5 ms·

Offer HN: GUI redesign

22 points by retro212 16y ago

To jump on the bandwagon of helping fellow HNers, I'm offering to redesign one screen of your GUI for free. Requests will be processed by first come, first serve principle. Also if there will be a lot of requests I might not be able to do all of them, but I'll try to do as much as possible. You can see some of the stuff I did on my blog at http://retroaktive.hibreedcms.com Note: I will focus on application design, if you need design help there is another thread at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1831960

sainib 16y ago
Great offer, thanks!! I have been wanting to redesign my site's homepage - www.biznus.tv . I will appreciate if you can help with that.
- retro212 16y ago
  Ok, I'm starting to work on it :)
- retro212 16y ago
  Here you go http://212labs.com/retro/biznus.png http://212labs.com/retro/biznus.png I've added some whitespace, rearanged some elements, and slightly changed colors to get more vibrant look and feel. Also videos are now displayed in tabs so you can have short description about each video. I hope you like it.
  - sainib 16y ago
    Very nice. Thanks a lot!! Its amazing how the rearranging makes the page look so better and user friendly. Good Work!!
ntulip 16y ago
It would be awesome to get some help on this website i am working on. My wife is a Realtor and I've been motivated recently to work on something which allows people to find realtor's that live in proximity to their neighborhood and so on. What I haven't been able to come up with a design for the Realtor profile pages. the website is: http://www.nearagent.com http://www.nearagent.com - i would be interested in trading services also.
- retro212 16y ago
  What info should be on Realtor profile pages?
  - ntulip 16y ago
    some basic profile information like name, photo, recent closings (home addresses) - certifications/qualifications - social network integration which i will add for twitter/facebook/etc - thats all i have for now.
    - retro212 16y ago
      Here is your design: http://212labs.com/retro/nearagent.png http://212labs.com/retro/nearagent.png Things that I've done: * Search is now placed in Agent locator, I believe it is a good practice to group similar features * This design is more application like. It should resize itself with page. That way there will be no multiple scrolls * User info panel is designed. I hope you like it
      - ntulip 16y ago
        Awesome! Thank you very very much. Any possibility to get the psd?
        retro212 16y ago
        Sure, contact me at konjevic at gmail com
- mattmiller 16y ago
  I have a real estate themed project as well: http://www.agentshowroom.com http://www.agentshowroom.com
  - ntulip 16y ago
    Matt I would be interested in integrating their MLS data into the profile pages. What do you think?
wacheena 16y ago
Wow. This would be _really_ helpful! I have an Android app that I've been working on. The primary purpose is to let users see the apps their friends have so they can discover new ones. You can see screen grabs @ http://www.appadvocate.com/screenshots2/ http://www.appadvocate.com/screenshots2/ But the one that I really need help on is the home screen: http://bit.ly/ackPgK http://bit.ly/ackPgK The most important things for a user to look at are Friends (shows a list of friends and how many apps they have) and Friend's apps (shows a list of apps the user doesn't have but are being used by friends). And I'd also like to figure out a way to encourage people to invite new friends to join them.
- roryokane 16y ago
  Quick comments on the home screen from an amateur who doesn’t even own a smartphone: The people in the Friends icon are too vertically staggered. It looks like one friend is apart from the rest. Maybe show one person front and center (the user) with two people behind and on either side of that person. It’s unclear where the boundaries of the buttons are. Add borders, or a rectangular gradient behind the button. The colors don’t match, especially the orange people and the background. I’m not sure how to fix it, but I think you should at least darken the button label text, because black matches better than gray, and it would increase contrast against the similar-brightness background. It’s confusing how a green check represents an app, but a green plus means add a new friend. I think an app would be better represented by a rounded-corner square, or a square with an upside-down “V” cut into it like the silhouette of an “A”. It looks like there is too much space at the bottom. Make the buttons taller to fill the screen, or show them as 5 items in a list. Showing them as a list would also solve the problem of the excess whitespace next to Find Friends; alternatively, you could center that button, but that might draw too much attention to it.
- retro212 16y ago
  roryokane identified much of the issues with the current design. Here you can see greybox mockup of new design http://212labs.com/retro/appadvocate.png http://212labs.com/retro/appadvocate.png. It has clear hierarchy of options, and they are clearly separated. I believe this is a better layout for this screen. Also I'm not sure about orange icons on brown background. I would add some contrast.
sandGorgon 16y ago
thanks a lot !
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
zohaibr 16y ago
We just got our application online yesterday, would love some feedback: http://www.hiringsimplified.com http://www.hiringsimplified.com
