updated design - critiques

[AppleNewton]

Can any one recommend a good place (of course aside from here) where there are design/code/graphic critique sites/forums?

I've mauled through a couple sites but ones that dont seem to inhibited.


At any rate, I had posted a few designs/sites on here before..which helped alot as far as direction and help greasing up the hinges.
The place I'm working with now, I'm assisting in getting their site up; have posted a few of the trial and error sites on here before...but wanted a different direction...something simple, effective, and stood out but wasnt overbearing and I was messing around with something like this:

http://www.anexometa.com/nebula/



add or subtract anything?
i was thinking some sort of design in the background at the very top and not take up the entire backdrop of the site...

(i suppose I took a lot of inspiration from sites like pentagram.com & 3signs.com) simple yet effective sites.

**at this point it is still in wireframe mode; until I convert it all to CSS style code.


thanks in advanced =)

 

[Cabbit]

I think the arrow button for cycling though the images is to small and thats pretty much the only usability issue i have noticed.

 

[angelwatt]

Generally, if you want a detailed review/critique you would do a peer review, or put together a survey for visitors to fill out. You know, usability testing and all that. Asking for help from forums will only get you so far. We don't know what you're target audience is and your business goals.

Here are my thoughts though:

1. The site lacks a message. When I arrived I had no idea what the site was about. After a few minutes of looking around, I was still confused. If a visitor doesn't know why they're there, they will leave.
2. Don't be afraid to capitalize something.
3. The navigation isn't placed very well, and wasn't obvious.
4. There's no feedback about what clicking on the gigantic banners will do, and the "next" button isn't clear either.
5. The white text on gray background on the bottom of the banner lacks contrast. There's algorithms for calculating appropriate contrast.
6. Text on the info page (and anexolabs, hiring page) is very small and inconsistent from the main page.
7. The client list looks like it should be clickable, but then again links don't seems to be any different than anything else.
8. I do like the logo for the site, though it's a bit big.

I'd critique the code, but you said this was a wire-frame and it's currently using tables so not worth the time.