Critique: Web Design Attempt

Almost two weeks ago I went to a meeting held by a capstone group that was searching for a designer to help them out with a cohesive design concept for the site they're trying to renovate. They are convergence students, so they admitted that when it came to the design process, they all just kind of got stuck. Fortunately, the organization they're working with, the Daniel Pearl Foundation, has provided them with a small sum to compensate for a designer to help out.

When I sat down to start this project, I thought it would be a little easier, but it was strange designing a sample home page on InDesign. My first attempt was disastrous, you don't even want to see it, but here is the draft I ended up sending to the capstone group to meet today's deadline:

Sorry if it's difficult to see... The text isn't really important, most of it is just filler copy. One of their main requests were to find a place for links to Facebook, Twitter, and an RSS feed. I formatted the home page with the bar that ran across the top, which provides a cohesive design element that can appear on any page and it also gives the name of the foundation and creates a space for those links.

It was also one of my main tasks to create a new logo for the organization. I had a couple more options, which I ended up sending to the group, but I believe that the one I used for this mock up page was my strongest. Some complaints they had received about the old page was that the colors were too boring and it was too text heavy, so I wanted to clear up the home page and use photos as the dominant design element instead. My color palette isn't exactly an extreme opposite, but I don't think using too bright of colors would best suit the site's topics.

So, I'm just waiting to hear back from the group! It would be great to make a little income, but more importantly, it would be an excellent example to include in a portfolio... and maybe it would be a nice little self-esteem booster! Even if they don't select my designs, this is still another element I can include in my portfolio.