Tennis Masters Website Layout

[dbest]

Working with a website designer for the layout of the website. The first mockup provided by the designer is shown below:




There is too much extra space around the content box, and that will be changed. Otherwise it does look pretty neat, does'nt it?

[jannesiera]

To be honest, it doesn't really look like a game. It looks more like a website of a random tennis club. Maybe this would be better when changing the header and the "business colour pallet" (white and blue) to some more challenging / entertaining colours.

I like the "clean" (using that word a lot, lately ) layout and structure though.

[dbest]

Really? I think the white and blue reflects one of the grand slams. Might ask him to work on the header a bit more.

[Xavier]

I agree with jannesiera. It looks more like a tennis blog to me. It's neat and clean and I like it but you'd want to make sure that a visitor knows what this website is about. Maybe below "Tennis Masters" logo you can put something like "the browser based game, become a tennis champion" or something similar. Other than that, I like it.

[dbest]

Well, that's an easier option. I will work on the text too... I have communicated the changes to the designer, lets see what he comes back with.

[Nox]

I agree...it looks to me really like a blog, although I don't say it should look like every other game, currently it's kinda too much different
Other than that it looks nice... maybe make the gradient a bit more subtle

And "too much space"... a large portion of current designs use large empty areas to let it breathe so there's nothing wrong in it, actually many games make everything too condense - or in the worst case they randomly have somewhere space and somewhere it's sticked to the edge, your design seems to have good arranging and use of margin/padding

[dbest]

Gosh.. no one likes it..

At first glance, I did like it.. and then i started nit picking. Not sure how much I can get the guy to change the design. But thanks for the feedback guys.

[Nox]

We didn't say we don't like it just that it would fit more for a blog so some changes would be advisable

And about nitpicking...for me that's common and I feel with you... many of my designs I love and the beginning and find poor after some time

[Xavier]

Even so, I'd say get over it. It's still better design than many games I've seen.

[JGadrow]

I only glanced briefly at this before leaving work last night. I thought it was a website for a tennis club or blog. The only "beef" that I have with the design is the people in the banner. I think that is the part that tells me, "This is not a game."

Other than that, I think the design is great. There is nothing wrong with a neat appearance. But, I agree that you might want to place somewhere visibly that this is, indeed, a browser-based game. But, since the layout is neat and clean, I'm almost willing to bet you'll get reasonable visitor traction simply for that fact.

[jannesiera]

The design reminded me of eRepublik ( http://www.erepublik.com/en ) but it doesn't really look the same after all . Still, it may be good to take a look and see why they look more like a game (even with the clean whit / blue business style).

Like JGadrow said the people in the header are pretty confusing. A nice and meaningfull game-logo could help a lot (like the eRepublik logo). I would change the image (of the tennis ball, next to the "Your team rank") to something more meaningful by the way. Perhaps it's good that it's lets you know it's about real tennis managing, but it "says' too little.

Everything on the eRepublik page tells us the game state, and that it is an active game, that's a good choice for a PBBG homepage.

Obviously the header is very clear in telling us it's a game ("eRepublik is the first massive online social strategy game"). Just a note that the changing header a pretty cool.

The loginbox, find out more and register button are drawing attention with colours, size and position.

Hope that helps you thinking. Don't be to hard on yourself, it's easier criticizing than doing it yourself. I like the overall layout. It's true that it might be better than some other online games, but remember that true professional games do have a good layout. There's nothing wrong with going for that goal, as long as you don't get depressed .

[dbest]

Thanks for the suggestions. I had registered at eRepublik some time ago and it does look good. The layout shown is not the homepage, but would be displayed after the user has logged in.

I will try to incorporate some of the changes into the homepage to make it look more like a game.

I wasn't depressed. Its a learning curve for me, and somewhere down the line, I will know better. Or so I hope

[dbest]

Ok, this is how it looks on the inside. We didn't get rid of the blue background...

Inside page

Added a few of the suggestions that you guys gave.

[jannesiera]

Ok, this is how it looks on the inside. We didn't get rid of the blue background...

Inside page

Added a few of the suggestions that you guys gave.

Looks much better! Good job!

[ST-Mike]

Admins have ignored my deletion request - if you're not going to delete my account then don't have the option there please.

[dbest]

Thanks guys.

Yeah am trying to reduce the top logo image and avoid scrolling..

[Xavier]

I like it much more now. Looking forward for more.

[dbest]

This is the demo site for the game, with a new look design: http://demo.tennismasters.org

You can login using demo/demo.

Let me know what you guys think?