OK, how does it grab you.. now :
www.zymmetrical.comFlemish, I agree 100% on the principles of a good homepage design you mentioned, however we are catering to a more specialized visitor base so some of the laws of screen real estate and load speed can be relaxed, a bit.
1 - Like it is now, it violates the 800px rule. The slideshow in col #2 pushes the vital textual info in col #3 and #4 outside an 800px screen. Does a landing page really need a large logo in col #1? Landing page screen real estate is priceless. A good example of a 4-column design is
iofoto. All the vital info is there at first glance.
Most people in a production environment (picture buyers, not picture admirers) don't use their browser in full-screen. And even if they do, there is the browser sidebar. A design beyond 800px is not recommended, and if you do, put the main info on the left so it will never overflow.
There is the 5-second rule. In 5 seconds a visitor has to be able to make up his mind about what this site does. Does it sell, does it showcase, is a portal? Where is the strategic info on page #1 of ZYM?
Looking for a one-stop shop where you can license all possible digital art Royalty Free for your projects? You just found it! Zymmetrical licenses fonts, images, music, and all that at fanciful prices, straight from the artists. Blablabla....2 - Since any agency should cater for buyers and not for poor people with slow PCs, you can relax the mean/slim rules for sure. Buyers will have fast PCs and be on broadband. You can also bookmark the backdoor of course, bypassing the official landing page.
3 - The ShutterStock
theatre solution is really neat. You have a grand public (buyers) entry
www.shutterstock.com with all the glitter and the glamor and the grandeur, and the artists entry at the side
submit.shutterstock.com which is fast and lean and small that leads straight into the dressing and make-up stalls ;-)
4 - I don't like to plug myself but I just revamped
Flemishdreams like iofoto's site. Have the vital info fast on the landing page, in one glance. (1) What I got, and (2) where you can buy it. Anybody interested will surely trickle down, the rest just clicks away. Any vital info about a site should load and be evaluated in 2-5 sec. That's real life attention span on the net.
Just my 5 (Euro!)cents
