Getting our new site ready for 2012.

[Joe Diaz]

I wanted to get some feedback on our new site. This go around I was shooting for something a bit more clean and simplistic. Our primary focus was to showcase the work, especially the design and illustration work. The Diaz Sign Art site will still focus on signs and vehicle graphics.

I plan on at least doubling the content in the portfolio before the new year... and working a bit more on the SEO, but for the most part I felt it was ready enough to go live.

http://diazmedia.com/

 

[Pat Whatley]

Love it! It's much, much cleaner looking.

 

[ForgeInc]

Looks great Joe, and a good idea to separate from your sign site as well. My only comment is I'm not a fan of sites where you need to scroll in order to see the content.

Design and overall feel is stellar, great job.

 

[SignManiac]

Very fresh and current for todays web design market Joe. Excellent work!

 

[Gino]

Very-very nice.

 

[Marlene]

really nice. I love how you did the photos of your family in the about us section.

 

[Bannerday]

Really nice Joe. Very clean.

My only thought is the image that says "We don't just create logos we create high end brands" might not need the the term "high end".

Maybe "effective brands" or "memorable brands" or simply "brands".

Just thinking out loud.

 

[Joe Diaz]

Thanks guys (and gals).

On our blog section, people can leave comments using their Facebook profile. I wasn't sure If I should add that same feature on the portfolio pages. What do you all think? I can see some pros and cons of doing it.

 

[Bannerday]

On our blog section, people can leave comments using their Facebook profile. I wasn't sure If I should add that same feature on the portfolio pages. What do you all think? I can see some pros and cons of doing it.

Agree with you Joe, that could go either way.

The portfolio page looks so clean now, you might not want to clutter it up. But it will get more looks than the blog page, so you stand a better chance of getting interaction.

I guess you could try it and see how it works out. Give it a couple of months. You could always go back to the original.

 

[Marlene]

My only thought is the image that says "We don't just create logos we create high end brands" might not need the the term "high end".

Maybe "effective brands" or "memorable brands" or simply "brands".

that's a good idea as it has more impact with "effective" or "memorable" than "high end". high end sounds expensive where the other two throw more back to the "what's in it for me" that's important in marketing as it answers with effective and memorable when asked why would I want it.

 

[Mike F]

Looks really good. My only complaint is all the space at the top above the header and navigation, but I'm picky about that kinda stuff.

 

[Dan Antonelli]

Looks great Joe. Minor comment - I thought it was maybe a tad generic looking considering your insane work and would like maybe a little more of your personality in the site?

Maybe a 'Services' section should be included. You are showing great work, but you don't speak to the specific expertise in each line of business you represent.

Your home Jquery is cool - but wonder if you can improve it by answering the question many business owners want to know: What can you do for me? I think simply adding some copy the frames about what was done: ie. 'Learn how we rebranded this Bottling Company's image with a retro theme - and how it translated into more marketshare'. That kind of stuff. We are redoing our JQuery frames as well, because we want to show more real world case studies to better identify with the viewer.

As always though, the work is really awesome and it's so much fun looking through your work.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday buddy--

 

[Joe Diaz]

Looks great Joe. Minor comment - I thought it was maybe a tad generic looking considering your insane work and would like maybe a little more of your personality in the site?

Generic was definitely not what I was going for. However, the last site of ours we did, I remember many people being turned off by how over the top that one was, SO I was really trying to scale back on this one and let the work be the star, not the site itself, especially since we have scaled back our web design services. As far as capturing our personality, I wanted to stay away from using textures and effects, and keep the site looking clean and "vector" to reflect the vector illustrations I'm really trying to push with this site.

Maybe a 'Services' section should be included. You are showing great work, but you don't speak to the specific expertise in each line of business you represent.

There is a services section. It just wasn't a part of the main navigation. I just added it. That whole section and the portfolio section are going to get a lot more content. I'm pretty satisfied with the amount of content in the about section, since historically that section of our old sites have received the least amount of traffic.

Your home Jquery is cool - but wonder if you can improve it by answering the question many business owners want to know: What can you do for me? I think simply adding some copy the frames about what was done: ie. 'Learn how we rebranded this Bottling Company's image with a retro theme - and how it translated into more marketshare'. That kind of stuff. We are redoing our JQuery frames as well, because we want to show more real world case studies to better identify with the viewer.

Here again, I was going for simple, clean and uncluttered with a focus on the artwork, but I see your point. I'll have to figure out how to add a sales pitch in there without it looking too cluttered. [/QUOTE]

As always though, the work is really awesome and it's so much fun looking through your work.

Thanks. and thanks for the advice. We will definitely have to catch up in NJ.

 

[signswi]

Orman Clark makes nice themes but I agree with Dan that you need to bring more personality to the copy. Don't be afraid of dressing up the copy area with different weights and emphasis. Definitely approach the copy with the mindset Dan has suggested, that of what you can do for the viewer. I'd avoid enabling comments anywhere but the blog, keep that clutter off your portfolio pages. I'd also throw some conversion points throughout. Make sure to A/B test the conversion pointer copy/graphics as well down the road.

Consider playing with the site background color -- instead of grays try a few different combinations as well as different textures (for inspiration hit http://subtletextures.com ). Maybe the gray will end up suiting you but play with it before settling.

As far as SEO I can't recommend http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-seo/ high enough, it should be your starting point if it isn't already.

 

[slipperyfrog]

Looks great!

 

[CES020]

Needs more Flash content :Big Laugh

Other than that, it looks great!

 

[dejoh]

Very nice. Clear and concise. Hope to one day get my site half as good.
Have a great year.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Well knows little about website building so the only thing that hit me was... the 3rd picture out of 4 that are on home page did not show.

It has a nice appeal about it bravo.

 

[qmr55]

Joe- Just pointing out that when you go to a link in the navigation bar, when you first arive at the link, the text in the nav bar itself is black. Then when you hover it, it turns white. I think you should keep it white in all instances when it has the red art around it. I.e. when that page is selected. The black on red is hard to read!

Other then that, I think it looks great!

 

[Joe Diaz]

Joe- Just pointing out that when you go to a link in the navigation bar, when you first arive at the link, the text in the nav bar itself is black. Then when you hover it, it turns white. I think you should keep it white in all instances when it has the red art around it. I.e. when that page is selected. The black on red is hard to read!

Other then that, I think it looks great!

Yeah we know about that. That is an issue with the cufon font replacement. I think I have a solution, but it requires creating separate styles for just those pages. I plan on fixing that soon when I create custom headers for those pages. I had a chance to sit down and talk with Dan this weekend, and he suggested custom headers for those pages would help, and I agreed.

 

[qmr55]

Yeah we know about that. That is an issue with the cufon font replacement. I think I have a solution, but it requires creating separate styles for just those pages. I plan on fixing that soon when I create custom headers for those pages. I had a chance to sit down and talk with Dan this weekend, and he suggested custom headers for those pages would help, and I agreed.

Ahh I thought that might be the case. Not sure if this could be of any use but check it out, the Cufon.refresh() might be a thing to check out. I also agree that custom headers are a good idea, I feel you kind of get lost in all the copy when viewing those pages and lose sight of the word "Services" or "Contact" when it is real small beneath the logo.