Design ideas, anybody?

[HanZnSolo]

I'm working on the personal side of my site, http://www.chrissimpson.com and I've got an idea (sort of) of what I wanna do with it, but I'm not sure how exactly to do it.

Basically, I'm wanting kind of a Chinese-looking theme to it (I'm not Chinese...I just love anything else that is, except SARS...hahah). I'm thinking deep reds, blacks, tans, and golds for colors, but I'm not sure. Anybody got any ideas for that or for layout?

Here's what I've got so far for a general idea:



I'm planning to put some other images above and below the links (like maybe the Chinese characters for home or enter or something like that), so that's why all the space.

[andera]

start over

[HanZnSolo]

P.S.-- I realize nobody on the net gives a flying crap about who I am! The link is gonna be mainly for people who I know but have lost touch with or something like that...

[HanZnSolo]

hahahah....thanks, andera...any constructive ideas?

[andera]

new colors, and maybe not have the site take the whole page?... that's just something i dont like hehe

[HanZnSolo]

Oh, yeah, good call. I don't really like sites without a border, either...

Color suggestions?

[rjahrman]

1) I initially didn't even notice the black links . . . you've got to change that to a lighter color.

2) Your logo is about the most boring thing I've ever seen.

[JR]

i would go for a lighter beige colour as it looks more chinese, stick with either go for either dark red or dark green and gold. Possibly have chinese symbols watermarked into the background, or have something like bamboo or rice sack texture... that would look good

[smoseley]

andera and rjahrman,

It doesn't help people to criticize their work. That only gets people disillusioned about their work. If you really want to be a part of this community, you should learn to critique without being an a$$h0l3 about it.

That said,

I think the color scheme is nice. You don't see a lot of earth tones on the web. That's because it's difficult to use them successfully. I think you should, however, limit the use of them.

Try making the lighter tone as your menu color with the dark brown as your header color and link color. Make the main area white background. Get rid of the yellow. If you want a line separating your menu, try using black, or the dark brown again (for consistency).

Add a banner area (a rectangle across the top of the site) where you will put the title of your website. Make it as cool of a graphic design as you can. If you're not good with graphic design, I suggest getting a photograph with your primary site colors in it and use that as a background image for your banner (cut to the size of your banner, of course).

[HanZnSolo]

Yeah, the logo isn't that great at all. Like I said, I'm in the beginning phase of this whole thing. I'll take everybody's suggestions into account. Thanks for the defense, Steve! I appreciate people who understand the true spirit of this community.