Website design ideas

[TAKTAK]

righty,

first off, i'm making a website for my driving instructor.

but i've become a bit stuck for funky fresh ideas (it needs to look snazzy as most of his clients are students...) so has anyone got any ideas of what to have it look like, i've been playing around in gimp and things and created a few graphics but none of them jump out at you... especially compared to things like THIS

so i'm looking for inspiration... i was looking at doing a notice board sort of idea.. but it's just a bit boring... then i thought abut having a car bonnet as a background and working around that but that seemed a bit boring too...

anyone have any brilliant ideas? needs to be nice and GUI and i will work in flash ( if it means a steep learning curve... the whole things quite steep...)


the best that i have come up with is a very lame header that just screams n00b... HERE, and very bad text colours...

[Funkstar]

Clean and profesional i think.

Never mind about little animations that don't really serve a purpose, especially when they are in flash. Stay away from the less formal typefaces too.

I also think light colours would be better than greys, silver, black and red.

[kidzer]

+1 for clean layout, and CSS is your friend if you can't use an image editing app to save your life!

I'm no good with any image editing apps, so any web pages I design are very simple- use CSS to your advantage, you can get some nice effects for menus etc by applying syles to lists.

Also, a subtle background image makes a difference, I've got one on my main site I run, as does the Hexus forums, its not immediatley obvious, but its a very nice subtle thing to have.

If you want some inspiration for a relatively clean-looking website, give the website I link to in my profile a look, it is a bit 'generic' looking, but it serves its purpose well!

[Funkstar]

I like that site Kidzer.

Clean and using large photos instead of a collection of graphics works really well in my opinion.

[peterb]

Yes, I think "less is more" is the rule. And personally I think the mechanics of the coding are secondary to the overall look and feel of the site, which needs to be consistent across the site (CSS - as an earlier poster said - is your friend) And just because you CAN do something snazzy, doesn't mean you should!

The object is to convey information in an easily assimiltaed and logical manner, clearly laid out and presented. (And withough wishing to teach you to suck eggs, story boarding is a good technique, sketching out how each page will look, and what it will convey, on a sheet of A4 or A3. and a "link map" showing how the pages will interact can also be useful.)

[TAKTAK]

so just light airey clean and simple?

what sort of colours? light greens, or reds to tie in with the 'L'plate colours?

edit: looking at everything CSS can do i'm in 100% favour of ditching heavy graphics and flash, and it would make it more accessible

[tefster]

Often I find the cheapest way, in terms of time, if you/they aren't sure what look to go for is to just work through one of the template sites, e.g. TemplateMonster, find one that they like and then buy it as the basis for refinement.

[Funkstar]

what sort of colours? light greens, or reds to tie in with the 'L'plate colours?

Does the guy have any type of logo at all? I'm guessing he doesn't.

What colour is his car? Sounds silly, but it might give you a start is choosing the colour of the site.

[TAKTAK]

Does the guy have any type of logo at all? I'm guessing he doesn't.

What colour is his car? Sounds silly, but it might give you a start is choosing the colour of the site.

well theres two cars, both yaris' but ones silver and ones red

and no, he doesn't have a logo

[peterb]

well theres two cars, both yaris' but ones silver and ones red

Yaris? Be careful, their owners are mean, spiteful and bear grudges. (according to the adverts)

[HSK]

I would say off the top of my head, go for a clean, professional looking layout/design...neutral, light or non garish colours...as mentioned before, incorporate the L plates maybe, the just passed plate (green P plate?) maybe? and also the cars he uses to teach with...something lil that would make it more personal to the driving school.

[TAKTAK]

righty... what i've got so far (havn't got any piccys to put in so it's just blank ATM)

click to see big versions




the top part still needs changing again so it's not as tacky and a piccy of the car surrounding it (and i've just spotted the typo on succeed)
and the favicon is just a scrolling 'L' plate

[yamangman]

You should consider attribution when you use others' work.

[TAKTAK]

You should consider attribution when you use others' work.

i've followed what it said in the usage rights file which was that the link to 'template world' remains at the base of the page un-obscured, and i left the copyright dark dimension (it didn't say about leaving it but i thought it was best), what else do you recommend that i add?

but it is THIS template
with the search bar removed and most of the graphics changed around (just blanked for the moment)

[Disturbedguy]

I personally when I can be mithered like to create my own templates.

TAKTAK add me to msn mate and I will link you to some, will be easier then putting them here.

coatesanthony@hotmail.com