Is this design poor or is my teacher just nitpicking?

[Jimmy422]

I was contacted by a local teacher at our school to make a site for their Freshman Academy. So I designed one.
[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/zk1i13.png[/img]

My web design teacher asked to see it and told me "If I pulled up an example of one of the worst websites, you'd see yours resembles it". He told me that the orange announcement bar at the top was useless (and too distracting) and should be put in a box like the "Upcoming Events". I disagreed, saying that a bar like that attracts attention, as it should.

Other than that, does anyone have any suggestions? I think it looks decent.

[Lerlth]

I'll be honest. There's too much going on in your page. The color scheme with all the gradients isn't very appealing.

[Irish_Cereal]

Simplify. Make your color changes more concise. Pick a better color scheme.

[nivek]

It's a bad design for a school. With some work it could be better for something else. The color choices aren't good and you're too heavy with the gradients.

[TerabyteS]

It's not the right mood nor colors. Make it more sober.

[Tangara]

its shockin'

[Sharpshooter]

I wouldn't call it poor, but its not great either. There is no real structure, everything is just floating around or packed together.

[Fire]

For a school page clean and simple would be best (but not to the point of web 1.0)

[Alcapwne]

I'm sorry but it looks tacky

all the strokes, rounded rectangles and random gradients

[Big D Duchovny]

Show him this: [url]http://www.georgehutchins.com/[/url]

[bbang]

or even
[url]http://art.yale.edu[/url] ?

[Big D Duchovny]

[QUOTE=zzlawlzz;29781951]or even
[url]http://art.yale.edu[/url] ?[/QUOTE]

What the fucking shit?

[editline]12th May 2011[/editline]

That can't be fucking serious.

[cas97]

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;29782036]What the fucking shit?

[editline]12th May 2011[/editline]

That can't be fucking serious.[/QUOTE]

It's art. When has art ever made sense?

[Jelly_]

Showing someone a shit website doesn't really make your website less crap.

[backwardspy]

[QUOTE=zzlawlzz;29781951]or even
[url]http://art.yale.edu[/url] ?[/QUOTE]
The reason this one is so bad is because it's freely editable by any student who studies there. So of course it's completely abused.

[wewt!]

Just some things that popped in at first glance:
Too much gradient, inconsistent design, very busy title screen

Why are notifications on that thin bar? What other content are you going to put on the website other than school notifications, news and stuff like that?
The menu being on the left side make it feel squashed and it doesn't look very modern.

[fenwick]

As a general rule, don't put menus on the side like that, especially not in big buttons. If you're going to put something there, use smaller text, not big buttons.

[quote]My web design teacher asked to see it and told me "If I pulled up an example of one of the worst websites, you'd see yours resembles it".[/quote]

What a dick, it isn't [I]that[/I] bad. And the notifications bar makes sense, sort of like the Facepunch notifications.

[profan]

[QUOTE=zzlawlzz;29781951]or even
[url]http://art.yale.edu[/url] ?[/QUOTE]

[url]http://yalegraphicdesign.info/[/url]

what the fuck is this

last time i looked at it , EVERYTHING OVERLAPPED

[Fatal-Error]

Lose the content area gradients, square off the navbar on the left, instead of icons that contrast the buttons background, make them a lot more sublime, transparent background and white basic icon perhaps?
Use some padding aswell, the notification bar at the top seems really squished.

[adamjon858]

[QUOTE=Profanwolf;29819816][url]http://yalegraphicdesign.info/[/url]

what the fuck is this[/QUOTE]

I'm high but seriously what the fuck....I"m so fucking confused. There's faces and shit and whatttttt

Also, is it just me or is the people viewing this post icon actually spinning...not sure if I can trust my brain at the moment:

[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/vb/misc/whos_online.gif[/img]

[VoHiYo]

[QUOTE=adamjon858;29852280]I'm high but seriously what the fuck....I"m so fucking confused. There's faces and shit and whatttttt

Also, is it just me or is the people viewing this post icon actually spinning...not sure if I can trust my brain at the moment:

[img_thumb]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/vb/misc/whos_online.gif[/img_thumb][/QUOTE]

garry made things spin, yes