Rethink the website design

balupton commented 11 years ago

I really dig these:

the ubuntu website http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/
- bit cluttered but really nice
ubuntu support page http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/finding-help/support/
- love the cleaness of this design and professional yet fun type
canonical partners http://www.canonical.com/partners
- we need a page like this that appeals to enterprise
google+ http://google.com/+
- I like the pop of the content, boxes and menu in contrast to the background
noflo js website http://noflojs.org/documentation/ - source http://noflojs.org/documentation/
- all round beautiful and well done
jawbone up https://jawbone.com/up
- love the header image, topbar and the presentation of the information, keeps you engaged, reading everything, and makes you really want it
ghost http://tryghost.org/features.html
- everything about this I love!
sassy https://github.com/docpad/gui/issues/1
- love the colours and pop of the saasy designs
buffer jobs http://jobs.bufferapp.com/backend-hacker
- crisp clean and professional, nice use of layout and images
http://www.webpop.com/
http://roots.cx/
- clear, concise, informative, and well marketed homepage for a ssg

What I hate about our current site:

so bland, there is no colour
the colour doesn't communicate our values of openness, collaboration and possibility, instead it feels like a jail cell
the font type isn't professional, instead it is loud and cluttered
logo is blurry, text should be text not an image
doesn't appeal to anyone but early adopters

Things I hate:

https://mixpanel.com/help/reference/creating-a-profile - looks just as bland as our website, just different colours to be bland to
https://github.com/bevry/docpad-website/issues/ - again really really bland and hurts my eyes at night time due to the amount of white light

balupton commented 11 years ago

@lisaej @kidfribble @chase @mikeumus‎ either of you want to take a stab at this?

mikeumus commented 11 years ago

I agree with the hurting of the eyes. White is bright. If we go white, if someone could add a "lights out" button, at least for doc related pages.

I'm a Yes man and want to say yes to this but time is also a factor. I wonder what would happen if we all collaborated on it together, if that's possible?

chase commented 11 years ago

I entirely agree with a redesign, @balupton, as I also completely agree with what you dislike about the current site.

Since I'm working hard on Watchr, I won't be able to get around to this any time soon; however, I might be able to help coordinate the redesign by breaking it down into pieces with your help.

First we should get screenshots of the exact portions that inspire you, then put them up so we can draw from those sources of inspiration.

The next step would be to have one or two individuals do rough layout sprints. After choosing which layouts work best for aesthetics, user interaction, and responsiveness, have one or two individuals make one or two draft layouts.

After the layout drafts are finished, someone should work on the actual design. The design is what takes the layout, a recognizable and beautiful color palette, and a keen eye into a visual starting point for the coders to work with.

Once the design is done, a few people could coordinate breaking down the design into templates and partials.

Then at that point, I might be able to lend a hand integrating the old contents of the website.

balupton commented 11 years ago

Mockup of the new website based on http://slid.es/balupton/docpad-ecosystem from https://github.com/docpad/website/issues/49#issuecomment-25129475

enuz

balupton commented 11 years ago

Discussing this direction live here: http://youtu.be/ixswII2FpvE

balupton commented 11 years ago

Adding http://roots.cx/ to the list of great designs

balupton commented 10 years ago

Let's pitch DocPad now simply as a Decoupled Content Management System. With Flat File CMS (eventually file system will be a plugin), and Static Site Generator abilities.

Easy and understandable.

balupton commented 10 years ago

@docpad is there anyone who'd like to tackle implementing the design for the docpad website detailed here: https://github.com/docpad/website/issues/47#issuecomment-25143096

mikeumus commented 10 years ago

I've got this. :+1: linking meta-issue: bevry/meta/issues/1#issuecomment-40732668

mikeumus commented 10 years ago

New DocPad.org refresh, work-in-progress: http://new-docpad.org/ To match closely the branding of Bevry.me's Refresh: http://refresh.bevry.me/ For example the "Learning Centre" button's styles are identical except for hover state.

**Note***

My web designs always evolve, they start of rather simple and improve over time/iteration. They start off mostly being layout and custom art elements come in after to give it proper branding.

balupton commented 10 years ago

Just fixed the link to the sketch. Turns out droplr became a paid service. I made a chainy script to scrape all my screenshots from it and put them into dropbox. Gosh I love chainy.

mikeumus commented 10 years ago

My design proposal is to a prototype stage ready to share for collecting feedback. Please discuss and vote on Loomio: https://www.loomio.org/d/QB7SygIn/new-docpad-org

mikeumus commented 9 years ago

Ported to https://discuss.bevry.me/t/docpad-org-design-refresh/51

balupton commented 7 years ago

https://github.com/docpad/website/issues/71

docpad-archive / website

Rethink the website design #47