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Looking for feedback on my first SaaS website front end design. Be brutal

7 points by simonswords82 ↗ HN
I've created a white version and a green version Would value your thoughts and opinions on both versions and what you think works best.

White: http://atlascode.com/staffsquared/home-white.html

Green: http://atlascode.com/staffsquared/home-green.html

17 comments

[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 51.0 ms ] thread
caw
I'm preferential to the white version.

It's easier for me to see the shades of gray than the shades of green. In particular, the pointing thing's eyes look funny and the ! above its head are just kind of strange. I don't know how to explain it other than that. In particular, I would ask if that contrast is visible to color blind individuals on the green page, or with a crappy monitor.

Maybe if you want a little more green on the white page make the video border green. I think that might give it some balance with the green below, since you have that filled box.

kingofspain
Count me also for the white version.

The contrast (for me at least) on the green one between the green section and the rest below is a bit jarring. The white one could maybe use a little more colour on top but I do like it.

I think it's pretty damn nice though :)

leslyn
I prefer the green version actually, I think it looks more 'designed' but I also think that 'caw' has a good point about color blind individuals. Also, the wording under Happy Staff = productive Staff doesn't stand out as well on the green. Personally, I am at the point in my own endeavor that I think we spend too much time second guessing ourselves when an A/B test can answer so many of our questions! You might try that.
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bloopletech
More to the point, the design doesn't tell my what your service actually DOES; some sort of calendaring thing?

The category it's competing in (and thus its feature set) is not obvious to me (a 21yo professional software developer working remotely for an SF company).

simonswords82
I've been less focused on what we do and more focused on look and feel up until now. When I'm happy with the overall look then I'll focus on the message that we convey. To answer your question, Staff Squared is a SaaS web app that helps small to medium sized businesses better manage their people.
bloopletech
That makes sense I suppose. I note though that you still haven't described what the application actually does: 'better manage their people' could mean a lot of things. I'm sure you'll get to that though ;).
ForrestN
I don't think this is an ideal design process. Start with what you want to say, and how you want to make what is essentially a persuasive argument. Maybe that most effectively takes the form of bullet-points or paragraphs. Maybe the best set of testimonials is actually 3 rather than 6.

In my opinion, it's better to figure out exactly what you need to say/show to meet your goals, and then figure out the best way to display that content. Right now, we're critiquing an abstraction that will eventually have a very focused purpose, so the feedback isn't likely to be but so relevant to that purpose.

petervandijck
1. Spelling mistakes lower trust ("Maketing")

2. Stock photos disguised as clients lower trust.

3. Homepage doesn't actually say what you do.

simonswords82
Appreciate your thoughts, you're absolutely right - I'm trying to nail the design and hadn't yet given enough though to the message the homepage conveys about our business.
petervandijck
Nail the message first, then the visual design :)
petervandijck
Form follows function, not the other way round :)
marquis
I prefer the green version but some of the elements are hard to read. If you could tone it down a little I think it would really stand out at first glance better than the white. The white, while it looks professional and beautifully done, seems generic to me.
helen842000
I think a combo of the two would be good.

I like the green nav bar at the top with white logo & links. However I prefer the white body with the grey cityscape dividing the two halves of the body.

I also want to know exactly what your site does within the first 5 seconds.

Both "employee happiness" & "bringing managers/staff together" are benefits. You need to describe WHAT brings those benefits.

So something along the lines of "We bring staff and managers closer together by XYZ..." i.e our simple messaging platform, our real-time chat system etc (or whatever the system is)

It's a nice site! I look forward to checking out your next version.

robbiea
I like green version. I do have an issue with what the service is. I would like to be able to see what the service is without watching the video.

There is a comment below about the same thing, but your marketing / copy should come before the design. That way you know exactly what to design.

but overall I think it's a great start.