[Fred Wu]

Hey guys,

Since there isn't a dedicated thread for branding proposals (the two stickies are dedicated to their respective authors), I am going to post all my proposals here, hope you guys don't mind.

I finally have some free time now and I'll be sketching for more concepts over the next couple of days. I will update this thread accordingly.

Logos

Concept 1



Concept 1a

"Normal" typeface.



Concept 1b

With styles back-ported from concept 2.



Concept 2





Concept 3



Concept 3a



Concept 3b





Concept 3c

Just noticed the little 'tail' shouldn't be there. :/



Styles back-ported from concept 3d.



Concept 3d

A variant of concept 3c, suitable for promos and banners.




Website Layouts

Click on the layout to view the 100% version.

Concept 1

Ideally the search bar should behave similarly to OS X's Spotlight.



With user info panel (top right corner, under the search panel).



Fixed the search bar's alignment as well as the Latest Releases block.



Concept 1a

Improved the page contrast.



Concept 1b

Improved font size and reworked on the 'features' block.



Concept 1c

Made the features block less dominant, still thinking of ways to improve the contrast.



Concept 2

"Tip of the Day" should be randomly generated thus keeping visitors more engaged to the home page.

[yoshi]

Hi,
and what's about this one: http://www.yiiframew...pic,1948.0.html ??

By the way: i like your second concept! 

Edit: I should better follow my own speech: READ - THINK - ANSWER 

[eval]

Very nice job!

My vote goes to 1b concept

[qiang]

Nice job!

I like concept 2 better. Concept 1 is a bit childish to my taste. Concept 2 needs some balance in size between the big Y and the rest of the words. Also concept 2 needs some interpretation on the big Y design.

BTW, any progress on your earlier mouse-shaped design? That is pretty unique.

[Fred Wu]

Concept 3 added.

[yoshi]

Concept 3 is really individual - i like it!
It took me some time to see the Y inside the mouse shape
But i would suggest to keep the little cable-tail otherwise it wouldn't be recognized as a computer mouse immediately and then the black part is too dominant.

[Sergey Kuznetsov]

I'm very impressed by this concepts. All other logos s**k (not so good).
I'm vote for this concepts all!!!

Cause it's really Web 2.0!!! It's light, fresh, very simple and rememberable!!!

[qiang]

concept 3 is also very nice! Perhaps it needs some adjustment in the size of the three blocks (they give some illusion in size difference due to their colors). No need the mouse tail (wireless mouse? ) because the tail makes the logo less clean.

[Fred Wu]

Hey Qiang, the reason I kept the two smaller blocks the same size is due to the logo being used in greyscale (as seen in the website layout concepts).

[qiang]

I like how the logo looks like in the page design. I like the header and footer design, especially the grayscale logos and the search box.

The main content is a little messy. I guess it's because of the dark block for the feature list. It is not easy to identify a focus in the main content.

Thank you for the great designs!

[moho]

Concept 3 is really sharp. I agree with Qiang on the page layout. It is a little bit too busy.

[Fred Wu]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Indeed the page is a little bit too busy. It was late at night when I finished the concept so I thought I'd rush it out and get some feedback first. I have now added concept 1b which improved the balance a little bit.

[Mike]

I also like this logo and how it plays with the Y-shape. Also very decent colors that nicely integrate. Good job.

But IMO the black block on the left is too heavy/dark. Maybe use a lighter color there? And the search box reminds me a little of the apple finder

[Fred Wu]

Thanks Mike, I will be making improvements to the features block.

The search bar is done intentionally to mimic Spotlight. I pitched it to have categorised auto-complete search results.

[Spyros]

I like the mouse concept too.
Maybe you should put the 2 ii in the black area of the mouse so Yii could be read more clearly

[Fred Wu]

Website concept 2 is up!

@Spyros: Making the 'ii' into the logo graphic might complicate it too much I'm afraid.

[qiang]

Concept 2 looks really nice! I have no complaints at all. It can only be beaten by your new proposals.

[mrlami]

Fine choice!

[alf]

Concept 2 looks great, i have one comment though (if its not too late)...
The top half has a lot of "empty space", I could be an idea to make the "bannerstyle" a little less height, as of now the "real info" is only displayed on bottom half of the design.