Four Words: I Shipped. Feedback Please

by marcamillion • 16 years ago

12 19 16 years ago

This looks pretty cool. I'm not a designer, so I don't know what's on the market already. But I have to say this is a simple (but real) problem for which you've provided an interesting solution.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

Thanks Chris Clark.

I haven't quite found a hosted solution to this particular problem. There are many web apps, and desktop apps, that allow you to add comments and annotations to images and do project management that way - but I haven't found one that combines that with the management of multiple versions.

I am willing to be proven wrong though, so if anyone has any counter examples, please pass them along :)

famousactress• 16 years ago

I think first order of business might be to replace the examples on the landing page to realistic ones. Not only will it communicate the idea/value much more clearly, but i think constantly using realistic examples can help you flesh out realistic issues that might not be obvious otherwise.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

This is an interesting point. Also one I struggled with. I could either use an 'example' of this concept, or I could use it to do screenshots.

Based on the way the page is laid out, I didn't want to clutter it with another section of images for the screenshots - if I chose to use an example.

I wanted absolute clarity so viewers could easily grasp the purpose of the app. As a result, I didn't want to clutter the page too much. So I decided to go with one.

But you are right, maybe having an example would make it more obvious...but then I can pretty much guarantee that people would ask for screenshots - at which point, how do I solve that issue without crowding the page?

That was my train of thought where that was concerned.

Good point though.

NathanKP• 16 years ago

A few issues:

1) The small icon bar below the tagline frustrated me because clicking on the icons just tells me that the feature will be active when the app launches. I would recommend not displaying a feature that you aren't ready to demo.

2) The arrow keys do not work. I'm using the latest version of Safari on Mac. Clicking the arrow icons manually does work however. Also, consider making the image carousel seamless, rather than ending abruptly. I clicked the right icon several times, wondering why it didn't continue scrolling right before I realized I was at the end. A seamless carousel usually makes for a slightly better user experience.

3) The footer text would look better if it was white text on the darker background of the notification sign up form. Currently it makes the page look broken because there is gray below the form.

4) I would consider putting a border below the tagline, like the border above it. Just an aesthetic preference on my part, so feel free to ignore me.

Also, I wonder about your definition of "shipped". Compversions doesn't look ready to use yet. Anyway, keep up the good work.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

1) I went back and forth on that one. The idea behind that, is that it gives a slight tease into how the functionality will be in the full app. As in, you will be able to click the 3-squares, and it changes the view (see the screenshot with 3 images side by side), and the same will happen with the 4-view. I had thought about leaving it out, but figured I would leave it in for some amount of intrigue. Sounds like in your case that turned to frustration though, which was not was intended.

2) I think I should probably reword the copy. The arrow keys don't work yet. In the final version they will though. Clicking the arrow icons are the only thing that works. In terms of the ends, the arrow icons should fade when there are no more images on that side. Perhaps I should make it fade more, to be more obvious that the button has been disabled.

3) Valid point. It is a shade of light-grey, but maybe it will look better as white.

In terms of the shipping, I was hesitating even putting out the 'coming soon' page. Essentially it is just a coming soon page, with a bit of information which acts like a teaser. I decided to give in and just release the coming soon page, because I want to get feedback. Hence, the 'I Shipped' :)

The feedback has been awesome.

Thanks for taking the time :)

joshwa2• 16 years ago

Hire a visual designer.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

Hrmm....this comment isn't quite useful.

Can you be a bit more specific?

What about the design do you not like?

I actually did hire a designer...a great one at that (in my opinion).

Perhaps if you expanded some more, your comment would be more useful.

joshwa2• 16 years ago

I was hoping not to get into a detailed design critique-- but go spend some time at http://sortfolio.com/ or http://smashingmagazine.com/ and see if you don't agree with me.

The concept behind the site is a useful one-- I think you could make something of it. But you need to be credible to your target market (designers).

