The New PV.M Garage, A Fresh Change (With Special Giveaway)
- 29 December 2009
- Articles
- This post was written exclusively for PV.M Garage by Piervincenzo Madeo
- Comments (73)»
I’m proud to launch the new PV.M Garage today! It’s the first complete redesign for the blog and I hope you like the new layout.
Behind a deeply redesign there should be great motivations. My desire to redesign isn’t only aesthetic-driven, but it is purpose-driven. In fact in this case there are three main reasons on why I’ve launched the new version. I want to emphasize the contents, highlight community’s work and refresh the graphic for a clean layout. In a few words? A fresh change!
The main objective of this new version is to make usable and immediate the website. I have worked hard to improve look and feel, holding some peculiar elements, to simplify the layout and to enhance the browsing and the reading.
So what’s new in this version?
New Logo
The PV.M Garage has not had a real logo. Sure, since its launch the website has always used a face with the glasses as part of its image, but it wasn’t a “working logo”.
So the final concept for the new logo mark was the combination of the old icon and a freah typography.
In a second moment it has been adapted for the new PV.M Garage design using a textured background and some “grunge effects”.
Header and Menu
I love large and working header and in my opinion it should contain useful features that allow a quick navigation. For this reason on the header there are serch form, quick menu to know more about the site, navigation menu and links to stay connected with the garage (Twitter and RSS Feed).
Search
Menu
Navigation Menu
Twitter and RSS Feed
Main Container e Sidebar
This sections was created with a basic scheme: two columns, the main container for the posts and the sidebar to show further information.
This part of the site is quite similar to the old version, but metadata for each post are displayed in different way.
The sidebar contains sponsors, community news, the archive and some useful links. It is classic, simple and well-proportioned.
Footer
The footer is completely up-to-date. Yes, It is huge… maybe this is a challenge, but I’m sure that it works!
The last trends in modern web design show a frequent use of this kind of footers, but the user’s reaction is unpredictable. My goal is to present other important contents and information in a clean and fresh layout… my hope is that you like it.
That’s all folks guys! Now a special gift for you…
Special Giveaway: 3 free copies of the Smashing Book
The Smashing Book is a printed book about best practices in modern Web design. The book shares technical tips and best practices on coding, usability and optimization and explores how to create successful user interfaces and apply marketing principles to increase conversion rates. It also shows how to get the most out of typography, color and branding so that you end up with intuitive and effective Web designs.
Here at PV.M Garage we will give away a total of 3 copies of this great book. This is only a simple way of saying thanks to the readers for being part of the our community. Leave a comment about the PV.M Garage Redesign and you could win a free copy of the Smashing Book.
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It is a free design review community for websites, logos and more and for the three lucky winners there is also a free premium concept on this great service.
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I like it! It’s more clean and load faster. I like the contras as well :)
Bravo Piervicenzo!
It looks awesome.
Keep up the good work :)
Buon Natale
Complimenti per la scelta del colore e dei vari texture utilizzati, soprattutto quella “jeans style” con le cuciture.
All’inizio del body ti sono rimasti 2 caratteri “” , forse ti
Complimenti Piervix…
veramente bello ed equilibrato, ottima scelta dei colori.
Really nice and balanced, I like the colors (apart from the font color of the comment form which is a little to similar to the background and hard to see…)
Just fixed my friend! Thanks for comment and suggestion!
Very nice! I love the new look and the attention to details.
Love the new design. Footer not so much. I do love the “mega footers” but not quite sure about the “mega-mega footer” :).
I know it, in fact “it’s a challenge for me”… thanks for comment!
Looking at it closer there isn’t very much space to the left. Seems a little on the cramped side. It looks to me to be slightly off center @ 1024 x 768. But i still love the layout and colors. Just pointing out what i noticed.
tested and measured… added a border for the sponsors. Maybe the ribbon (top-left “Last Articles”) makes asymmetric the layout, but I like it! ;)
Great Job! I really love the new layout, is cleaner and more fresh. The footer is innovative and show many informations!
You’re one of most valuable italian webdesigners, I belive in this.
Great job! Vert very nice!
Thanks Guys! Grazie Ragazzi!
Well done Piervincenzo! One of the few designs out there that I see and think “Now that is just perfect! How can I have that for my blog :)”. I like the muted colors, draws focus to the content. And I really love how everything is so customized for your style and look. Good stuff! I wish you the very best with the new look and a Happy New Year!
Nice job. I liked the old design and now I like the new design too.
The footer seems fine to me. I like them large. It’s not as though you have to see it if you don’t want either. Easy enough to ignore, yet still useful for those that want the extra information.
I’m scrolling up and down now trying to find something I don’t like and I’m not finding anything, so again I’ll have to say nice job.
Great done! Love the color and your feed counter ….
And congratulation for new face!
Congrats on the re-design, nice job! :)
Great Job Pier.
love the color palettes and the new design. I’m proud that you’re italian ;)
really nice overall, but I did miss a bit of contrast…
almost forgeting, the footer rocks!
There is the WOW factor in this design! Awesome!
…and the footer is simply FANTASTIC!
Wow there really have been some changes! I just updated my new web 2.0 blog Inside the Webb with a brand new theme and some *hopefully* awesome new interviews to come!
