[Treeandland]

I used Frontpage to make my site with a template I bought. I had somebody cleanup my logo and have some sharp gifs and jpegs of it but when I try to put it on my pages it gets all fuzzy and looks pretty bad. I've resorted to just putting it up as is for now but would like to have the red background without the fuzzyness around the edges.
Anybody got an idea what's going on here and how I can fix it?
www.ppmlandscapes.com

 

[carlsore]

Do you have the .PSD files or .PNG files for the logo?

I notice you've added the image as .Gif which typically is of a lesser quality than a .JPG image

Also double check to make sure that the size references are the same in both Frontpage and the original picture. If they are out only a slight bit it will also cause the problem you are experiencing. (common if you've been copying/pasting/adding/removing pics)

How large (LxW) is your original logo?

Carl​

 

[KennMacMoragh]

This isn't a fuzz issue, but the art work on the sun looks pretty amateurish, it's something a five year old could probably do.

 

[Treeandland]

I have ai. and eps. files along with the jpeg and gif files? The logo in its original form on the gif is 284 x151. 198 x 108 on my site. Would that do it?
Frontpage says it has to convert it to a gif if I use the jpeg to allow the transparency function and show the background color.

 

[Treeandland]

I'm 43 and can't do any better. I didn't make it.
Are you saying the logo itself looks amatuerish? or the cleanliness of it?

In it's original form it actually looks pretty sharp, until you zoom in on it.
I did resize it and upload it at that size and it seemed to help. Also tried to enlarge it and clean it up first but that didn't work too good.

 

[KennMacMoragh]

It's the logo itself I was critiquing. I couldn't do much better either, but there are people who can draw up a logo much more professional looking than that. Who drew that for you? How long have they been designing logos?

This just doesn't strike me as professional looking, it reminds me more of a first grade classroom.

 

[Treeandland]

I came up with the idea a while ago and a woman who was doing some signs for me made the logo up. Thanks for the critique, nobody had ever said that about it before. It is simple that's for sure.

 

[KennMacMoragh]

That's your problem, having yourself and a sign person draw up the design. That's kind of like having your drywaller do your electrical, it's not their trade. There's people that draw logos for a living, I spotted amateur the second I saw it.

 

[karunnt]

It does look amateruish but most companies have logos like this anyway. If it bothers you then you can fix it with a pre-made logo.

Do you want some kind of illustration in the logo (sun with mountains and trees etc.). That is done with a vector program like Adobe Illustrator. It does not use pixels but equations to define lines and curves so you can scale the images to any size and it will not look 'pixellated'. Then you convert to jpeg or png to get an output file.

Any logo company will make a logo for you with a sun illustration etc for $200 to $500 if you are interested.

This guy is good and I have got logos from him but I don't know if he has experience with illustrator. I can't see any in his portfolio.

http://www.ypson.com


PS. Search for free logos, premade logos, pre-built logs, online logo designer etc

http://www.logosnap.com/

 

[Treeandland]

That's your problem, having yourself and a sign person draw up the design. That's kind of like having your drywaller do your electrical, it's not their trade. There's people that draw logos for a living, I spotted amateur the second I saw it.

This really doesn't have any thing to do with what I was asking and the design is not a problem. I'm sure I can find something chitty about your website, so let's see it.

 

[KennMacMoragh]

Yeah I know, it's just something I threw in there. I'm still in the process of working on mine. But you can look at it if you want, it's in my profile.

 

[carlsore]

If you like I will forward you on via private email to a logo designer who can do it as well.

One of the woman I use for logos/graphix is based out of Seattle and she is very, very good. She has done several logos for me.

My last logo cost me $80 and you can see it here http://www.bchuntingblog.com The logo was 300 DPI and print ready so I could have decals made for my truck.

She could easily work with what you have.

$200-$500 for a logo is too much unless it's coming with a more complete "branding" package. Especially when you have the concept, you just need someone to "create" it digitally.

Carl

 

[J. Sullivan]

The Thread Title is "Logo on my site crappy?"

Short answer: Yes!

Longish answer: It's probably the least of your problems on your site.

First off, listen to Carl, it's a gif, and is way lower rez and quality than you can get with a .png. Also, you can do true transparency with a .png, so whatever your background is, it will show through without all that "picture dust" around it.

But I would worry about that less than these points:

Your site seems to be lacking a strategy. What is your visitor hoping to accomplish from this site?

Looking for info?
Book an appointment/estimate?
Find out your prices?

What are you trying to get out of your site?

Provide answers to problems?
Info about your company/services?
Use it as a marketing tool/branding?
Lead Generation?

Frontpage is the Harbor Freight or Ocean State Job lots of web design software. MS doesn't even make it anymore. If money really is a concern, use Wordpress or Joomla.

Your color scheme screams "Where is the light switch, it's burning my eyes!" The lime green buttons on the red background make for pretty rough reading.

Even if you like the design, think about what your visitors will think. If your target market isn't kids or comic book collectors, I would consider changing it to more subdued tones.

