Thread: Looking for some Constructive Critics

I am a super-newbie to Photoshop but I have spent around 30 hours online completing tutorials to learn it. I have designed the templates for my last few directories and am looking for some pro's to give me constructive criticism.

What I am hoping for is not a simple "that should be bigger" or "more professional" or "brighter" but some folks that can tell me how I can make my designs better, by posting instructions or linking me to a tutorial that is on topic.

Anyways here are a couple, www.searchingtech.com and www.submit4fun.com

I should also state that I really like simple designs with a touch of pizzazz thrown in.

Looking forward to any comments
thanks

Is this more of a website review or you only want the graphical elements reviewed?

Just graphics I think, it is a phpLD so the site is pretty much common.

Ok, I'll start with Searching Tech.

When designing a site, it's best to stick to 3 colors max. This keeps a clean, uniform look. The blue header might be better gray, to match the lower gray part.

The reflection on the buttons is too strong, a fade is always best. Here's a tutorial I got off my tutorial site. http://www.retrotutorials.com/clicks.php?click=238

This one is also very cool, http://www.retrotutorials.com/clicks.php?click=202

The edging of the gray areas look off fading in like that, the soft glow, I think a 1px border might look nice and give a finished look.

Maybe work on those aspects for now and we'll go over it again. (sorry if I suck at this)

Submit4fun - This is looking good! Colors look great. The title graphic is too beveled and too shadowed. You could try redoing the title using this tutorial, http://www.retrotutorials.com/clicks.php?click=330

Try making the shadow lighter and spread out just a tiny more.

Update me when you try these things.

not bad...I'm not a big fan of the *glowing* fade, but that's just my opinion.