kevinelliott 16y ago
Hey, I'd REALLY love if you could redesign an iPhone app for me. http://musedapp.com http://musedapp.com ... Mused 2.0 offers a ton of new data and I want it to look stellar!
- retro212 16y ago
  Unfortunately this is beyond scope of this offer. I can help you with one screen that you are not satisfied with, but design of application takes a lot of time.
  - kevinelliott 16y ago
    The detail screen is what I really need help with specifically. I could send you screenshots of the current state of the app (as the website is not reflecting this properly, they are about 6 months old). My biggest challenge has been presenting that one screen in an effective manner to end users.
kabuks 16y ago
http://bettermeans.com http://bettermeans.com The welcome page after you first signup could use some love but I've maxed out my design chops. Thanks!
Concours 16y ago
Thanks for the great offer retro, I need a redesign for my site: http://www.mcsquare.me http://www.mcsquare.me
danielnicollet 16y ago
Thanks retro. I hope it's still time. I need some help. How can I contact you? exorbyte AT gmail.com - our site is at http://commerce.exorbyte.com http://commerce.exorbyte.com
natep 16y ago
Thank you for this! One side project I'd like to get back to is my fork of JSettlers. Here's a screenshot of the game screen: http://imgur.com/aAokt.png http://imgur.com/aAokt.png So far, I haven't given the UI any love, but hopefully your comments will inspire me.
jsarch 16y ago
Wow. This is an amazing offer of service. A SaaS company I just launched (https://www.seqcentral.com https://www.seqcentral.com) could use some UX/UI help on the internal application pages. To see the internal pages, you can simply create a free account. The jobs/dbs/collabs pages are all similar and a common layout/theme would help immensely. Send me an email if you need more info.
- retro212 16y ago
  Can you please send me some screenshots of problematic pages to my mail (konjevic at gmail com). I've created account, but honestly I don't understand anything about your app, and it would be great to see how layout looks with data.
lfadmin 16y ago
Thanks for the great offer. Our website is http://www.longlongago.in http://www.longlongago.in an online library for children's books. Two of our common questions are (esp. new users to computers) is how it works, what plans you have. Of course both the information are available in home page! So our design is not reaching out to all users. Would be happy to see a redesign. Thanks.
- retro212 16y ago
  I'm not expert on landing page optimization, but there are few things that will surely help. 1. Remove animation on frontpage. As you said, your customer want to know how it works and how much does it cost. Leave only how it works slide. 2. Add call to action 3. Create FAQ page where people can read about your service and put very visible link on frontpage. I created a mockup of this solution and you can find it at http://212labs.com/retro/longlongago.png http://212labs.com/retro/longlongago.png . I think this should already help with bigger conversion, but you should probably do some A/B testing to find right formula for your customers.
nischalshetty 16y ago
Can you please try your hand at http://justunfollow.com http://justunfollow.com ? The page after you login and click 'Show Non-Followers'
- retro212 16y ago
  Here you go: http://212labs.com/retro/justunfollow.png http://212labs.com/retro/justunfollow.png One note: You should show tweet form on click. It uses unnecessary space, and there was duplication when form is shown below the logo and link is shown above the logo. I hope you like it.
retro212 16y ago
Hi guys. I can see there were a lot of replies over the night (in my time zone). I'm starting to work on them and hopefully I will be able to process them all.
iconfinder 16y ago
Can someone tell Reddit about this offer?
dfabulich 16y ago
Our website is a collection of interactive novels (aka "Choose Your Own Adventure", but that term is trademarked). Specifically, http://www.choiceofgames.com/romance/ http://www.choiceofgames.com/romance/ could use some sprucing up. There's a lot of clutter on that page, but it's hard to decide how to trim it down. Those "share" links are pretty important to our business, but they're so ugly where they are... (Obviously we need visual design help, too, but I recognize that's not in the scope of this offer. Over time we'll certainly want to customize the visual style for individual games, like we did for http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/ http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/ but having a nice "out of the box" design would be fantastic.) Thanks! dan at choiceofgames.com
hariis 16y ago
Thank retro! Mighty nice of you. If you still have the bandwidth, can you please take a look at the home page of http://caniafforditnow.com http://caniafforditnow.com and offer an alternate design. If you need anything, my email hrajagopal(at)yahoooooooo.com
lulin 16y ago
If you still have the time, it would be great if you could take a look at wadokukogo.heroku.com (for example: http://wadokukogo.heroku.com/search?q=aka http://wadokukogo.heroku.com/search?q=aka). It's a classical japanese - german online dictionary, and I don't really have a good idea how to display the results in a way that's easy to read and still nice to look at.

