30 Minute Redesign Saturdays - a new weekly set of posts where I take a visitor's website, analyze it's design and then provide a redesign free of charge - all in just 30 minutes! This week: Free PSP Themes Wallpapers gets a redesign.
In the space of 5 minutes I can identify some of the key strengths and weaknesses of this design, and sketch out a mockup.
STRENGTHS:
Reasonably clear menu
Good use of imagery (wallpapers are fairly clearly displayed on the homepage)
Useful navigation methods such as tag cloud included
WEAKNESSES:
The site is FAR too busy. There are a lot of unnecessary elements, which obscure the key content (the wallpapers)
The amount of adverts is highly off-putting. The ads under the menu are trying to ‘trick’ people into clicking on a secondary navigation, but this just hinders the real navigation of the site.
The user must scroll quite a lot to see additional wallpapers. Only one wallpaper is above the fold.
The blog-type format seems unnecessary, as people aren’t there to read about the wallpapers, merely download them.
My Redesign
As always, I was limited by the 30 minute time-frame, but I tried to improve upon several of Free PSP Themes Wallpapers’ features, adding a few design flourishes and a clearer layout that promoted content over wasted space:
WHAT I TRIED TO DO:
Get rid of all unnecessary content and distracting adverts, making the wallpapers the focus of the site.
Make it much easier to browse and download wallpapers, offering clear call-to-action buttons. The bottom tag cloud also makes browsing easy.
I kept the color-scheme very muted, in order to promote the wallpapers rather than distract from them. This minimal approach ensures that visitors will focus only on browsing and downloading wallpapers, rather than being confused by an overly busy website. Your conversion rates should be far higher because of this.
Comparing the 2 Designs:
Here is a quick comparison between the original design and my 30 minute redesign. Sure, my design could be more polished, but I believe that a lot of the basic elements have been improved upon, creating a more pleasant browsing experience.
How and Why To Enter Redesign Saturdays
You can have the chance to have your website redesigned in next weeks post. All you need to do is leave a comment to this post with your website address and why you think it needs a redesign.
*NOTE: I can only accept sites with English content, as foreign language websites are simply too hard for me to work with.
The Benefits of Getting Your Site Redesigned Include:
Most obviously – a FREE redesign job!
Your website gets exposure to PSDFAN’s thousands of readers
You understand how to improve your website. This isn’t just a redesign, it’s a lesson in design.
You will get emailed the .psd of your redesign and can do whatever you want with it!
So please, leave a comment today for a chance to have your website redesigned next week!
