Homepage Research: Los Angeles

Los Angeles:

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© Copyright 2013 City of Los Angeles

Critique: The copy feels positive and welcoming, but the colors in my opinion are boring. I'm guessing it's taking on a beach theme, but it feels bland. The weather updates in the top right is a cool idea, and helps decorate the search bar a little. My favorite design element is the footer, where they have a simple mountain, city, and beach laid out. If an even simpler version of this was used for the header with the same colors, it could help with the site's appeal. I also really like the picture info box that slides out when you click on the camera of each image. On the navigation, I'd take out the small text above each link, and use a different color than orange for the hover. I'd also take out the three floating menus that hang out on the bottom of the page. 

Homepage Research: St. Louis

St. Louis:

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©2011 City of St. Louis

Critique: I really enjoy the simplicity of this site. The panoramic photo is kept thin and neat, with the background playing well against it. The white space separating the photo from the background and navigation is also visually appealing. I really don't like that they didn't change the color of the links, though. The blue detracts greatly from the professionalism the rest of the site offers. It'd also be a nice change if they didn't have the navigation links become underlined with hovering over them; the change in background color is good enough, and is a nice touch. I also noticed the body links turn red when hovered over, which really needs to be changed. The footer is decent, but I don't like how bulky it is, and the only social media link is tiny and tucked away under the city address. 

Homepage Research: Baltimore

Baltimore:

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© Copyright City of Baltimore

Critique: Overall, it isn't a terrible site. It's downfall is how chaotic everything appears; for the way it's laid out, your eyes scatter all over the page from one random topic to another. There isn't much info that doesn't belong on the front page, there just isn't much flow. Aside from that, they used a multitude of different backgrounds (from gradient to opaque to solid) in a way that separated one category of info from the next, and I found that to be a good idea. The background doesn't distract too much from the central info, but it doesn't help with how chaotic everything appears. I think the 'Stay Connected' box in the footer needs to go,  as does the random pdf download int the box above it, and the pinboard. The background's light to dark blues are visually appealing, and the social media links to the mayor weren't a bad idea either.