hockey.com

Originally Posted by derek lapp space at the top if for error messages.

In that case, I would only show that space when an error message is present. But again, very strong design!

I'm not sure I understand the concept. Admittedly I'm not a hockey fan (so I don't know much about the sport), but where does the steel in the header and footer come from? What is that in the background? It looks like chain mail or a radiator. The header and background look like they'd be made for the new heavy duty Toyota, not a hockey site.

It just comes across as extremely generic. I'd get it if it was a general sports portal, but for "hockey.com" I'd expect more ice, sticks, blades, netting, pucks ... just anything that represented hockey I guess. Even if it was just in the logo...

Sorry if I sound too nit-picky, I've just always respected you for being a unique designer. I doubt I could do any better, but you always came across as someone who could. This is clantemplates quality - just plain generic.

I love the design, especially the attention to detail in the content area. But I don't like that logo at all - it just feels like such a disappointment compared to the rest of the site.

@ Feros - People visiting the site know what it's about. It'll get tacky if you put hockey stuff all over it. After all, the content is filled with enough hockey stuff to make it feel like a hockey site. No need to overkill the theme or concept.

I didn't mean pucks flying all over the screen or anything. Just a hint of "hockey" to set the site apart. Yea there will be the screens on the frontpage that let the user know it's a hockey site, but there's nothing else to draw them in.

And like I said, the best place for this really would at least be in the logo.

Beautifully done.

Feros: To me, the background looks a bit like carbon fiber, which is used in some hockey sticks.

The feel of the site has the rugged hockey look. I feel he's done this site very successfully.

I agree with bryan. A really nice and related logo would really be a great addition to an already great design.

@feors: the concept revolves around hockey materials. the mesh in the background is from the common fabric the skate boot is finished in, or more obviously, jersey cloth, or a glove. the steel would come from the skate blade or the steel holding the plexiglass. it's also a theme carried into the mcdonalds 2007-2008 hockey cards and upper deck series.

reebok has taken over from nike as the face of the nhl. they did all the new jersey design, and the rough, cutting edge look is what they used all throughout their hockey campaign: http://en.rbkhockey.com/. the logo was also requested to be text only to follow the rbk image reebok has created.

as for concept exploration, this is one of about 16 designs we came up with. the keyword we were given to design around was intensity. we did the typical ice/puck/rink ideas too and the feed back we got, and i quote, was "don't think to ****ing cliched".

i used to have nice subtle ice textures in all the content areas and the menu, but i was asked to kill any graphic that wasn't "necessary" for download performance - i would have lost all the widget title graphics too but marketing kept fighting for them.

i appreciate the feedback, but the first version was full of ice cliches and it looked as generic as it sounded. if anything, the design is stronger because only hockey people get it. to the regular user, it's just graphic intense. to the passionate hockey fan, they'll pick up on all the subtleties which will hopefully entice them into becoming a participating member because we are as anal about the details as they are.

as for the logo, it's 1 of about 30-35 concepts (seriously). they wanted a RBK like logo. it's stil up for review in the spring, but i doubt it'll change much.


cheers all. glad you like it. we're going to be revamping the user profiles and working on a lot of new functionality, so hopefully i'll be throwing things up over the cours eof the summer.

Ah the mesh makes more sense now, I guess the target demo will get it.

I guess the problem is trying to please multiple people, all of whom have different criteria of what they think makes a great site. Still though, I wish you would have been allowed to put more detail into at least the eye-grabbing areas like the header and logo so it'd be a bit more unique.