Megan @ Sworn Obsessions

Sworn Obsessions

Name: Megan

Site: Sworn Obsessions

Ordered Review On: February 27, 2008

Reviewed On: August 9th, 2008

Score:88

Prizes:

  

Layout: 15/20 Points

This is a very fun layout and I love the colors you used. This layout however is also very simple and doesn't really showcase your talent, which is what you want to do right off. The first impression of this site in particular is important because the visitor needs to be impressed to get them to order from you. Don't get me wrong I love the layout, but again it's very simple. I do love the way that the layout is set up. It's not your traditional two or three columned layout and that is refreshing. One thing I see that just doesn't quite look right is the affiliates buttons or at least the ones with hearts on them are a little too bright. Maybe you could make them a darker shade of pink or the purple color that you are already using in your layout. Your welcome message is also looking a little scrunched beside the stats. Try spacing it all out evenly. Same goes for the link me section.

Graphics: 8/10 Points

You have a very unique style that I happen to love. Remember to spice it up and try new things though. I'm loving your signatures some of them are cracking me up. I'm Sirius, seriously. Bwahahaha. Anyway, now that everyone thinks I'm on crack, back to the review! You defiantly have a lot of talent and nearly every graphic I look at on your site is amazing! You also have lots of graphics here, which is great! Having many different samples of your work will show visitors exactly what you can do.

Content: 6/7 Points

Home:

I would defiantly increase your font size. I can't really make many of the words out unless I zoom in. I would increase the font site wide in fact.

Order:

Again, the font size is a problem and I am on a 1024x768 screen. You offer many different packages and you have very clear explanations and examples of what you can do. I love that you have a terms of service page, that is very professional. On your order page, I would defiantly look into putting up a form. Let's face it a lot of people are lazy and will just go find another designer rather than copy and paste both your e-mail address and the info questions. You can get free form from several places. I recommend somewhere like Freedback. I would incorporate your onliners somewhere into your layout so that they are displayed on every page. If you don't want or don't have room to put them all on there I would at least choose a few that you are most proud of to display so that your visitor has an immediate look at one of your designs in action. I feel like there is a lot of info in this one section that would look a lot more organized on separate pages.

Portfolio:

You have a pretty impressive portfolio. You also have a very large portfolio. I feel like you have a lot to offer and everything is very easy to find and correctly categorized. Good job here.

Site:

Your tagbox does not match your site in any way and really diminishes the professional feel of the rest of the site. Try incorporating your css colors into your tagboard's settings. Also, it has a scroll bar at the bottom of the page that makes it look even more unprofessional. Try resizing it to a smaller width that will get rid of this annoying scroll bar. I'm really hating the second scroll bar on the about the site page. The only sidebar that a visitor should have to use should be the one on their browser. Having more than scrollbars is just causing an accessibility issue. In your about the site section you need to capitalize the heading that reads: name origin. Try re-wording this part:

We mixed my squares with circles because i like polka dots and stripes. And then we added a picture of me since it is my personal site, so you can all see what I look like.

to:

We mixed my squares with circles because I like polka dots and stripes. We then added a picture of me since it is my personal site and visitors might like to see what I look like.

Also, try changing this:

So I made this, cool ain't it. And we made it grungy because I am into grunge looks in layouts and graphics.

to:

So I made this, cool isn't it? We made it grunge because I am into grunge designs in layouts and graphics.

Also the photo you are trying to link to goes straight to a 404 message. Moving on to the about you section. I love that you have categorized several different pages about you. The Harry Potter section is very cool. You have a lot of different merchandise. I would love it though if you'd resize the photo at the top of the page so there is not a scroll bar at the bottom of the page. We have a lot of the same tastes in movies! I really enjoyed looking at your design page. I was going to go to college for design a few months ago, but I couldn't get approved for the funds. It was nice to see the professionalism of all the projects. I've never seen any of the assignments that design students are given. All of your little sections look great and I'm loving all the detail you've put into them. We listen to a lot of the same music as well. You have good taste :P

Megan:

Okay this is another link to the about you page. You need to figure out where you want this because linking it twice is pointless. I would suggest removing the link from the site section and instead just having it here.

Organization: 13/15 Points

Everything is very organized but the font size is making it very hard to navigate.

Niceness: 10/10 Points

Full points! You are super nice to every visitor and you help others out whenever you can!

Creativeness: 9/10 Points

You have so much creativity! I think the only flaw in your creativity is your willingness to try new styles of design. Spice it up a little and explore lots of different ways of designing. You have more designing skills in your little finger than I have in my whole body!

Updates: 5/5 Points

You update pretty frequently, defiantly enough for a design site. Great job!

Colors: 9/10 Points

I think the colors work very well together! The only thing I have problems with is the green font you use for your links. It is kind of hard to read although it might not look so bad once you increase your font size.

Extra: 8/10 Points

Your site is defiantly a great site, but there are still some improvements to be made. I'm not sure it is entirely memorable which is what you want to accomplish. You need to hook your visitors with their first glance at your site. So my suggestion would be a more complex layout that really showcases your graphical abilities.

Bonus: 5/5 Points

Saw my button.

ADVICE:

You have great site Megan, but there are still a few things that could be improved upon. Start out by fixing the little things I've pointed out in this review and then try making a more complicated layout and I think your site will be amazing.