flash, flash sites are usually overbearing and use to much showy animation which to me shows off the application more than the application of the application. Not this site though.

Only thing that throws me so far is the scrolling links, but only when you have two scrolling links working together ie: when two links are scrolling on or off at the same time, it throws me a bit for some reason. This works well though when onlly one link scrolls at a time.

I added the site to my favourites for future research into how to create a good flash site. Nice work.
Ps I also think that the abilities of the company were shown well dynamically for the user without being to overbearing. Good Luck.

spidermonkey

just looking through ye're website keeping note of what deliverence said,
i've had a smile on my face since i noticed one of ye're guys with a 'i hate design' tshirt during yer about us time flys video, very cool!, nicely placed

Sully

Broadband user here and your site loaded very fast and was very sleek. Nicely designed, not over-done and your presentation is excellent.

Anybody looking for a designer will sure consider your company, with a design like that - your showing clearly your talents.

However, I would strongly recommend a HTML version. Its not just for dialup users, but others who may not want to see the flash version. A lot of us hate flash sites, and skip past them if there is no HTML version. Most flash sites come with this option anyway - same with high graphic designed ones.

Good work:)