New Website! Critique is very appreciated

[DSutherland]

Hello All,

Finally launched my website. Not all of it is done yet (particularly the section most of you would find useful - the retouchers toolbox) but please let me know what you think of it so far

http://retouchcanada.com

Thanks in advance!
Darren

[Vernon]

• Under your "Retoucher's Toobox" and "Additional links" sections, I would consider having actual pages linked to each link instead of defaulting to the index page (the exception being your blog link). Even if they are empty - just add something to inform the visitor that content will soon be added.
• When viewing the sample galleries section, it was not apparent where the "home" or "index" page link is found - I guessed at the "Retouch" word as being the link back.
• Your Index page has this, "Guaranteed." I did not see any information describing the nature of this guarantee. It may be beneficial for you to have this clearly outlined for your potential clients.
• The "Subscribe to our newsletter" could use something to help it stand out from the header background.
• In the steps description, consider revising and removing any contractions (i.e. they're - use "they are") it conveys a lack of professionalism in the content/text.

Those are the most noticeable details that I observed. Hope that helps.

Over all the site is simple, clean and conveys its intent and the services you offer.

[plugsnpixels]

This site is very attractive and well done! The photography and retouching are excellent.

My main suggestion at this point is to add color rollovers to your B&W thumbnails, as I thought your images were all B&W until they opened full size and I got surprised.

Oh, and I'm not sure how the birds header photo (cool as it is) fits the theme...

[Pari Retouch]

Cool Website.

It would have been nice if we can see high res rollovers of retouch. I would strongly suggest to have a look on the port of some photographers and retouchers, you will find out yourself what is lacking and what can be done. In my honest opinion, the template of website doesn't look like photography website template, it seems like corporate website template to me.
And about the retouches on your website, as I'm much into beauty and fashion, so I just checked out portrait section and I would say that the images displayed are not sufficient, I would have liked to see more variety. Retouches are looking nice but I feel they need a lot of improvement.

Overall it's a decent website.

Hope you take my comment positively As I have seen a lot of outstanding websites till now I even hate my own website and struggling to get some time to update it with my new work and a better template of course .

[DSutherland]

Thanks for the great feedback guys.

@Plugsnpixels, I too have been wanting the thumbnails to turn into colour when you hover over it but I just need to work my way around the javascript in order to do it (the programmer made a lot of automation functions so I'm thinking I might need to hire her again to add the extra function).
I know the birds in the header is somewhat of an insider thing, here in Vancouver the crows are quite famous for the fact that at dusk they fly over the city by the hundreds of thousands from Stanley Park to Burnaby - many artists here (including myself) build our artwork around it. Being Retouch Canada I thought it might be a nice touch to give it a sort of landmark that locals would recognize.

@Vernon, thanks for all the great comments, I already changed some of the points you hit and am currently thinking of a way to make a more obvious return to home button...any suggestions? As for the dead links perhaps I'll call on the lightbox to just send a stay tuned message of some sort.

@Pari, thanks for your comments. I know my portfolio is a little embarrassing by it's lack of diversity, I've been working on building it but finding good content that's editable and postable can be tricky. Over time it will develop but my first step was to launch the site that there was at least something there for the time being.

[plugsnpixels]

I saw birds like that in Victoria BC in the early '90s. Hard to ignore that! I took photos but I don't have a scan on hand.

[Vernon]

Originally Posted by DSutherland

@Vernon, thanks for all the great comments, I already changed some of the points you hit and am currently thinking of a way to make a more obvious return to home button...any suggestions? As for the dead links perhaps I'll call on the lightbox to just send a stay tuned message of some sort.

Something simple and straight-forward perhaps: the word "Home" superimposed over the Retouch image could be one possibility.

Something else to consider - the icon of a house used for one of your galleries may be misconstrued as the "Home" link/icon.