

Ask HN: Please Review Our New Site - koenbok

http://www.madebysofa.com<p>Designing for yourself is very tough :-) We improved the old one instead of starting from scratch. I am especially proud of the design page. Big blog post on how we got here by Jorn: http://www.madebysofa.com/blog/georgia-on-my-mind/
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GBKS
I'm really like your site and product so I'm more than happy to give some
feedback to this update. Must have been a rough ride to design for 8 months.

First Impression of home page \- Clean, simple, to the point \- Too
monochromatic, a few subtle hints of color could add some intrigue \- Empty
sofas that are toppled over? Is the party over? \- Gut reaction: Not sure what
to click on first? Maybe have a small promo for your coolest product. Maybe
add a call-to-action below each section description. Call-to-action could be
your best content in each category \- I was "confused" what happened when I
clicked a section. I understand what's going on, but it didn't "feel right".
Possibly display the new content first and then scroll, instead of doing both
at the same time. Possibly try a easeInOut for the animation. Check out how
rga.com pages fade in/out, found it a nice solution \- The orange/red
highlights doesn't work for me, go either orange or red

Product Sections \- Tagline is a little hard to read since it's so light. \-
Maybe make the illustration and the product name clickable, too

Product Galleries \- Nice and clean \- Please add a description of what I'm
looking at. All screenshots are beautiful, but some text info why it's awesome
would add depth \- Add a "Close" button \- Increase hit area of small grey
circles (didn't realize initially that you can click the image to go to the
next one)

Company Section \- Since the left and right columns are very tell, I have to
first read the left one, then scroll up and read the right now while scrolling
down again. The layout you have for products is nicer, since my reading
behavior is top-down without any breaks \- The about section text is a bit
confusing. Why are the awards in that position without an "Our Awards" title.
Maybe just reorder. \- Awards don't list which product/design you got it for.
It's a missed opportunity to promote your products. If anything stood out
about the award, e.g. you beat 1000000 people, also put it there \- Like the
pictures. Adding color on mouse over without being clickable doesn't add much.
Maybe show a goofy picture of everybody on roll over instead, which might make
we want to see everybody's goofy faces

General \- Add a footer navigation to all pages. Currently I'm stuck at the
footers since you provide no exit points \- Your logo is not clickable on sub
pages

Ok, reply is getting way too long, I'll stop. It's a very beautiful site, I'd
just add a little more color in some of the more monochromatic area and tweak
each individual section to give users clearer paths to travel, which is the
"evolution" part you wrote about.

Great job, you clearly have put a ton of thought in the site with great
results.

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rodyancy
You have a Chrome problem on PC. I haven't checked on a Mac yet. Apparently,
Chrome is up to 6% of browser share, so it is probably worth supporting.

I opened it up in Safari and it looks amazing. Really, your work is fantastic.

The navigation threw me off for a second. Considering your audience, and that
you are trying to show that you can come up with newish UI, design, etc. I
think the coolness of the effect is worth the potential confusion.

After reading your blog post, I think it is an improvement over the last
iteration, especially when it comes to the copy. The old copy looks a little
daunting. Too much text, in too small of a font. The newest version seems to
shorten things, and spreads out the copy. It is a lot more reader friendly.

Everything looks great really. Nice rework.

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anigbrowl
I like it very much, good job. The only criticism I have is that the large
icons feel more suited to display on a phone than on my desktop screen. I feel
like I have to lean back to look at it, and I am scrolling a bit too much for
my taste.

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koenbok
Clickable links:

<http://www.madebysofa.com> <http://www.madebysofa.com/blog/georgia-on-my-
mind/>

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angelbob
I can't successfully click anything on the front page.

I'm using Google Chrome on Linux.

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dmarques1
Not very SEO friendly by having all the content on one page like this

