NeoStore redesign, seeking feedback - sneak peak

[Shawn]

The NeoStore's facelift is in the final stages and should be published within the coming weeks. Please share any opinions that come to mind for improving upon this design. The logo is finalized but virtually anything else you see can be modified. Constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks!



Older concept with Japanese rooftop style for top border:


I’m currently undecided on which border is optimal. If the gilded/embellished design is the best choice then bottom border will be modified to match the style of the top border.

Item detail template:


Shopping cart template:

[joe8]

Looks good. Is the Neo Store logo (and the border design) an original design? Not sure how to improve it, maybe the Metal Slug image could be a bit bigger. Maybe you could have the SNKP logo on the page (if SNKP would let you do that). Personally I prefer the rooftop border design- it jumps out at you a bit more.

Have you considered selling PS2/X-box games (the ones which are compilations and updates of Neo Geo games, and ones which continue series that started on Neo, eg King of Fighters XI/XII, Samurai Shodown 6/Anthology, Metal Slug Anthology/7)? You could also sell the Last Hope Neo Geo CD and the 2 MVS games from NGDEV.TEAM (when they come out next year).

[Sn00t]

Looks nice Shawn, who did the work?

[Loup-Garou]

What's with the marijuana leaves?

[Shawn]

Yes, the new NeoStore logo and border of the web design should be totally original without any copyright issues that I’m aware of. I did suggest to the designer that I liked the color and gold border of the Samurai Shodown V logo though:


The NeoStore did offer the CD ports in the past but those are readily available from many sources as it is and margin was almost pointless for a reseller to bother with. I would like to support the products from NGDEV.TEAM if the margin makes sense to do so.

@ Sn00t: Web designer and brand of shopping cart system will be revealed at launch.

@ Loup-Garou: The idea of the fancy border was to compliment the gilded chair that Geese resides in.

[Loup-Garou]

I was talking about the marijuana leaves cascading around his chair (we're talking about the same thing, right?).

It is absolutely gorgeous - just wondering if the drug reference was intentional.

Great job, guys!

[joe8]

Yes, the new NeoStore logo and border of the web design should be totally original without any copyright issues that I’m aware of. I did suggest to the designer that I liked the color and gold border of the Samurai Shodown V logo though:

Oh ok. I thought you just got the gold and blue colors from the NEO GEO logo.

You could sell posters for the new SNKP games- eg KOFXII, Metal Slug 7.

I was talking about the marijuana leaves cascading around his chair (we're talking about the same thing, right?).

It is absolutely gorgeous - just wondering if the drug reference was intentional.

Great job, guys!

The leaves are from The Last Blade. I'm not sure what the name of the tree is, though.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Loup-Garou

I was talking about the marijuana leaves cascading around his chair (we're talking about the same thing, right?).

It is absolutely gorgeous - just wondering if the drug reference was intentional.

Great job, guys!

Those are Japanese maple leaves and I'm pretty sure marijuana leaves aren't red. I wanted the theme to have a somewhat Japanese atmosphere while not coming off as a Chinese restaurant. haha

See, these are Japanese maple leaves here too (made by forum member Prozerg years ago):

[WoodyXP]

I think it looks great. Hurry up and finish it so I can give you my money.

[Praise the Lard]

I have to question the page width since those top/bottom borders don't look flexible. I hope that 1500px image is not actual? Most web pages are still designed for 1024x768 resolution (windowed that is, not so much for the poor saps still running that res).

From a web design perspective I'd definitely cut down on number of images because it is looking a bit like a flash applet with the sheer number of them, that is not even considering the bandwidth. I'd also try to get some more color going, there are perhaps one too many shades of blue for my taste.

But I am just being critical, overall the design looks quite nice.

[TurboCro]

Originally Posted by WoodyXP

I think it looks great. Hurry up and finish it so I can give you my money.

This! And Shawn check your "sales" e-mail.

[awbacon]

looks promising

[darcotrigger]

That's cool! I used to really enjoy making seasonal purchases from the NeoStore untill it more or less ran out of stock of things I was interested in.

Can't wait to check it out.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Praise the Lard

I have to question the page width since those top/bottom borders don't look flexible. I hope that 1500px image is not actual? Most web pages are still designed for 1024x768 resolution (windowed that is, not so much for the poor saps still running that res).

From a web design perspective I'd definitely cut down on number of images because it is looking a bit like a flash applet with the sheer number of them, that is not even considering the bandwidth. I'd also try to get some more color going, there are perhaps one too many shades of blue for my taste.