I love the new design, but are you aware of the horizontal scroll bar? It’s just a few pixels over the width. ♥
The redesign looks fantastic! I’m a fan of large footers and think yours looks great. I love the color scheme and the sewn fabric. Great attention to detail as well!
No need to enter me in the contest, I already have the Smashing book :).
You admit to including many common design ideas, but the overall effect is completely unique – that is not easy well done.
It looks great. Good job mate! :)
keep up the great work :)
I really love the grungy look and feel of your site!
The only thing I can’t understand is the “+” on the menu that recalls “Jquery,Articles…” why this choice?
love this new design for many reasons, the way metadata are displayed, the color scheme(warm and relaxing), the subtle grungy style, the use of some CSS3, and the big footer of course…
Just one issue : the text in the comment form miss some contrast with background?
BTW great work m8!
I think the design is suited for the purpose you have. It’ very easy to understand and make your readers feel comfortable. Graphic design is very nice and accurate in every detail: I like a lot the look and feel.
Thinking back to the old design, I miss a bit more ’structure’ in the main column and sidebar, but I understand it’s because you need to keep this area very simple.
I like the big footer, since I find its big size has a meaning.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that the general size of your template is quite wide: I would prefer a slightly smaller width; are you sure you need such a large layout?
Mi piace molto il re-design del tuo blog, molto pulito e semplice ma non banale. Bella la scelta dei colori e delle proporzioni, che insieme creano un equilibrio molto riposante. I post si leggono facilmente e le informazioni sulla barra destra non distraggono dalla lettura. E complimenti per l’attenzione ai dettagli, che rendono speciale un design semplice.
WOW,, great job…i love the colors…awesome :)
Website rocks man! Good job!
wow, great job! I love grunge style and your site is very clean and readable. Congrats ;-)
Perhaps it’s just me or was intended but i loaded the new design up @ Adobe browserlab and tested in multiple browsers
http://img96.imageshack.us/i/pvm.jpg/
Look at the “enjoy this stuff” banner.
Ah… yes Sean… it was my choice! ;)
Thanks for your useful suggestions and comments.
Looks great! Love it :)
Great job! The design looks awesome! and the color mix is just perfect.
NEw design? Oryginal, great colors, typo and details design element. Extra logo, comments styling. Nice header and top menu.
Thanks for this giveaway! Good luck for all.
Good work! I really like the new style of this blog, and it’s possible from its structure you achievements regarding the content and a better user experience.
To be completely sincere I found I bit hard to find the extra button in you menu (the +, to make it easy); maybe with a strongest contrast could be more visible, let’s say the same color that you use for the font of the menu…
Or maybe there are some reason behind this choice?? Did you run some test on it?
“Sorry but I’m a curious person :D”
I like the new design ! Simple and very nice looking.
Fantastic!!!!
this article is so interesting. I was not going to read it, but then I saw that the logo is impressive, and I rolled down, then I found much more interesting stuff.
very cool.
Overall, the design seems so qualified with the principles of blog design and I like the concept.
thank you.
I like the redesign, its a lot more awesome compare to the last one..this is clean and more precise…
Love the detail.. loads great on my mac..
Like the colors. there is no padding / margin on the left side of the content side though. Comments part OK. Using Inet Explorer 8. Just wanted to point that out.
stunning look
Nice done! Congrats!
New look , Looking good :)
First, I love the color scheme – its much easier on the eyes than white, black or a saturated color.
Second, I like the logo although I wonder how it will scale and be useful on biz cards, etc.
The menus are great, I like how you’ve segregated site “admin” stuff from typical client desired stuff.
If you could tone down the colors in the ads I think it would be perfect – I really like it and I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed. And the footer is way too big – you really think most folks are going to mossy on down there to click on stuff? :-)
Thanks and have fun! – Bob
Very nice colors, graphics,text and layout. Good job
Really cool design. Like the grungy look. Good luck
The site certainly looks fresh and fabulous Piervix. Kudos.
The only thing I find off beat is the footer. I like it and it looks very nice, but I end up scrolling just to hit the bottom of it. It just seems like there is a lot of ’stuff’ in it that had been in the sidebar.
New design looks awesome! I like header and navigation. Good luck in 2010!
Awesome website. I love the clean and creative look. I am definitely returning to this site over and over again.
Great job!
Mario Hernandez
designsdrive.com
Awesome work man, I really like the new design. Keep up the great work and Hope you excel more with this awesome site. Good luck.
Goog work PV,
i really love your new “Twitter and RSS feed” graphic!
wish you all the best and the footer is huge like it. and the logo too. and most of them which i got more attracted is stitch design in header :D
-=-==
and like to win a copy .
Congratulations on the redesign… It looks nice and clean.
The only thing I would change is to make the text closest to the header logo darker (“he’s thinking to make good stuff” and the “go to the main page” hover link), since they are barely noticeable as they stand right now.
Other than that, I really like the new look. Keep up the great work!
Piervinc
hey man really like the new look great job!
Great design, very nice. I like the navigation menu with integrated tags. Can you help me how to build this type of navigation in wordpress. Thank you
love the logo but can you make it bigger?
Aloha
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Hello, Great job. I did not expect this just before the weekend. Thanks
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