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I enjoyed the article, and checked out your site: http://www.cogeian.com/ http://www.cogeian.com/ Here's some free, hopefully constructive advice. Your site do

by kdamken 10y ago

I enjoyed the article, and checked out your site: http://www.cogeian.com/ http://www.cogeian.com/ Here's some free, hopefully constructive advice. Your site does not look professional. It looks like something I'd expect a welding company to have in the early 2000's. I'd highly recommend redoing it with a more modern design, especially if you're trying to get potential clients through it.

untog 10y ago
Not responsive, either. The irony being that very few people will be looking for a consultant on their phone, but your site is absolutely vital in conveying what you think about when making a site for a client.
badmadrad 10y ago
The antiquated design is really inexcusable for a company that markets itself as "web development experts".
VrtualTrapezoid 10y ago
So here's some constructive criticism for your constructive criticism. Your heart is in the right place but unfortunately your criticism isn't that constructive. Just saying "Your thing you think looks good actually looks bad. Fix it." is really more of a soft-pitch put-down. Constructive criticism points out what's good about something and how it can be improved. It's specific and provides actionable guidance. 1) The site would benefit by leading the eye in a more controlled manner. Right now there are at least two groups of three or more columns so it's hard to know where to look. Take a look at brick wall designs such as Twitter Bootstrap. Lead from general at the top to more specific, detailed information as you go down the page. Imaging the page as a tree diagram. 2) Make the site "say more" by reducing content. Right now there are at least two places on the page that talk about what you do, who you are, and what you're about. Combine those to be more succinct. 3) The color scheme is changing to match the client you're highlighting and that's kind of cool. It's also kind of cool how you show a different client each page visit. But I think a slider would do a better job there. Do you expect more than one visit to evaluate your business? Probably not. Plus a slider that has controls to move back and forth makes the page interactive, fun, and space-efficient. 4) It's okay that all the content is "above the fold" but do you think links to case studies are the best use of that space? Why not use it instead to guide clients immediately through your specific development process in simple terms, show them how easy it is to work with you, and show how you're different from competitors? Then you can give them a link to case studies to show that you practice as you preach. 5) "Cogeian Systems is a small team of custom software and web design experts." I'd be careful about your grammar. You're a small team of custom software? Oh wait, and web design experts. You could change that around a bit to be more clear and active, "Cogeian Systems' experts create custom software and web designs that meet your needs, affordably and on-time." Now your verbs are active, you're saying you have a team of experts, you say what kind of experts they are, and you share what the benefits are of having experts do the work (ie you save time and money).
- Mendenhall 10y ago
  Just wanted to say very good feedback. This is the exact type of post that makes me enjoy hacker news and helps me grow as someone who designs UI UX etc. I am not OP but always appreciate learning.
- kdamken 10y ago
  Hey - thank you for posting all of this. While I have an eye for design, I'm not a UX or web designer so I don't usually have a ton of specific feedback other than knowing something doesn't look as good as other sites I work on. I was hoping this would at least raise the question in his mind that maybe his site doesn't look that modern or professional. I've met a lot of business owners who are great at their business but not knowledgeable about web sites, and end up paying for a subpar product and not knowing it's low quality.

by kdamken 10y ago

untog 10y ago

Not responsive, either. The irony being that very few people will be looking for a consultant on their phone, but your site is absolutely vital in conveying what you think about when making a site for a client.

badmadrad 10y ago

The antiquated design is really inexcusable for a company that markets itself as "web development experts".

VrtualTrapezoid 10y ago

So here's some constructive criticism for your constructive criticism. Your heart is in the right place but unfortunately your criticism isn't that constructive. Just saying "Your thing you think looks good actually looks bad. Fix it." is really more of a soft-pitch put-down. Constructive criticism points out what's good about something and how it can be improved. It's specific and provides actionable guidance. 1) The site would benefit by leading the eye in a more controlled manner. Right now there are at least two groups of three or more columns so it's hard to know where to look. Take a look at brick wall designs such as Twitter Bootstrap. Lead from general at the top to more specific, detailed information as you go down the page. Imaging the page as a tree diagram. 2) Make the site "say more" by reducing content. Right now there are at least two places on the page that talk about what you do, who you are, and what you're about. Combine those to be more succinct. 3) The color scheme is changing to match the client you're highlighting and that's kind of cool. It's also kind of cool how you show a different client each page visit. But I think a slider would do a better job there. Do you expect more than one visit to evaluate your business? Probably not. Plus a slider that has controls to move back and forth makes the page interactive, fun, and space-efficient. 4) It's okay that all the content is "above the fold" but do you think links to case studies are the best use of that space? Why not use it instead to guide clients immediately through your specific development process in simple terms, show them how easy it is to work with you, and show how you're different from competitors? Then you can give them a link to case studies to show that you practice as you preach. 5) "Cogeian Systems is a small team of custom software and web design experts." I'd be careful about your grammar. You're a small team of custom software? Oh wait, and web design experts. You could change that around a bit to be more clear and active, "Cogeian Systems' experts create custom software and web designs that meet your needs, affordably and on-time." Now your verbs are active, you're saying you have a team of experts, you say what kind of experts they are, and you share what the benefits are of having experts do the work (ie you save time and money).

Mendenhall 10y ago
Just wanted to say very good feedback. This is the exact type of post that makes me enjoy hacker news and helps me grow as someone who designs UI UX etc. I am not OP but always appreciate learning.
kdamken 10y ago
Hey - thank you for posting all of this. While I have an eye for design, I'm not a UX or web designer so I don't usually have a ton of specific feedback other than knowing something doesn't look as good as other sites I work on. I was hoping this would at least raise the question in his mind that maybe his site doesn't look that modern or professional. I've met a lot of business owners who are great at their business but not knowledgeable about web sites, and end up paying for a subpar product and not knowing it's low quality.