But I am just being critical, overall the design looks quite nice.

@ Praise the Lard: I'm told that the site is being designed to fit within a 1024px width resolution. I originally stressed that the site should be designed with the future in mind because the majority of computer display resolutions are higher than 1024×768 as of 2009 (57%), as shown here:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

With the way the trend is going, a couple years from now 80% of displays will be in a resolution higher than 1024×768, not to mention everything is going widescreen, but I was told that 1024px strikes a nice balance between the site design and the product display.

Absolutely no use of flash here. I specifically requested no flash and to design with best industry standards in mind for highest browser compatibility. It is filled with graphics but I wanted it to look like a gaming store with traits of anime & Japanese flair. I can't think of any pictures I'd want removed but I'm open to replacing them if a better graphic surfaces.

I agree, design is heavy on the gradients of blue and I'm not sure of what other color to add. Perhaps gray or silver would work.

Thanks for the pointers.

[neo_X7]

Does this mean that we can expect a major restock of Neo related items in the upcoming weeks?

[marktheshark]

Looks pretty cool! I'll be looking forward to buy some stuff from there. Thanks Shawn!

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by neo_X7

Does this mean that we can expect a major restock of Neo related items in the upcoming weeks?

New shopping cart system will open first, and then restock will be graded and listed. I’d estimate 5 to 10 new listings per day initially. The new web design may not be published for a couple weeks or so after new shopping cart system goes live.

[TougaKiryuu]

the layout itself is nice, did you consider using a css template to make it run slick?

[neo_moe]

Originally Posted by Shawn

...and then restock will be graded and listed. I’d estimate 5 to 10 new listings per day initially.

new design looks nice

and am hoping there will be alot of jpn homecarts up for sale

[HeartlessNinny]

I like it as well. You timing is pretty good too, I was just thinking about getting some new MVS carts and beefing up my collection a bit.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

the layout itself is nice, did you consider using a css template to make it run slick?

From my understanding, the new site will utilize 4 to 5 or possibly more templates and will then populate each page with data from the database as determined by the viewer. Here's the item detail template and shopping cart template:

[TougaKiryuu]

ah, so it does. Very nice indeed. When this is done, it should be quite sexy.

[BlackSpy]

It's good, nothing wrong with the old one either in my opinion, but as a refresh it's solid. Sounds like it'll much more usable too.

I prefer the simple border btw.

[Xian Xi]

Originally Posted by Shawn

I'm pretty sure marijuana leaves aren't red.

They are when they're lit...lol


Nice work Shawn, I really dig it.

[Praise the Lard]

Originally Posted by Shawn

@ Praise the Lard: I'm told that the site is being designed to fit within a 1024px width resolution. I originally stressed that the site should be designed with the future in mind because the majority of computer display resolutions are higher than 1024×768 as of 2009 (57%), as shown here:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

With the way the trend is going, a couple years from now 80% of displays will be in a resolution higher than 1024×768, not to mention everything is going widescreen, but I was told that 1024px strikes a nice balance between the site design and the product display.

Absolutely no use of flash here. I specifically requested no flash and to design with best industry standards in mind for highest browser compatibility. It is filled with graphics but I wanted it to look like a gaming store with traits of anime & Japanese flair. I can't think of any pictures I'd want removed but I'm open to replacing them if a better graphic surfaces.

I agree, design is heavy on the gradients of blue and I'm not sure of what other color to add. Perhaps gray or silver would work.

Thanks for the pointers.

It's true that a the percentage of users on 1024x768 is dropping rapidly, but that survey doesn't take into account that users at higher resolutions are typically running their browser windowed. So it is a good thing it's being designed for what does seem like an archaic resolution. For a store front it is especially important, you don't want it screaming "you're in my world now!!" after all.

As far as making things more colored I think a little consistency could go a long ways. For instance nearly all the buttons that are still baby blue-ish could be turned yellow/gold. Or on the front page the "Latest News" title image could match the "Featured Products" title image. As for completely different colors you're already using a gold type color, why not try silver and see how it looks?

It's kind of hard to shoe horn in new colors though, the color scheme is typically one of the first things determined when designing a page. One thing I see that would be a nice spot for another color is the 3 blue boxes just below the Latest News in the newer design. This could maybe be a darker blue with a silver border, or a silver background with the gold border (and the button images changed to gold as well).