Kicksaints Studios

[Nicksta]

Company based out of South Africa

http://www.kicksaints.com (http://www.kicksaints.com/)

[dentricrio]

very smart website. bookmarked.

[ø]

Ouh that's nice. I really like that:)

[eilsoe]

I got the distinct feeling - from wanthing their reel - that these guys are imitators.. many of the effects were something I'd seen many times. The music was an odd choice, the animation didn't flow with it at all... It just came off amateurish to me :-/

Seems like they just copy popular trends... and do a *decent* job at it...

[DDD]

bah...I leftg after not being able to see the nav. A friend told me where to find it. Hidden nav For Teh Lose. :td:

top it off the site is not very tight IMO.

[andrewfitz]

The colours aren't very well thought out either, that's what bothers me the most. It also felt very slow.

[kinow]

DDD is right. The menu was hidden, but I was lucky and found it. Anyway, I didn't see the Click Here to View the Work button, because it looks like the normal heading. Maybe a red color would help, I don't know. But the work is very good. What are the tools you are using, Corel?

[final_end]

i like the design and the work. you guys are right, nothing extra special, but i still think very nice. But yeah, form follows function usually in this business and this is what happens when it doesn't. hiding the nav from people and labeling things so you have to look for them, not a good idea if you are trying to show your work but nobody can find it.

[Nicksta]

Ok since I designed this page most of the criticism is aimed at me :) I've been told acouple times that the navigation is abit tough, so I'm going to look into it over the next day or two. Kinow, I agree that its hard to find the button to view the work so I'll change the colour, thats very easy. The top banner is actually going to change alot in the next acouple of weeks. At the moment it has a day night cycle but there is someone here who is tihnking of acouple ideas.

All in all I'm pretty happy with what I made regardless of the criticism, it was after all my first Flash + XML driven website. :)

Thanks guys

[DDD]

wait you put your own site in Kool Sites? A bit presumptuous. I'll move this to S&C for you.

Oh yeah and no rollover states for the buttons is kinda well bleh to me. It just seems to be lacking punch and reminds of the grunge fad that took the world by storm a couple of years. ago. But if you like itm thats all that matters.

[Nicksta]

Ah well the criticism is always welcome, gives me an idea on what other people like, which is great.

[simplistik]

meh, isn't a bad site. I had to leave though all the blurry fonts were killin my eyes.

[BoonDock]

Yeah the nav for the portfolio was a bit hard to take ...

The site itself isn't all that bad - but at the same time it can be improved upon...the design is fine - just tweaks in the flash and readability of the text/fonts ...

(i guess you fixed the hidden nav - because i found it right away)

EDIT: I love the name though - KickSaints ... very nice :thumb:

[Nicksta]

I'll probably switch the font to something alot more legible sometime soon. Thanks for the comments :)

[Pasquale]

*big phat MEH*

[flashead]

it's already been mentioned, but add some rollovers to the nav for sure.
the portfolio list font is a tad small, doesn't grab enough attention.
logo's maybe a bit too Red Hot Chili Peppers-y.

but i think its a pretty nice lookin' site so far. nice job!

k.

[BS]

Site is too dark for me

[Nicksta]

flashead:
Font has been changed, I'll consider some rollovers for the nav after I've finished the new banner thats going at the top.

Cybercode:
The new banner should lighten it up abit but bare in mind that the name of our company is Kicksaints not Heavenly saints. After all that is personal preference.

Thank you for the comments

[berkoWitZ]

The designs in "The Team" are very well done, love them...

The site is cool, it justs needs to be a little more "flashy", but just a little bit, rollovers for the menu defintely would help, everything else is nice.

[Nicksta]

The designs in "The Team" are very well done, love them...

The site is cool, it justs needs to be a little more "flashy", but just a little bit, rollovers for the menu defintely would help, everything else is nice.

Ok I've added roll overs for the menu buttons but I didn't make them complex the reason the site isn't "flashy" we're trying to give off the impression we're corporate however I will be making the header banner alot more "flashy" and it will be loading alot of dynamic content soonish. I'm still coming up with a good idea for that though.

[Phenex]

Is it just me or the whole thing looks like an HTML/CSS site was taken and just put into Flash? :huh:

[Nicksta]

Is it just me or the whole thing looks like an HTML/CSS site was taken and just put into Flash? :huh:

No its not just you Sir PhoeniX, the site was designed to look like that for target market specific reasons. Freelance designers usually use flash to create something with alot more freedom which HTML/CSS can't provide but we didn't want to make something overtly "flashy" since alot of our clients are corporate. In this case I used flash just for some interactive elements and beside that I used it as a learning curve.

The whole site runs on XML -> Flash with some PHP and JS scripting.

[albino]

I really like it. it is smooth, and it isn't "in your face". Id change the nav buttons to something more exciting though, as the current roll over effect didn't really do anything for me

and also some sounds, like when you roll over the button, and when pages load (taps, swooooosh's etc)

great work though. I especially like the portofolio bit (not the fonts, they are too small), when you roll over the image, and another one pops up, very nice.

[dreeft]

The designs in "The Team" are very well done.Agreed. They look very clean. A bit unnecessarily big though.

The image at the bottom really throws the design. It is unnecessary and detracts from the page.

[Phenex]

No its not just you Sir PhoeniX, the site was designed to look like that for target market specific reasons. Freelance designers usually use flash to create something with alot more freedom which HTML/CSS can't provide but we didn't want to make something overtly "flashy" since alot of our clients are corporate. In this case I used flash just for some interactive elements and beside that I used it as a learning curve.

The whole site runs on XML -> Flash with some PHP and JS scripting.

Ah... Good point.

But, I still don't see the point in using Flash and then just making everything so rectangular and conforming to ALL norms. If you just wanted it to look like a regular site, you could have given it at least some innovative element. I'm not trying to be rude or picky or anything... Just an opinion.

Oh well, must be my cynical side again. In any case, all the best.

[Nicksta]

Its all good Sir PhoeniX, everyones opinion is valid :)

When I put the new banner up though, I'll be using alot of "flashy" elements. As for the structure it seems to be working well on a local scale, South Africans don't generally see this kind of website done in flash. Its considered "unique" over here :p

Any other crits and ideas are allowed.