22 points by retro212 16y ago

sainib 16y ago

Great offer, thanks!! I have been wanting to redesign my site's homepage - www.biznus.tv . I will appreciate if you can help with that.

retro212 16y ago
Ok, I'm starting to work on it :)
retro212 16y ago
Here you go http://212labs.com/retro/biznus.png http://212labs.com/retro/biznus.png I've added some whitespace, rearanged some elements, and slightly changed colors to get more vibrant look and feel. Also videos are now displayed in tabs so you can have short description about each video. I hope you like it.
- sainib 16y ago
  Very nice. Thanks a lot!! Its amazing how the rearranging makes the page look so better and user friendly. Good Work!!

ntulip 16y ago

It would be awesome to get some help on this website i am working on. My wife is a Realtor and I've been motivated recently to work on something which allows people to find realtor's that live in proximity to their neighborhood and so on. What I haven't been able to come up with a design for the Realtor profile pages. the website is: http://www.nearagent.com http://www.nearagent.com - i would be interested in trading services also.

retro212 16y ago
What info should be on Realtor profile pages?
- ntulip 16y ago
  some basic profile information like name, photo, recent closings (home addresses) - certifications/qualifications - social network integration which i will add for twitter/facebook/etc - thats all i have for now.
  - retro212 16y ago
    Here is your design: http://212labs.com/retro/nearagent.png http://212labs.com/retro/nearagent.png Things that I've done: * Search is now placed in Agent locator, I believe it is a good practice to group similar features * This design is more application like. It should resize itself with page. That way there will be no multiple scrolls * User info panel is designed. I hope you like it
    - ntulip 16y ago
      Awesome! Thank you very very much. Any possibility to get the psd?
      - retro212 16y ago
        Sure, contact me at konjevic at gmail com
mattmiller 16y ago
I have a real estate themed project as well: http://www.agentshowroom.com http://www.agentshowroom.com
- ntulip 16y ago
  Matt I would be interested in integrating their MLS data into the profile pages. What do you think?

wacheena 16y ago

Wow. This would be _really_ helpful! I have an Android app that I've been working on. The primary purpose is to let users see the apps their friends have so they can discover new ones. You can see screen grabs @ http://www.appadvocate.com/screenshots2/ http://www.appadvocate.com/screenshots2/ But the one that I really need help on is the home screen: http://bit.ly/ackPgK http://bit.ly/ackPgK The most important things for a user to look at are Friends (shows a list of friends and how many apps they have) and Friend's apps (shows a list of apps the user doesn't have but are being used by friends). And I'd also like to figure out a way to encourage people to invite new friends to join them.

roryokane 16y ago
Quick comments on the home screen from an amateur who doesn’t even own a smartphone: The people in the Friends icon are too vertically staggered. It looks like one friend is apart from the rest. Maybe show one person front and center (the user) with two people behind and on either side of that person. It’s unclear where the boundaries of the buttons are. Add borders, or a rectangular gradient behind the button. The colors don’t match, especially the orange people and the background. I’m not sure how to fix it, but I think you should at least darken the button label text, because black matches better than gray, and it would increase contrast against the similar-brightness background. It’s confusing how a green check represents an app, but a green plus means add a new friend. I think an app would be better represented by a rounded-corner square, or a square with an upside-down “V” cut into it like the silhouette of an “A”. It looks like there is too much space at the bottom. Make the buttons taller to fill the screen, or show them as 5 items in a list. Showing them as a list would also solve the problem of the excess whitespace next to Find Friends; alternatively, you could center that button, but that might draw too much attention to it.
retro212 16y ago
roryokane identified much of the issues with the current design. Here you can see greybox mockup of new design http://212labs.com/retro/appadvocate.png http://212labs.com/retro/appadvocate.png. It has clear hierarchy of options, and they are clearly separated. I believe this is a better layout for this screen. Also I'm not sure about orange icons on brown background. I would add some contrast.

sandGorgon 16y ago

thanks a lot !

