D brand identity repository

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 7/3/11 12:35 PM, James Fisher wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 3:52 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu
> <SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org <mailto:SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org>>
> wrote:
>
>     One thing that's going somewhat unnoticed in this discussion is that
>     the site is at the end of a major redesign cycle during which people
>     in this group gave extensive input on the logo, the color scheme,
>     the fonts, the page design - pretty much all aspects of the website.
>     I find it surprising that all that is now as if it never existed.
>
>
> I don't want to give the impression that I want to discard everything.
>   What I and the others in this thread are currently doing definitely
> builds on that work -- which is clear in the potential refinements of
> the logo, the palette, and the font choice.  I imagine the contents of
> the site will remain 95% the same, too.  My proposed page layout is
> perhaps an overhaul, though.
>
> If you feel the proposals are a step back rather than forwards then I'm
> happy to discuss that.

I'm not qualified to discuss aesthetic matters. I think once we're past 
fixing flaws, a lot of stuff is simply different without being either 
obviously better or worse. (All other things being equal, novelty and 
artistic je-ne-sais-quoi are definite assets.)

On my agenda for the website there are several important things: (a) 
make the homepage more dynamic, e.g. with the latest posts etc; (b) 
propagate the look and feel of std.algorithm to the other modules; (c) 
integrate Adam Ruppe's "try now" button everywhere; (d) make a pass 
through the content to improve it, fix examples, add articles and links 
and so on. Fiddling once more with color scheme and layout minutiae is, 
well, not on that list.

I didn't create either the current layout or the mockup at 
http://eegg.github.com/d-brand/mockup.png so I can candidly compare the 
two. I like the current layout better.

* The existing logo looks professional and well rounded. The proposed 
logo, with non-circular bubbles, the bare letter, and the color choice 
looks inferior to me.

* The proposed menu at the top is disproportionately tall compared to 
the font size. It looks like someone chose the wrong font/menu height 
combination in a windowing system.

* The mockup text is ragged right, whereas the current site has 
beautifully justified and hyphenated text.

* I like the color palette of the current site with the nuances of gray 
and the surrounding border.

* I prefer the blockquote indentation and color. In the proposed layout 
the blockquote is only distinguished with a crappy double quote sign to 
its left.

* I like the proposed brief code sample, but I'd rather integrate such 
within the current layout. (There have been discussions about that.)

There's nothing objective here, so anything could go either way.
Furthermore some or all of these issues (subjective as they are) can be 
fixed, which takes us back to the question - what is wrong with the 
current design, and what is the next step towards improving it? 
Rehashing the layout into something different-yet-equivalent doesn't 
strike me as getting the best bang for the buck - it's not a step 
forward or backward, but a definite lateral one.


Thanks,

Andrei