(PS If you really do want a point-by-point I can do that).

bmelton• 16 years ago

So, once I figured out what it was, I think that the idea is worthwhile. I don't know how much of a market there is, given that all the designers I've worked with just use pseudo-versioned Basecamp links, and give me multiple things to click on in my email (e.g., v1.0, v1.1, v1.2) -- if it integrated with Basecamp, I think you've got a huge winner, otherwise, I'm seeing it as a rather tough sell. Of course, I don't know the market that well, and for your sake, I'm happy to be wrong.

The main thing I see though, is that the front page needs a LOT more explaining to do. I thought that I was looking at some tool that detected subtle differences between photos, and couldn't grasp the significance of the picture variations thinking that there was some code to the squares and circles.

Some copy should easily fix that.

Other miscellaneous comments that aren't nearly so important (to me): - if you've shipped, then why do the links say 'will be active at launch'? Didn't you launch? - I'd probably left align the logo, and maybe the text. I don't know that I'd left align it all the way over, but to where the left margin would be on a 960 grid feels right to me. - I quite like the logo, but I hate the font in the teaser.

This tool doesn't serve me, so take my comments with a grain of salt, but overall I think it's a fairly solid offering in general. I can definitely see it being useful.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

Re: the market issue, based on my preliminary research (i.e. speaking to a number of designers and design firms) I have found that there is a good amount of people that are interested in a solution of this nature. The size of the market, that we will have to see...but no trial, no failure - right?

This is specifically aimed at designers, and is just a 'coming soon' page. A teaser of sorts. It isn't supposed to fully explain everything. Just collect information from those that might be interested in learning more.

Which squares and circles do you mean? In the screenshots? Those are just screenshots of the UI of the app - still in development and not able to be played with in this launch. Again, just a teaser.

In terms of the 'shipping', I shipped the coming soon page. Perhaps many people might not consider that shipping, and that might be a bit misleading. However, the truth is that I had been sitting on the coming soon page for some time and was hesitating whether or not I should push it out there. Eventually I decided on erring on the side of launching, than not.

Thanks for the feedback though :)

staunch• 16 years ago

* The logo looks like it was designed by the CIA to be hard to decipher.

* Showing two screenshots made me think the left was one version and the right was another. I no longer think that is the case, but I'm not sure. The screenshots are too small to really make out the UI.

* The example image made me think it was some kind of war photo. Maybe a different image would be better.

* Flipping through the photos with my keyboard didn't work (Chrome latest). Maybe that's not what you meant by "arrows and mouse".

cwtann• 16 years ago

Figure out how to get your feedback from your customers. They're the ones paying you.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

What do you mean?

I will eventually get feedback from customers, once the actual app launches - but for now, just wanted some feedback from the wonderful resource I have access to here :)

peteforde• 16 years ago

I'm totally interested in this product concept, to the point where I'd considered building it out as an API.

To be honest, this landing page just isn't doing it for me. I think your offering makes complete sense, but this teaser is going to alienate more than it entices.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

Pete, Thanks for the feedback.

What about it, do you think, will alienate more than it entices?

Some have recommended that instead of putting screenshots of the UI, I should have put an example - which I have readily available to do if more people demand it.

Is that the kind of thing you are talking about? Or is there something specific that you don't like?

By the way, I have A/B tested the landing page, so do you mind telling me which version of the copy you saw, and what your URL was?

Thanks.

TGJ• 16 years ago

You have to tell people to use the arrows because it is not obvious. The arrows need to be bigger or a different color perhaps to bring the eye to them.

marcamillion8• 16 years ago

Ok...after many requests, I have updated the copy to indicate that.

Thanks.

cpinto• 16 years ago

Pardon the bluntness but what exactly did you ship? All I see is a page, with some JS, that tells me absolutely nothing about what the supposed product is or does, aside from scrolling pictures. Oh, and you ask for an email address. For what exactly?

Again, pardon the bluntness, but this non-sense needs to stop. You ship when you make stuff available to your customers so that they can pay you. Or, in other terms, you ship when you do "git branch prod-yyyymmdd.001".

Four Words: I Shipped. Feedback Please

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