node 7761

unknown

i'm wrestling with two things here: inexperience, and, inexperience.

i have two designs for an upcoming version of MT that aim to make the store more user-friendly and more showcase-efficient. no more flash, just html.

the whole idea is to make the site function better as a store. so, the graphic design is quite basic.

here's my problem: one design is sort of aggressive, supporting the logo/namesake, but may be a bit confusing to some users navigation-wise. however, this same design may be more appealing to designers as a group, which is my target market. the other design is quite feminine by comparison, and while it is about as intuitive navigation-wise as it gets, i'm not sure the design sends the right image for MT.

here's my question: should i cast as wide a net as possible, and go for "no brainer" usability? many designers may think this approach a bit cheesy, but i won't lose the segment of designers who could care less about MT's aesthetics and just want concise functionality (in either case, myfonts.com comes to mind).

aggressive:
latest pixel font page
latest photo page

playful:
latest pixel font page
latest photo page

please weigh in on this for me, even if you just send one word denoting which design you like better; aggressive or playful.

i really need some help on this.

unknown

Well, the Playful does seem a bit kiddie. But the tabs in the Aggressive are too hard to "trace". So I prefer the Playful. But that's just me, not your target.

hhp

unknown

thanks guys, for sharing your feedback with me. the dark version does have rollovers, but the words themselves light up. the buttons could depress when selected, but it gets tough with the three-tier menus. the top and bottom depressions look quite nice. the middle buttons look terrible depressed.

each section in this design has its own color, orange for home, purple for pixel fonts, blue for images, etc., as shown in the little logo.

in either case Tiffany, it may not be as much user feedback as you're looking for? perhaps i should give that a little more thought.

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