Seeking advice on what colors to use for a website (outsourcing, jobs)

[tonyandclaire89]

Hi All,

I'm having a website created and can't decide on what colors to use...product is selling blinds and shades... target customers will be mainly housewives...the following links are two possible logo color ideas...any suggestions would be appreciated...


Blinds For A Song | Quality Blinds, Shades and Shutters

Blinds For A Song | Quality Blinds, Shades and Shutters

[rubber_factory]

to be brutally honest -

the violet one is ugly, the electric blue one is really ugly.

I would get a new web designer! Sorry. Colors aren't the only problem here. Looking at this guy's portfolio, he seems like a decent coder, but his websites are very ugly.

if you have no other choice, I would tell him:
-less contrast. things look jarring with so much 100% black, and so much 100% white. when you said "Blinds and shades website", I pictured eggshell and white, maybe some 10% gray, or sort of charcoal gray text, almost no black at all.
-have less saturation on the colors - not so bright! If you must choose strong, loud colors, no need to make them so saturated with color.
-remove the black 1px borders he puts on every design element.

[tonyandclaire89]

Hi Rubber Factory,

Can you recommend any website designers that are also good coders

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by tonyandclaire89

Hi Rubber Factory,

Can you recommend any website designers that are also good coders

That depends on how much you are willing to pay..

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by Houston3

That depends on how much you are willing to pay..

I'd have your web designer add a few products before you decide, to see how it looks...

Nothing worse than a web design that takes away from what you are selling..

It looks like you have just started the design process, make changes and see how it goes...

[Houston3]

And remember the more complicated the web site the longer it can take some of your customers to open it, and that ain't good.

[chet everett]

Adobe has a portfolio of "up to date" colors for web sites: kuler

[rubber_factory]

Originally Posted by tonyandclaire89

Hi Rubber Factory,

Can you recommend any website designers that are also good coders

Like Houston said, it depends on what you want to pay. Most of the recommendations I'd be able to give are well known and probably expensive.

But, you live in Boston; there are a huge amount of talented web professionals in that area.

simplebits.com is a Massachussetts shop run by a fellow named Dan Cederholm. He is top notch. Probably expensive, but the only one I know of, off the top of my head, in your area.
GetAFreelancer | Online Freelance Jobs | Employment | Design | Outsourcing | Programmers | Web Design | Freelancers is one option.
searching craigslist is another option.


With a few minutes of Google searching I found some interesting prospects:
http://www.palmerh.com/
http://www.dquinn.net/
http://www.ebenoit.com/
http://www.chrishildreth.com/

youll have to do the legwork to see if they fit your needs, but it is a start.

[tonyandclaire89]

thanks rubber_factory

[Philip T]

WOW! T&C! A legit business topic WITHOUT "Obama" this or that in the title!

Quite impressive I must say!

Getting real . . . .

The sites are now 404'ed, but some tips I can give you:

iNever use a background that makes the text even a little bit hard to read.

Black Letters on White Background is usually a winner. Frames and the rest can hold what they must, but simple is FAR better.

Keep in mind that something like half the US is still on (slow) dial-up, so go easy on the graphics. Slow loading (due to excess "content") pages get closed by folks before they even open. Instead do active links from small simple pictures for folks that want to see detailed large pictures.

Do not put too much garbage on a single page -- for a (bad) example of that see godaddy.com. I am fairly experienced in this, but can barely work their site because of SO MUCH crap they have overstuffed on it. I only deal with them because they do very cheap registration and hosting for websites.

Just put up what you are working on, and we will give you legit reviews. All Obamanations, aside.