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

zohaibr 16y ago

We just got our application online yesterday, would love some feedback: http://www.hiringsimplified.com http://www.hiringsimplified.com

kevinelliott 16y ago

Hey, I'd REALLY love if you could redesign an iPhone app for me. http://musedapp.com http://musedapp.com ... Mused 2.0 offers a ton of new data and I want it to look stellar!

retro212 16y ago
Unfortunately this is beyond scope of this offer. I can help you with one screen that you are not satisfied with, but design of application takes a lot of time.
- kevinelliott 16y ago
  The detail screen is what I really need help with specifically. I could send you screenshots of the current state of the app (as the website is not reflecting this properly, they are about 6 months old). My biggest challenge has been presenting that one screen in an effective manner to end users.

kabuks 16y ago

http://bettermeans.com http://bettermeans.com The welcome page after you first signup could use some love but I've maxed out my design chops. Thanks!

Concours 16y ago

Thanks for the great offer retro, I need a redesign for my site: http://www.mcsquare.me http://www.mcsquare.me

danielnicollet 16y ago

Thanks retro. I hope it's still time. I need some help. How can I contact you? exorbyte AT gmail.com - our site is at http://commerce.exorbyte.com http://commerce.exorbyte.com

natep 16y ago

Thank you for this! One side project I'd like to get back to is my fork of JSettlers. Here's a screenshot of the game screen: http://imgur.com/aAokt.png http://imgur.com/aAokt.png So far, I haven't given the UI any love, but hopefully your comments will inspire me.

jsarch 16y ago

Wow. This is an amazing offer of service. A SaaS company I just launched (https://www.seqcentral.com https://www.seqcentral.com) could use some UX/UI help on the internal application pages. To see the internal pages, you can simply create a free account. The jobs/dbs/collabs pages are all similar and a common layout/theme would help immensely. Send me an email if you need more info.

retro212 16y ago
Can you please send me some screenshots of problematic pages to my mail (konjevic at gmail com). I've created account, but honestly I don't understand anything about your app, and it would be great to see how layout looks with data.

lfadmin 16y ago

Thanks for the great offer. Our website is http://www.longlongago.in http://www.longlongago.in an online library for children's books. Two of our common questions are (esp. new users to computers) is how it works, what plans you have. Of course both the information are available in home page! So our design is not reaching out to all users. Would be happy to see a redesign. Thanks.

retro212 16y ago
I'm not expert on landing page optimization, but there are few things that will surely help. 1. Remove animation on frontpage. As you said, your customer want to know how it works and how much does it cost. Leave only how it works slide. 2. Add call to action 3. Create FAQ page where people can read about your service and put very visible link on frontpage. I created a mockup of this solution and you can find it at http://212labs.com/retro/longlongago.png http://212labs.com/retro/longlongago.png . I think this should already help with bigger conversion, but you should probably do some A/B testing to find right formula for your customers.

nischalshetty 16y ago

Can you please try your hand at http://justunfollow.com http://justunfollow.com ? The page after you login and click 'Show Non-Followers'

retro212 16y ago
Here you go: http://212labs.com/retro/justunfollow.png http://212labs.com/retro/justunfollow.png One note: You should show tweet form on click. It uses unnecessary space, and there was duplication when form is shown below the logo and link is shown above the logo. I hope you like it.

retro212 16y ago

Hi guys. I can see there were a lot of replies over the night (in my time zone). I'm starting to work on them and hopefully I will be able to process them all.

iconfinder 16y ago

Can someone tell Reddit about this offer?

dfabulich 16y ago

Our website is a collection of interactive novels (aka "Choose Your Own Adventure", but that term is trademarked). Specifically, http://www.choiceofgames.com/romance/ http://www.choiceofgames.com/romance/ could use some sprucing up. There's a lot of clutter on that page, but it's hard to decide how to trim it down. Those "share" links are pretty important to our business, but they're so ugly where they are... (Obviously we need visual design help, too, but I recognize that's not in the scope of this offer. Over time we'll certainly want to customize the visual style for individual games, like we did for http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/ http://www.choiceofgames.com/dragon/ but having a nice "out of the box" design would be fantastic.) Thanks! dan at choiceofgames.com

hariis 16y ago

Thank retro! Mighty nice of you. If you still have the bandwidth, can you please take a look at the home page of http://caniafforditnow.com http://caniafforditnow.com and offer an alternate design. If you need anything, my email hrajagopal(at)yahoooooooo.com

lulin 16y ago

If you still have the time, it would be great if you could take a look at wadokukogo.heroku.com (for example: http://wadokukogo.heroku.com/search?q=aka http://wadokukogo.heroku.com/search?q=aka). It's a classical japanese - german online dictionary, and I don't really have a good idea how to display the results in a way that's easy to read and still nice to look at.