So I’m thinking about a site redesign and need some feedback as well as a site designer. My own limited skills and time make it impossible for me to do much more than take a template and tweak it. The site feels crowded and, now that I’m adding graphics to the posts, I need a color scheme that brings out those graphics.
I would appreciate suggestions in a positive form rather than criticisms of the current site. Really, the question is, given the current approach that is both text heavy with occasional graphics whose presence may be increased, what the heck should ProHipHop look like?
Here’s what I think I need:
a color scheme and overall design that supports easy reading, varied graphics and ad placements that are visible without being overwhelming.
a design in template form that can be used on all pages of the site, including static pages like this interview that uses the template but whose core content doesn’t change.
one that can handle changes on the site without throwing things off, including the possibility of less ads and/or more graphics in the posts.
a design that avoids hip hop cliches while acknowledging the fact that ProHipHop remains as interested in the streets as in corporate settings.
a design that partakes of current web standards while not getting too far ahead of the game and losing folks with slightly outdated browsers and computers.
Notes to designers:
Like too many small hip hop businesses, I don’t have a lot of money to put into this endeavor. However, I do have ad inventory here, on netweed and on Hip Hop Press that would be available for whatever you wish, whether it’s for your services, special projects or payback for other favors involving third parties. My ad rates are relatively low (IMHO) but I can quite easily offer you a trade that would be comparable to a pay rate far beyond what you might normally charge. In addition, you could have a permanent visible presence on ProHipHop for the life of the design.
If you are an experienced designer that finds this opportunity of interest, rather than working on spec to get the job, I would be quite happy to base my choice of designer on previous projects along with a basic idea of how you would approach the project given my needs and relevant feedback from readers.
This is also a good chance for regular readers to have input that will affect your future use and enjoyment of the site.
Feel free to add comments or to contact me directly at:
clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com
Clyde have you considered switching to 2 columns from 3? That would definitely give you more room for images. With 3, it can get kinda cramped. I think a nice header would make the blog look much better, and I think it looks pretty good now. BMA looks a 1000% better now that they added a nice header.
Whatever you decide, good luck with it!
Thanks, Mack. 2 columns and a groovy header are what I’m thinking as well. I appreciate the confirmation.
I second the two columns thing. The less clutter the better, I think. (Also, your ‘recent posts’ listing, move that into a sidebar, too.)
Thanks Candice. The problem with moving recent posts to a sidebar is that they’ll end up fairly low on the page. On the other hand, that would mean they’re on every page.
Since I do also have the Last 25 Headlines on their own page, maybe a link to that is enough?
Any other opinions on the recent posts?
I think on a sidebar somewhere would be alright. Another suggestion I thought of is one that is somewhat annoying on a lot of weblogs, is that make sure your content and your sidebar are similar lengths, that you don’t strand a reader at the bottom of the page.
I should also hook you up with my friend Damon, who does freelance writing about hip hop and various other things. He just jumped into blogging here – http://www.damonbrown.net
I think you should expand your site to 960px wide. This will allow for a 160px, 468px, and 300px wide column (with room to spare). These columns can easily fit a medium rectangle, wide skyscaper, and full banner (468x60px). I find advertisers want the medium rectangle and leader board (728×90) the most, so get those to the top of the page, or ‘above the fold’. Also, reduce the number of categories you have. Generalize more and you’ll get users to click through more based on the headline of the post. No need to turn people away when they see the category called ‘History’ or ‘Legal’. You’re really giving to many option for the users, and ridiculously long list at that. I’m not quite sure if this is using WordPress, but if it is, get the ‘Similar Posts’ plugin. It does an excellent job showing other posts related by keyword. You have probably seen the sites I’ve worked on, XXLmag.com, KING-mag.com, RIDES-mag.com, SCRATCHmagazine.com, and SLAMonline.com. These methods work for us, and looks like you have a lot of great content, so in your redesign, focus on providing easy avenues for users to gain access to their favorite content.
Thanks for dropping by. Though this post is for the old design, I’m glad to get some relevant feedback from a successful designer for the current design.
I’m actually runnning Typepad and, for future reference, just check the source code for that information.
Wordpress has some features that would help with some of those issues. I’m not sure how to get around the long categories list without having categories that have an ungodly number of posts in them. WordPress allows the cat to wrap around to other pages, and that is a good thing as long as there aren’t too many of them, because the more pages under a particular topic, the less likely is that one will go through those pages.
That said, I’m very interested in practical ideas that do improve navigation, since that has always been a key concern of mine. Part of the problem is that blogging platforms are not well designed for high volume blogging.
“Generalize more and you’ll get users to click through more based on the headline of the post.”
That’s bad advice and simply not true, at least, not on this blog. I’ve observed the clickthroughs on both long enough to tell the difference. What have you seen that makes you think that’s true?
I hear you on the ad formats. I’m finding that given my current ad providers, it doesn’t make any difference. I’m not getting the kind of direct buys that would involve such targetting.
But it will when I hook up with a competent agency or start handling that effectively in-house. Unfortunately, that time has yet to come. However, since I’ve been hearing a lot of similar info about ad formats from the hip hop ads discussion group, I see a related format in my future.
Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it.
“Generalize more and you’ll get users to click through more based on the headline of the post.”
Ok, I see you actually meant generalize the categories rather than the headlines.
They are in need of a new round of editing and removal of those that haven’t developed but, for the most part, I like having more specific categories.