Whitgift Fitness Croydon

[wingdude]

Hey all,
I am only 15 years old. In 2005, I won the Web Design Challenge in the UK for Under 14 Category (I was 13/14 at the time). After that, my school asked if I wanted to make a site for their new Sports Complex, a brand new 9 million pound investment.
With no budget at all I came up with the following Flash Site.
www.whitgift-fitness.co.uk (http://www.whitgift-fitness.co.uk)
Thanks for any input you have, and any comments/ further features later on.

Safe Ppl,
Wing!

[coolvision]

Nice Web Site and Good Luck. :b:

[wingdude]

Thank you :)

[fasterthanlight™]

Wow you've got skills, i'm anxious to see what you can do,

However, you've been using a serif font throughout your entire site, which looks absolutely absurd.

No idea why the nav text isnt vertically centered within the buttons......

[wingdude]

Thanks.
A serif font? I used Tahoma throughout?
Can you take a screenshot, I might not have embedded properly or something.
Please post the screenshot.
Thanks again.

[fasterthanlight™]

I suspect its an embedding issue:

http://www.february-stars.com/serif.jpg

[wingdude]

Wow! Haha that is a bit absurd isn't it.
Well I have posted how it should look like below.
Do you not have the tahoma font?
What should I do?
http://www.wingdude.net/uploader/upload/whithfc_scrnsht.png

[fasterthanlight™]

Still no-worky for me,

As a representative of the normal internet user, I shouldn't have to have Tahoma installed on my machine....

[wingdude]

Ah man... just following Computer Arts guidelines...
Mmmm.... If anyone else has the same problem I might have to change to Verdana, but most people should have Tahoma. Most normal internet users should have Tahoma.
If you want the font I can send it to you.
Sorry about that.

[fasterthanlight™]

I'm going to check it on my "Basic run of the mill testing PC" here at work, let me get back to you...

[fasterthanlight™]

Hrmm, you're in the clear, it works on my pc, maybe macs don't ship with tahoma installed :S

[lorren.biffin]

Yea, i'm pretty sure Macs arent defaulted with Tahoma.

If you're following computer arts guidelines, you should ALWAYS embed when building an SWF for an internet situation. Not everybody will have your fonts, and there is no rule that all internet users should have "Tahoma". Personally, I like Tahoma. It's a great font, but I think it's a bit self involved to say that everyone should have it because you used it in your file. If I'm taking that wrong, let me know.

Now about your design, I think it's a good foundation, but I really don't like your use of color. Have you been to ColourLovers.com? If not, check it out. It's a great community driven resource for just this kind of situation.

I also feel that your use of strokes may be a bit too obtrusive. However, the right use of colors should fix that also.

Last thing I guess would be to say that the scan lines seem a bit out of place. Nice idea, just not great follow through.

Also, I'm not sure it's quite appropriate to mention your age to start with. Nobody who's anybody in this industry really cares how young or old you are if you know your stuff.

Sorry if any of this sounds at all harsh, It's just that you remind me of myself at your age. I was more of an HTML/CSS/Graphics kid, but it was very beneficial for me that most people were straightforward about my talent and what was lacking from it.

[fasterthanlight™]

^^ Standing ovation @ Slic

[wingdude]

Okay.
Thanks for that.

[wingdude]

I'll have to change the font and colours sometime.
Maybe in the summer, after I finish my GCSEs :)

[DDD]

I dont particularly like the site. You have a good foundation though, you just need to expand on the design and color use.

Things I dont like:
Continuous looping objects
non-harmonious color pallette
color pallette in general doesnt seem to fit
Multiple font weight and sizes not used in a heirachial manner
preloader looks pretty whack
contrast for text that appears over images is not very high making it hard to read
transitions are weak.
Rounded rectangles mixed with sharp rectangles.

What I do like
The links work
spacing and readability is good for the most part
ease of use

All in all I dont think you have captured the energy and spirit that would make a person want to sign up for a gym. It almost seems you went off what you think looks good rather than trying to invoke a experience or mood. There is alot of theory that goes into a site such as this for a company that has invest as much as they have in their facility. I would say, look up somethings on color theory and heirarchy and apply it to this design. Other than that seems you are off to a great start in the biz.

I tried to get you a sample of some good gym sites, but apparently there arent any. I was surprised to see the 24hr fitness's site sucks as does inshape city. So you can be a pioneer and make a gym site that doesnt suck.

[wingdude]

Thanks for your advice.
Now if you would like to donate...
Just kidding, I was working for free on this one.
I will definitely put in lots of work as regards to your changes, both DDD and SlicDiggy.
I appreciate the help guys, everyone seems to be on about Colour Palettes!
Will do some researching...

[lorren.biffin]

lol, no problem bro.

We're on about colour palettes because color is one of the most crucial of all design elements. A bad colour palette can make a great design look like crap, and visa-versa.

It would definitely benefit you to do some research in that area.

As DDD said, you seem like you have an amazing career ahead of you. Just take all the help and advice you can get while you can get it.

[wingdude]

Okay while "I can get it". Here's a post of a mockup I just did for a possible update to the site.
Enjoy (Hopefully!)
http://www.wingdude.net/uploader/upload/whitgift_poss_new_design.png

[DDD]

that pallette seems to subdued or "mono-tone". It may look cool on the outside but consider what your demographic is. I would go with a nice white bgrd black text, then go with some vibrant colors. Consider the elderly folks that use the gym. Consider the conservative business people that use the gym. Ask the gym folks what is the age range of their users. Is there a majorrity of 20 somethings? What are some area that they see lacking? Look at their print collateral already in use. Dont just pull concepts and colors from thin air. Put a little research behind them.

*gets off soapbox*

[wingdude]

Okay but prepare for a site that looks completely different to the above. Then again, I suppose a shift in demographic normally means that!
Thanks again, but I need to revise French Orals now hehe

[DDD]

You dont necessarily have to do what I said as I was just giving my opinion and how and what questions I would ask. Good luck tho.

[lorren.biffin]

Yep, good luck :)

Keep us updated.