need advice on graphic design

[seoconsulent]

Hi guys, i am doing a design for a client of mine and i needed to know what you think of this design.

See attachment below.
Should i add a navigationbar and add a black block for the text part or change color of the font?
Maybe other editing?
I need your review
thanks

 

[d a v e]

image is too small to tell

 

[seoconsulent]

very strange. I uploaded it as a big png file but when i put it in attachment it gets very small.How can i change this then?

maybe its because max allowed for png file is 620 x 280.So i need to resize it to this size?just let me know
thanks

 

[d a v e]

upload it to server space and link to it?

 

[seoconsulent]

well now its better but still not same size as in browser.
Also i want to make a wordpress theme out of this layout.Which colors should i chose?

 

[d a v e]

yes you need some sort of background for the text so it has enough contrast against that photo - that's a huge photo and if, as i assume, it's a stock one then i see nor reason for it to be that big - i would make it about 25% in size/crop it and use it as a header and the put the text below

for colours, er use the ones you have and from the logo

 

[seoconsulent]

Well to be honest i like the background alot. If possible i need to have a trick for the text so its more readible. Yes its a stock photo. What would you add if you leave the backgroundpicture as is. I can make it less bigger but not as a header.
Any suggestions about nav bar or anything else?
Isn't it too white? Which colors are better to use?

 

[d a v e]

you can put a semitransparent png behind the text as a repeating background to fadeout the image behind the text container

imo it's not too white - just add some colour highlights in from the logo

 

[leflis]

Css3

or you can add text-shadow.. with CSS3.. although it will not show in IE

 

[d a v e]

or you can add text-shadow.. with CSS3.. although it will not show in IE

it's really important to have good contrast between main copy and background images (which is why you usually don't see this kind of background with text over it) adding text shadow is not the answer.

OP- you also have to consider the page weight when using an image of this size

i think you're going to struggle with making the design work if you're inflexible with the background image, though if you place a white png in the background of the main copy at around 60% opacity then you can probably do it.

you could easily crop some off the bottom of the image, and move the image up a little too.

 

[DHDdirect]

I think the biz logo stands out like a sore thumb. Maybe that's a good thing, but it doesn't really match the layout of the site. Maybe have it sitting on some sort of backdrop as well.

I like the image as well although you do need to fix the text contrast. It makes the page look clean and they are good looking people. What is the other pages going to look like? You wouldn't be able to get away with having all the pages have the same image background. It is really just a main page eye popper.

Also, how would this website itself rank in search engines? I'd think it'd be fairly important.. I hope you and the client are one in the same. It would be a bit wierd if SEO consultants can't design there own website

 

[seoconsulent]

@ DAVE
By page weight you mean the loading time. Isn't there a way to make the kb of the background picture smaller and see on the browser same size as now.

"if you place a white png in the background of the main copy at around 60% opacity then you can probably do it." Can you explain this part in details please?maybe an example on the net.

I don't see any empty space so how can i crop from the bottom.Also when i put background higher the right man will hit the navbar. Or do you mean complete image higher?

"it's not too white - just add some colour highlights in from the logo". How to do this?
Sorry i am still new at designing, still in the learning phase.
thanks

@DHDdirect
Yes, i haven't thought about the other pages. I also want to have a wordpress blog theme behind the site that also needs to match the main page.
The main page is more for attracting potential clients. I will fix the text part today and upload the file again.

"Also, how would this website itself rank in search engines?" What do you mean by this? You mean loading time?


thanks for all your tips guys. I really appreciate it.

Ps if someone can make a small "sketch" with color combinations etc then that would be great.

 

[d a v e]

by page wright yes i mean loading time. to make the image smaller filesize either compress it more (lower the quality) crop it and/or make it smaller

when i say it crop it remove some of their lower body

transparency e.g.
http://www.daltonlp.com/view/217

i dont have time to make colour combinations - anyway that's your job

try adobe kuler (google kuler)

 

[seoconsulent]

thanks dave for the tip.I now understand what you mean. Pictures can say more then words right?

I am still thinking to use this design for the homepage because the other pages need to look different and i need to focus on wordpress theme too.(its not possible to make a theme that looks like the homepage)Also i just checked out the real size and i made a mistake.Its way bigger in kb size.So isn't there a way to crop the image and let it look as big as its now and stretch all over the page.

 

[cobraart]

its a great start...but you dont have enough contrast between your background image and your main content..especially since your image has faces in it. Images with people and faces command attention. This will add to your page weight. Keeping usability in mind i would add a transparent texture to the main content with a white color or blue from the logo...then i would see how the navigation looked

 

[d a v e]

"Also i just checked out the real size and i made a mistake.Its way bigger in kb size.So isn't there a way to crop the image and let it look as big as its now and stretch all over the page. " i dont understand what you mean by this

 

[seoconsulent]

Well if i crop or make the background image smaller it will look like this:

 

[d a v e]

so either keep it that small or go back to the size it was or somewhere in between - are you saying you're not happy with the filesize (kb) or the image size (px)??

 

[seoconsulent]

well loading time is about filesize in kb.The more kb the slower it is to load. So how can we best lower down image size?
If possible i dont want to change the size as it looked at the beginning

 

[d a v e]

so increase the compression of the jpeg i.e. lower the quality in your image editor when you export it as jpeg