Logo, Colors and content overlay Review Request

[officegupshup]

Hi Friends,

I request some real candid (even harsh) feedback from you'll on my site's logo, color scheme and content and design overlay.

Thanks in advance for taking time out of your busy schedule!!!

Website Background

http://www.OfficeGupshup.com

The website provides a platform for like-minded people to network, express and share their daily office adventures - be it romance, pranks, politics, confessions, workplace revenge, dressing disasters, embarrassing moments and practically everything that happens around the workplace, whilst maintaining anonymity. The website also provides the employees a unique opportunity and interface to appraise their bosses and pass verdicts on their managers.

I would especially welcome your views on how is your first impression when you land on the home page.

[ckaspar]

Well,

My first reaction, and I mean it in the nicest way was, "Whoa! What the hell is this?"

Don't get me wrong I love the concept of the site. That is great. I am just thinking that there is a lot of information on the page and no one place to look. It took a minute to even find out what the site was about and what you were trying to do.

Also, I am not a big fan of the Orange but I guess that is just personal taste.

I hope this helps.

Take care.

[trc]

Logo is a little childish, doesn't look very professional.
I like the orange and red mix.
Design is a little overwhelming and cluttered.
Maybe add some small graphics?

[Dache]

You need to research your concept and draw many sketchs before using the computer to make the design. Or get professional help.

[TannerC]

Hi officegupshup, welcome to SitePoint. Your website logo looks... well, interesting, to say the least.

The first problem I noticed with the logo is it's legibility. Because the two "characters" are formed out of letters of the logo, it makes it hard to read the name. Visitors to your website will look at the characters and the name of the website as two separate things - as I did.

You've got a good idea going with two people chatting over drinks, but the way it is incorporated now makes it difficult to read.

The overall logo looks very amateurish and even childish, as trc mentioned. Going with something much simpler and separated from the text of the logo is a great start towards making a better logo.

As for the website, it's actually not bad. The orange color scheme is friendly and gives a sense of "authority" to your website. But the content is separated with no clear borders.

Try adding some light shaded boxes or even just a few light gray lines between content areas.

You may also want to kill some of the clutter by adding a few images, even a large header graphic below the navigation and logo would make the website seem less "busy."

You've got a good start, and there is definitely potential here, now just implement a few changes.

[blacktoned]

I also found the logo to be a bit of a mind bender at first. Don't get me wrong, I saw the desired output after a few seconds but that's a few seconds too long, heh. And, already stated, I really found no one place to concentrate on and was instead flying about the screen. I'd suggesting a more uniform color scheme to clearly distinguish where you want your audience to start your content.

[Nosfer]

i haven't seen any background there. and... about the logo: i like it... looks weird, but it's original. i have a small problem though... and i think you'll solve it when you'll add your background. like this... your website has too much red, or red-based colours.. dark reg, orange... that red menu doesn't look too good below your logo. i'd choose blue...

[elduderino]

I dont understand what the logo is meant to be....what are the two things either side of the text??? I think the text part of it is fine, and shows promise, but the graphic is too complex to make out at that size and is, in my opinion, too complex to be sed in a logo.

I think the colours are cool but maybe theres one too many orange.......you could reduce it to 2 oranges and the design would become more consistent.....also definatley lose the gaps inbetween the navigation items

good luck

[mogdesign]

it looks very unfinished to me .... it is very open without any logical borders...

[JakeJeck]

Looks "old" if you get what I mean. You should look into rounded corners for your top navigation - or at least use a solid color background strip ^^ like sitepoint has up top.

[kira]

This seems a very broad request for the Design Elements forum, but what the hey.

The logo ... yeah, like many of the others here, I find it kinda difficult to decipher. My first thought was, "what the heck does 'office up shu' mean?" My second thought was: "Oh, look at the URL, it's 'office gup shup', duh."

(Of course, my third thought was: "Well, okay then, so what the heck does 'office gup shup mean?")

Other than the logo, the colors are rather blinding -- red, orange and yellow are all attention-grabbing colors, especially in these bright, saturated versions. My eyes are looking everywhere, uncertain what to focus on first.

Combined with the stark white background, lack of borders, wall of text, and little-to-no apparent content organization, this creates a jumble of incoherence that could be intimidating to visitors. Which would be a shame, as the idea of the site is clever! I do hope you come back and keep working on the design.

[Wilks_eye]

Honestly, the small fontype is killing me. The concept is very nice and my first impression on your content is "Whoa".

Obviously there is a lot of potential over what content could be put in here. You need a better layout for the homepage; There's just too much going on.

[Roarman]

I agree, there seems to be ALOT of content for a home page and the amount of reds and oranges really jumps out at the viewer which also seems to make it more cluttered. Maybe some of the text under the subheads could be removed and have it appear on a roll-over or something?

[Designer001]

site is looks great - we can add header graphic with some graphical pictures which looks more appropriate...

[Devious]

I love the favocon... Very "Transformerish"

[Megalyte]

Logo doesn't look very professional.
I think the mix orange and black should be avoided. Should be a logo with a stronger impact.The baseline (as a wave) is well chosen.

[jvr]

The site is good, but like everybody said, you can improve your logo design and make it more professional looking.

[ilyalyu]

The design is somewhat inaccurate. The distances between orange sqairs at the top are not equal. Dropdown menus (orange text in orange frame) do not look good to me. I would reduce the title "Companies with Most Number of Hated Bosses" so that it can be written in one line (two-line header does not look very well). Otherwise the design is nice.

[samanime]

The two row navigation seems a bit odd, since that second row is just pushed in a corner. Maybe either try to fit them all in one row, or try to space the second row out so it matches the first a little better.

Also, the little icon images are quite low res, which makes them a bit hard on the eyes.

And not really design related, but here is a tip: Make sure you aren't violating any copyrights with your images.

[alym0use]

I agree with JakeJeck, the layout looks a little dated (I think it's the square corners and individual link buttons), but that could easily be fixed to look more modern. I find there's too much info on the front page, without any visual cues to tell my eye where to look at first glance. I like the bright cheery oranges you've chosen, but I'm not sure if the 2 red buttons fit in very well, both because of colour and placement.
As for the logo, I'm not sure what "gup shup" is, which made it hard for me to tell what it said at first! The word "office" looks kind of forced into the logo as well.

I like the idea behind the site, very fun! I also like that you've laid out your sections fairly distinctly on the front page, the page as a whole has a nice sense of balance (although it still needs something to help the most important sections stand out). Good luck with it!