TITLE:introduction/newsletter_archive/design/design26A.html

3. Concern: You have the logo on there twice. Once is in
the upper left and again in the lower right. However, you
have them backwards. The logo in the upper corner is a
static image. The logo in the lower right is active to the
homepage. That’s backwards. Do you want the lower
logo to be a back navigation? If so, lose it. Set a
different image to act as back navigation. Don’t use your
logo. The logo represents you, not the homepage or the
back navigation.

Suggestion: Make sure the top logo is active. It has
become tradition on the Web that a logo in the upper left-
hand corner is a return to the homepage. I put my pointer
on yours expecting to click to return. No dice. Live that
image.

I should also mention the small images on the right side
at the top. I’ve tried to click on them a few times. They
are just screaming out to be active. If you are going to
have them there, make them do something. They just
look like links.

4. Concern: Now we get broad. You have chosen a dark
yellow and dull green as the color scheme for the page.
You are in the fun business. You are in the business of
providing things that will hopefully make people smile.
Your stuff will be something someone will receive and sit
up on a shelf as a keepsake. People loved getting the
stuff my radio stations handed out. I found I liked your
site, but the colors are dull. The page should have more
flash. It should be more alive.

Suggestion: Again, get with a computer wizard and start
picking out some colors. Maybe you could even get with
a professor of advertising and talk about his or her
research into colors. Think about it. Coke is equal to fun
and its can is bright red. McDonalds is bright yellow.
Financial institutions use dull colors. Dark colors are
used by businesses attempting to show strength. You’re
in the fun business. The page should scream that out. As
it sits now, there’s no real emotional punch.

5. Concern: Why are you using a frameset? I am a
business. I like a certain jacket. I see it but have to run it
past my co-workers. When I come back to the site, my
bookmark doesn’t work. The way the site is set up right
now, if the buy isn’t made straight away, the product can
be easily lost.

Suggestion: Get out of frames and get to a one-item-per-
page format. Your design doesn’t need to change one bit.
The pages will look exactly the same. Heck, you’ve gone
out of your way to hide the horizontal frame break. Make
what I like easy to find and then re-find. Right now, it’s
tough.

Overall: Go see Mister Logo and get YOUR logo on
some stuff. I actually have nothing with the HTML
Goodies Logo on it. I don’t even have business cards.
Huh. Maybe I should go to Mister Logo. I wonder what
my face would look good on.

On fire?

Oh that is such an old joke.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That’s that.

Joe Burns, Ph.D.

Always Remember: When it comes to designing your Web site, the
most important person is not you, but your user.