30 Minute Redesign: The Yearbook Ladies (2024)

30 Minute Redesign: The Yearbook Ladies

By Tom Ross, 7th May, 2011, 7 Comments

(30 Minute Redesigns - Articles)

Week 53: The Yearbook Ladies

This week I will be redesigning: The Yearbook Ladies.

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:

The site has a fairly conventional layout structure, with the logo up top, menu beneath it, basic two column design.
The site includes a personal photo of the people behind the company, giving a nice personal touch.
The menu is fairly clear and easy to use, and the site integrates several call-to-action buttons.

WEAKNESSES:

My main issue is that apart from the name of the site, it’s very difficult to figure out what the company does. I had to do a bit of digging on their subpages to fully understand. Their purpose should be immediately obvious via the homepage!
The colorscheme is simply too varied, the blue/yellow call to action buttons clash with the wider green color palette.
There is also too much variety in the typography, the site should ideally be limited to 1-2 font choices.
There isn’t anything in the design that feels relevant to the ‘yearbook’ theme.

My Redesign

As always, I was limited by the 30 minute time-frame, but I tried to improve upon several of The Yearbook Ladie’s features, adding a few design flourishes and a clearer layout that promoted content over wasted space:

MY AIMS FOR THE REDESIGN:

I used more consistent colors and typography to help bring the site together.
I used a simpler layout, promoting the purpose of the site more, making it far more obvious exactly what the company does.
I tried to make the site feel more relevant to the ‘yearbook’ theme, through use of a subtle paper texture, and relevant colors/styling.
I maintained a series of call-to-action buttons to help draw people further into the site.

Before/After:

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 30 Minute Redesigns

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.

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 principles.
You will get emailed the .psd of your redesign and can do whatever you want with it!

NOTE: I can only accept sites with English content, as foreign language websites are simply too hard for me to work with.

So please, leave a comment today for a chance to have your website redesigned next week!

About the Author:

Tom is the founder of PSDFAN. He loves writing tutorials, learning more about design and interacting with the community. On a more interesting note he can also play guitar hero drunk with his teeth.

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30 Minute Redesign: The Yearbook Ladies (2024)