Pollock Dickerson Website

I really like this design. I really like the layout. It's easy to read and it's visually appealing.  I like that they used blue and white for the text. I like how the word "Welcome to" is blue and "Pollock Dickerson" is in white. I think the big picture works well below the navigation. Black is usually a heavy color or a elegant color and usually black doesn't work for a whole background in websites. In this case I think the black background brings out the white and blue text. I think it's a good idea to showcase their recent projects. I like how the tail in"R" in Dickerson comes below the rest of the word. I think this is a well-designed website.

Surfmag.com

http://www.surfmag.com/

This is a poor designed website. It is not organized at all and it doesn't flow well. It looks like someone just randomly threw pictures and words on this website because they didn't know where to put them at. It's a two-column website, but the columns basically have the same information in them, so I don't know what the purpose of having two-columns would be on this website. They are advertising their surfing magazines, posters, eBooks, movies, and tin signs. The information is all over the place and makes my eyes jump, so I can try to follow and understand it. I know it's usually good to have movement in your design, but this is the wrong kind of movement. I don't get why the title in the header is pink and the rest of the website is blue and green. I think they should change the title to green to match the other colors. The only thing I like about this website is the background. This website definitely needs some more work.   

California State University

 I like the color of this website and I like the two-toned background. I like the title and the orange bar complements the blue.  I think this is a pretty good layout. It's not busy or overcrowded. I like the body area. It looks like if you click on a side picture the picture and description will blow up into the bigger area on the left. I like that they have 4 simple tabs at the top. I also like the search bar. The search bar didn't jump out at me at first, but I think that's okay because search bars aren't the most important thing on a college website. I like that the have social media logo icons at the bottom, but I think they are a little large. I also like that they have the actual college logo at the very bottom. I think this is a pretty well designed website.

"U & Me" website designed by a "graphic designer"

http://www.styleapple.com/public/user_details.php?account=overview&id=13862&uid= : According to this website, a graphic designer named Jeffery Ritz Jr. designed this website for a company called "U & Me." I don't think it's that well-designed. I couldn't figure out what the title was. I thought it said "UME." He needs to redesign the title because it doesn't read right. One of the first things I learned when designing is that center alignment is bad!!! I was told that you should rarely use center alignment and it is okay in only some designs. 90% of the time center alignment is bad!!! In this case, center alignment is bad and he should have not used it for the contact page. That just bugs me. He is a graphic designer and he thought using center alignment was okay for the contact page...well he is wrong. I don't think the colors work well either. I like the orange because the orange comes from the food, but I don't know where the purple comes from. I like the pictures at the bottom, but it doesn't seem like it flows together. I just noticed that everything on this website is centered. I do not like the design of this website. He needs to re-do it.

Swell website

I really like this website. I love the colors. It's very elegant looking. I like the low opacity flowers in the background. I also like the typography on this website. I think it's a good idea to showcase their designs on the home page. It looks like you can scroll through the pictures in the box. Their contact information is very easy to find. I don't like websites where you have to hunt for the contact information. Everything is very fancy on the website. I think this is a well designed website.

Baltimore Tourism

http://baltimore.org/about-baltimore/baltimore-tourism/

This is the Baltimore tourism website. It has a green, orange, and blue color scheme. I don't think the colors are bad, but I feel like they should have stuck with 2 colors instead of 3. Maybe they should have went with a orange and blue since those 2 colors are complementary colors. I like their logo. I like how Visit and Baltimore are in 2 different fonts and I like the little icons above the word Baltimore. There site is a little busy, but it's pretty clean compared to other tourism websites. The website has 3 different navigation bars. I like that it has a box on the right side that says "Plan your trip." I also think it was a good idea to include another box with tabs that says "hotels, attractions, deals, packages, dining, cars, and flight." People from Maryland or not can plan their trip to Baltimore and this website makes it easy to do that. I also think it's very important to have an events box/tab. They have an events box that lists events that are going on now until whatever date they end, what times, the events name, and where it's at. I think it's important for people living in Baltimore and people that are thinking about traveling to Baltimore to see the latest events, so they can plan their trip better. I like the little bio of Baltimore tourism on the home page in the center. I think every tourism website should have a search bar and this one does at the top. They also included social media at the very top. This website has some flaws, but I think for the most part it's visually interesting and gets the job done.     

Leeds University Website

This is the Leeds University website. I like the picture in the background, but I think it is a little too much. I really like the calendar on the left side. I think it's convient and people would like to see what events are coming up. The dates are a little hard to read against the background picture. It might be better if they put a low opacity white or red box behind the calendar. I like that the navigation and body area are in a white box, so it doesn't interfere with the background picture. I also think that the color choices work well on this website.

South Dakota Tourism

http://www.travelsd.com/

I like this website a lot. The only thing that I would change is the header. I like the changing pictures in the header, but it is way too big. I like the navigation and the brown background. I like that the logo is on every picture in the header. I also think it was a good idea to put "Start Planning" and "Book Online" as side bars. The only thing I would change about that is the font because it's a little hard to read and I didn't notice it at first. I like the search bar up top. I think it was a good idea to put little icons of different countries in the search bar because they are actual links to the South Dakota website and brochures in different languages like French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. I don't think the footer needs to be that big. There is a lot of empty space in the footer and they should go shorter with it. I like that they have a photos and videos section in the body area. Overall, I think this is a well designed website, but it needs to be smaller. It seems a little top heavy.

Claire Read's Original Art website by GetSited

This is Claire Read's Original Art website. She is an artist based in Shropshire. She used GetSited to create her website. I really like this website. It's clean, organized, and professional looking. I like the background color- it makes her artwork pop more. I also like the thin white border around each picture. Sometimes borders don't work, but I think in the case it works because it makes the picture pop against the dark background. I like that her home page isn't overwhelmed with text. I think it was a good idea to list the materials and the size of her artwork. I also like that she included 4 more pictures of her artwork at the bottom so people can see what is new in her gallery. I also like that her name in the header is her signature. It adds a personal touch.