Compare your site to this one:

http://www.landscapedesign.com/

Even though it's flash (DONT USE FLASH), you could do the same without flash. Which one will be perceived as more professional?

Nothing lines up, colors are all over the place, text is bunched up an clearly keyword stuffed to the max (will get you a Google Slap for sure).

--

Gotta run, and I probably pissed in the cheerios enough for one post, but I hope you understand it certainly isn't a personal attack. You're pictures are beautiful, and it looks like you do some killer work, but your website needs some TLC.

 

[zookies]

If you stripped the lettering "lawn shrub & tree care" from the logo it would help a lot. The red background is really wacking the lettering. Then use frontpage to place the text under the image, this would help search engines to find you under lawn shrub and tree keywords, since they deal with text, not images. Just saying.

 

[Treeandland]

I was thinking about trying to do the words underneath separate too. But I'd like to just get the thing cleaned up or redone right so I can use it where I need.

Believe me I know the logo is the least of my problems on my site. One step at a time. The template I used is a pita. I made pages up on my smaller screen and didn't realize it wasn't fitting on larger screens and tried to stretch it out to fit both without being too screwed up.

Joomla or Wordpress? I'll have to take a look, I'm not getting anywhere with Frontpage, this is my 4th or 5th incarnation........

Is either of those as easy to use as MS Office? It's so easy to use and create create nice looking pages but I've read they're not good to use at all to publish a site.

 

[J. Sullivan]

Tree, first off thank you for not taking any of that personal. I know sometimes I can get a couple people's panties in a bunch with my abrasive critiques.

Secondly, I would recommend (obviously) you get a web pro to set everything up for you, and then you do your own content adding and updates. It's cheaper, and you still get everything working right the first time, PLUS if your web fella isn't a tool you get free support.

Start with WP. It's not as flexible as Joomla, but it's incredibly user friendly. Everything is done online, so you can work on your page regardless of computer specs and from anywhere in the world. Including from your mobile phone.

You can still get a custom - or semi custom - solution, but your site will be incredibly scalable. Should you want to go in a different direction 6 months, a year, 5 years, down the road, your hard work and money wont be wasted. A couple of quick changes, plus the constant automatic updating of the architecture, and you're good to go.

Not to toot my own horn, but if it's something you're interested in, drop me a pm. At the very least I'll get you pointed in the right direction.

 

[JV Marketing]

Start with WP. It's not as flexible as Joomla, but it's incredibly user friendly. Everything is done online, so you can work on your page regardless of computer specs and from anywhere in the world. Including from your mobile phone.

Excellent advice there are plenty of places to find free themes that can be modified. Do a search for "Flexibility 2"...its free and it's not to hard to work with.

WP (wordpress) makes it easy to optimize your site and once it's set up it's very easy to manage.

There are also some inexpensive word press themes (under $100) Let me know if you are interested in looking at some other themes and I'll send you some links.

j

edit: you can also get a header created pretty cheap...web guy said it right...get a pro to help you It will save you time and many headaches.

 

[puma]

Hi, what others have said is right..you want to project a professional image along with your logo and website. A logo can be created for $75 and basic 5 page professional site can be done for right under $200...since you are looking for a clean yet professional look. You don't need flash animation or anything like that.

 

[karunnt]

Hi, what others have said is right..you want to project a professional image along with your logo and website. A logo can be created for $75 and basic 5 page professional site can be done for right under $200...since you are looking for a clean yet professional look. You don't need flash animation or anything like that.

Are you talking about websites from developers on Craigslist?

I am curious as to what people expect from a site for $200? I am not trying to be condescending but can you give some samples of sites that you find acceptable?

Please help me understand what you want in a site?


Thanks.

 

[JV Marketing]

A logo can be created for $75 and basic 5 page professional site can be done for right under $200...since you are looking for a clean yet professional look. You don't need flash animation or anything like that.

This is may or may not be correct. Besides promoting websites we build them for a living. Over the years we have also outsourced a lot of out work. Always remember...you get what you pay for.

There are many ways to get a professional looking website

• Hire a company like ours...as a point of reference we charge $675 for a 5 page site
• Buy the graphics and build your own...from places like minisitefrog.com or 99designs.com
• Outsource the work to places like...craigslist, rentacoder,elance, scriptlance or guru.com.
• Build your own...there are some fantastic templates out there that will help you build a good looking site
  

The price you pay is going to vary widely depending on where you go and how much of the work you are trying to hire out.

One thing to consider is the amount of time you will spend building a site if you build it yourself. But lets say it takes you 30 hours to build your website...if your wage is $25 per hour (I imagine this is probably a low figure) you would need to pay yourself $750 to build your site.

I know a lot of people are on a tight budget and the DIY approach is really the only option. I would suggest if this is your first site or if you are on a tight budget that you look at word press as a good option. You can get a template called Flexibility 2 free. This way you can build a site inexpensively and modify it later if you like.

If you have questions about where to find a good header graphic, host your site or just basic questions feel free to PM with them....it may take me a day or two to get back with you but I will.

Hope this helps a bit.

Have a Very Happy New Year!