Art community site redesigned

[globalartnet]

Hi ALL,

I started my own artist community site a few weeks ago - it is NOT a forum so I hope the moderators/admins won't look at me as their competition :)

I'm not a pro designer (I'm more a PHP coder) so my friend did the design for me. As time went by, I was thinking about to replace the old layout of the site and did it myself at the end.

I'd like you guys to tell me some pro's and contras : which one is better, how do you like it, critics are welcome.

Old layout (http://www.globalartnet.org/graphics/screenshots/guest_index.jpg)

The new layout (http://www.globalartnet.org/graphics/screenshots/screenshot_17_10_2011.jpg)

or click here (http://www.globalartnet.org/) to see the new design.

Thank you advanced. Your replies are highly appreciated.

[rapxic]

add some style to the background , do a better banner, change those orange borders on the right to a full orange shape with white text on.

check for better fonts( these fonts are kind of too small and give a boring sense of taste )

and check up on the colour scheme.

and the logo kinda puts me off, something about it just seems weird, might want to redo that logo.

[globalartnet]

add some style to the background , do a better banner, change those orange borders on the right to a full orange shape with white text on.

check for better fonts( these fonts are kind of too small and give a boring sense of taste )

and check up on the colour scheme.

and the logo kinda puts me off, something about it just seems weird, might want to redo that logo.

Thank you very much for your review! Negative critiques have a powerful place in reviews; we learn more from them than the "Whee, I like it!" fluffy-bunny positive reviews. However, it's nice to give some suggestions to go with the bashing. If you feel the logo puts you off, what's a good way to fix it? Actually, the current layout is the 3rd 'version' of the site... It has been upgraded and modified according to user reviews and I feel it is much better now than it was. There is definitely some place for further improvements. Thanks again.

[rapxic]

compare the blog with the front of the site, you see how clean and good the blog is. Even the logo looks alot better on the blog.

apply the same scheme , banner and style from the blog onto the front page and you should be set

[sketchyd]

I think those are the color choices for yoru website. Those colors you chose are usually used to communicate an ad or service site. Where they are trying to get you to buy something.