new site - stuck on design

[dbstudios]

this is a site i'm workin on for a video production company and the creative direction is their idea and I don't totally hate it, i actually kind of like the transparency effect.....anyway.....it needs something more to make it really pop and i've been staring at it for 2 days with nothing good coming out of it. here's the url http://www.dbstudios.tv/clients/icblue/index.html

thanks in advance for your help.

[KDLA]

You need to choose a background that will fill any monitor's size; it is currently not filling my widescreen horizontally and is tiling vertically.

As to color, I suggest you choose a sky graphic with more of an aqua blue tint to it to go with your graphics. The graphic currently on the website has more of a periwinkle cast and clashes with the aqua.

I'm not fond of the font you've used for the main navigation. It looks good for the blue logo, but seems too much for the other components. Also, you've got two other fonts with it - sans-serif and serif. You need to choose one to create a cohesive look.

There are some spacing issues with Firefox - your footer is larger than the graphic area, spilling over at the bottom.

Lastly, I suggest making the main navigation smaller. The large font gives it sort of a childish look (I don't know why - that's just my first impression :) )

Good Luck
KDLA

[dbstudios]

thanks for the input, actually the 2 different fonts and the footer issue are just things I haven't gotten around to, was too concerned with the layout, lol. and yes the background issue is also something that is being fixed but just haven't found the right picture yet.

thanks again, and i'll be sure to post the changes!

I will definitely take the advice and go a little smaller with a different font for the nav, at first i thought a big nav would look good, but with this site it just doesn't give the right look i was going for

[MorganA]

Hey look, outer glow.

Careful not to overdo the photoshopping there. I'm not one for background images. They detract from the site's content.

[zingmatter]

I think it's the rounded box containers that make it look odd. Change the emboss on the boxes to a much narrower and squared effect (barely anything at all).

I think the sky's too strong also, much paler and subtle else it's quite distracting.

[Mololo]

Here are several changes that should help:
1. The blue menu, extend it across the whole width; from the left border to the right border behind the camera.
2. Change that rollover image, it really shocked me. Make it a simple blue and use the same colour in your submenu.
3. As you were already suggested by another member, remove the rounded borders in the middle by a square, align the titles to the left and perhaps add an arrow or something to guide the visitors to the title and the content areas below.
4. Your logo has it's own Font... Doesnt' mean that you need to use it for titles, ok? =)
5. You have gaps between the blue menue and the title and content areas...
No idea if that's on purpose or not, anyway, I'd suggest you to remove them and perhaps to use a stronger opacity for the title boxes.

I made a "similar design" last year, perhaps you can grab some other little ideas/inspiration from it.
http://www.icistreet.com/sandwich/order-contest.asp

Hope it helps, good luck!

[yamaharuss]

A 200k background image is crazy. waaay to big.

[donatello]

Tone down the background image for sure.
200k??? WOW!

You can fade out the background image and shrink it a lot. You can also look for a seamless texture of a sky and then fade it out.

I am not fond of bright background images as they distract from the site's content - fade it out until it's almost imperceptible.

If you can't find a seamless texture you like, you can make one out of your existing image by copying and pasting four slices that you make mirror-images of so that they all blend together seamlessly.

[Inga.]

The black font on the dark blue submenu backgrounds is also rather tough to read. Perhaps choose a lighter font colour for stronger contrast and thus readability.