Review: Cataluña's new site

Looks like something good is coming on there Keep updating.

Hello,

I really like the layout so far! Hope to see more soon!

On a crappy screen there is a difference in greys around the borders, and the moon has a few light pixels.
The links top and bottom are a little hard to read, maybe no antialias on the text.

How are you going to do the center? on section or sectioned?
Nice start.

I'm not sure that this is a big improvement over the old version. The old one had lots of impact with the strong colour contrast. This one is quite drab in comparison. I like the rounded corners, and the new tagline is an improvement although it's a little hard to read.

You could try doing something different with the background here to give it some more punch. The grey sort of pulling down the feel of the site, and I can barely make out the circle pattern.

Here's an article to read for inspiration:

Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign

Think about what you really want to accomplish with the new design. You are keeping the same look and feel so this is more of a realign than a redesign

OK. I never saw the old, so theres no comparison from me.
1) I like the layout, nice that your sticking with a set width, Could you touch up the moon to look more smooth? The black out line looks grainy.
2) Using shadow is nice, maybe for the moon. make the shadow distance closer and the shadow you used on the border just a bit less dark and again closer to the border. It will make the site really jump off the page. I do take it thats what your achieving?
3) I can spot the gray corners so i think mnaking the whole background a solid gray would do more justice then the darker circles
4) The white text is a bit faint. If your using PS , then change the anti-aliasing from "smooth" to "strong" to make the text more distinct

Beside that, can't wait to see more.
my 2 cents

layout looks normal. nothing too exciting. i like the current one better, id say stick with that one just maybe change the colour scheme. im not too fond of the deep red background colour with the dark blue

Hello my opinion is to keep the old layout and change the colors!

Right, for the time being, there is no content, but the site design is nice and simple, you definitely have a theme thought out for this site. Keep updating and keep us informed on the changes made. We will be sure to visit it again.

Oh my! Many of you have the same opinion of friends and partners I have asked - they like the old site as well! (cataluna.com)

Megan - thanks for the article! It was great. I have really rethought what I am doing.

Soooo - here's the deal:

• My customers seems to like the site

• People say they can find their way around

• I have added some and removed some so the navigation should reflect that

• There are some tech things that I would like to fix

• The text needs to be rewritten to "sell" better

Some of you think a new color scheme is in order...

• what color scheme would you use considering the look of my logo

• what do you feel needs to be changed?

• Do you think that I should use the new nav system on the old site?

I loved eveyone's ideas and thoughts. So if you could take a look at the old site maybe something will hit you...

Thanks a million!

I'm not sure what you should do regarding the colour scheme - hopefully someone else will have a suggestion.

I'm quite liking many aspects of the new design, the rounded corners, new nav, and the logo stands out better. It's the background and very heavy drop shadows around the main area that let it down. Otherwise it's not actually that dissimilair from the original, change those things and you might just have what you're looking for: A realigned version of the original!

Hopefully the final product will use a text based menu and won't have a Flash logo (sorry it just looks unpleasant IMO!).

keep the round corners.
maybe re-draw your logo with a gradient of rich colors or something. your new one looked simpler i thought. if you modify your old one make the yellow links height bigger i dont like skinny ones.

also am i the only one who likes a nav menu to be all in one and not top & left ?!

Hey all - I just wanted to show you the new site: cataluna.com

Thank you for all of your input!

now it looks nice..

nice site simple but effective you might wanna check the image your using for your menu at the top of the page the border seems pixelated in mozilla.

Some of the colours are a bit hard to read

The yellow on hover (left links)
the links at the top right - the black is to close to the background, and on grey can be easily missed.
the left handed comment - black on dark purple is hard to read, white text might be better.
and the 'sign up free' text across the bottom, can't make it out, think it's e-newsletter ?

Thank you Busy. I just saw your comments and think that they are great.

It is white text on the purple background - what browser are you using?