New FunKyKISS Design site - please review?

The problem with your site:

1. It looks like a blog site turned e-commerce/advertising site.

2. Images are not "quality" images.

3. Somewhat cluttered... not a "clean look". Some pages too much.. some too little, no balance.

4. If you're offering web type services, your website is one of your most critical selling features.

5. Bored looking through your site. There's no "excitement" for your product.

I think there is way to many white space at the bottom of the page.

Not to be critical, but just trying to be helpful - I have to agree with some of the comments here. The branding of the site doesn't match or compliment the funky logos (which I though looked pretty good btw). Everything from the standard WP icon in the address bar, to the jumbled layout just doesn't give that professional, "I know what I'm doing" feeling. Image is everything. If I were looking for a graphic design I probably wouldn't even look at your images, just because the layout doesn't work.

And yes, image is that important! it's everything when you are making first impressions ---

And what business an I in? Lot's of them I've been in the Ad Agency, Internet Marketing game longer than I would like to admit. I have a pretty extensive branding background and have worn just about every creative hat there is... well, other than 3d animation

EL

Start off with a little bit of branding! Get that banner out of the home page and into your header. You're wasting real-estate on your home page. Re-work it so that it does not look like an advertisement uptop.

Typographically your line-spacing is too far apart on mostly all pages and makes your content tougher to read. (Example : your /funky-faces/ page)

Your top navigation is strangly lobbed aligned somewhere in the top of your site and I'm not quite sure what it's aligning to? Force left it to align with your page header tags I'd suggest.. your navigation menu looks out of place to me. I suggest making it flush left, or if you insist on keeping it flush "rightish" then move the logo and sub-header flush right as well.

I think if you tighten up your design a bit it will make the rest of your site's services more effective and easier to read.

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents. Other than what I've mentioned its a nice site and does what you've created it for.

The right column is too busy. You have plenty of spare white space on the bottom - so why not to put your ads there?
The "Design Services" section is a bit out of place - it should be moved to the top. And yes, a logo will work better than a simple company name.

Hey palava

We had a look at your site, while doing so, followed one of your links from your profile on WF to myspace and BANG!!! think you need to sort it as malware/trojan links on a site will get your linked site (blog) on a nono list after time with the big G!

Hope it helps!

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/9...tuktrojan1.png

As for the wp theme and layout, brown is just so wrong babe! you need way more white space, like your zazzle store layout!

All taken care of ...thanks again

Shorten your headline. You need some kind of header, the page looks out of balance. Change the Favicon.

Other than that it doesn't look to bad.

Hey Leah,

Firstly, good on you for working hard on your site thus far. It's a hard business to wrap your head around when you first get started and criticism can really sting. So kudos to you.

There's three things I would do if I were you:


1. Make the very first thing visitors see a proclamation that "I am first and last an illustrator" just like you did above.

In any business site you have about 2 - 3 seconds to stop someone hitting that little red X so in that time they have to know exactly who you are and what you offer. This is critical.

So I would ease back on the number of words you have in your current header and just get straight to the point. Something like:

"Vibrant Illustration - Get FunKyKiss"

Don't quote me as that's just off the top of my head, but you get the idea. Don't over complicate your message, just cut straight to the chase and then expand on your message once you've caught attention.


2. Put some examples of your best work front and center.

In visually oriented services the most important thing is showing how good your work looks.

The visitors to your site should instantly be able to glance and say "Hey I really like her style!"

This doesn't have to be complicated, just have some images spanning the width of your content area above the fold, ideally linked to large versions so people can really soak up your work.

Even putting them together in a slideshow presentation would work well. Getting a strong impression out there of your talent and skills is more important than any about information at the very beginning.


3. Pick out a more professional and visually impressive theme.

I know you've already been hunting around and I'm assuming you need a free theme at this point. But I can point you to some awesome free themes that will work much better for you.

If you weren't in a design oriented field you could get away with the theme you have, but unfortunately regardless of the fact you are in a particular niche of design people lump everything in together.

It's like how people think I can write computer programs because I code WP themes. You and I know it's two different things, but most people don't. They will just assume that the look of your site is the same as your work.

So even though you've come this far, I guarantee you will get more business from a theme that looks more visually impressive.

And as I'm guessing you need a free one at this stage, I picked out some freebies specifically to suit you:

Padd Solutions Masagana

Padd Solutions Magiting | Just another WordPress weblog | Padd Solutions Magiting

Padd Solutions Kryptonation

(Look in the footer of those three for download links)

http://demo.woothemes.com/?name=bueno

http://demo.woothemes.com/?name=skeptical


All five are free giveaways from top class premium theme creators. So while they're free, the quality is extremely high. I've worked with a couple of them and they're easy to use.


So if I were you I would:

1. Install one of the above themes
   .
   
2. Change the header / site title to something like "Vibrant Illustration - Get FunKyKiss
   .
   
3. Put some eye catching work examples above your other content

I promise you that those three steps alone will increase your response rate from potential clients.

Cheers,

- Kezz

I agree to the post above. Make your homepage says what you do. Put those stunning artworks on the homepage and make it big or have them on a slider. To be honest if i am looking for a service like yours i would be kinda turned off to see your site. If you can't make it really stand out make it just very simple. Check my site you might get something from it.

Goodluck!