Hi Alex,
A couple of comments if I may. Apologies if this seems overly picky or negative as no offence is intended.
Impressions. While I'm sure you've spent masses of time on your redesign, the first image that arrives on the screen when accessing is the man walking over the bridge. This is far too close to what Rob has done here on
Metamatic , so that just seems a bit odd, and almost a tad ungrateful, given that you're able to promote your site as a guest here. Likewise, if you explore some of the pages at Metamatic, you'll see Rob has done some wonderful things with a black background twist to the white concept and design he has, so again, it's slightly derivative of something that's already been done.
Credit where credit's due. I appreciate some of the photos you've used are either from various releases or sourced from Rob and Metamatic, but I think you should be more specific on what they are, and who/where they were taken from, and also state this much closer to the images so that visitors can see for themselves what the source is. Having spent some time sourcing and licensing several images for publications over the past year or two (a sometimes lengthy and soul destroying process), just putting '
All images copyright John Foxx/Metamatic.com' on the front page is lazy. Additionally, given that you're using others work so openly, it's arguable whether your reasoning '
Quiet City is a John Foxx fan site, no infringement intended.' goes far enough. If you know what you're writing, and where images to be used are from, then help yourself not cause offence - intended or not - by spending some time to find out whether they're happy for the item to be used. If you can't locate the source, or be in a position to ask them, then don't use it. It's much better to do that than receive communication that will immediately put you on the back foot having to defend yourself.
Fonts and sizes, etc. It may be just me, but across your site, these all seem diferent in style, size and (ultimately) a bit jumbled and out of place when viewed next to each other. One of the beauties of John's designs, reflected here on
Metamatic is the simplicity and elegance through the works. It's only my preference, but consistency and simplicity in design would help enormously for people navigating your site.
Discography. I appreciate you only have a fraction of the stuff Rob may have for any future Discography on
Metamatic , but I think this is a bit weak and concentrates on your own personal preferences. Some of the smaller single sleeves are almost impossible to make out, so having those at a larger picture would give each release more interest, relevance and would not rely so heavily on your written assesments.
Reviews. Again, only my preference, but carefully editing some of the longer album reviews as they are would make them much easier to take in. Also, be consistent with your own views if that's what you want to put in. I notice sometimes in forum postings here on
Metamatic , your comments on specifics are different to those you are willing to put on your own website. It's hard, but again, it will stop others thinking your aim is to be all things to all people if you think about what you may write on
Quiet City before giving different judgements
here .
Hope this gives you a few things to think about and helps improve the site.
All the best,
EG
