Blog Contest: 8GB iPhone
Dial-a-Phone is a blog about reviews and news concerning phones. The lucky guys there get to have the latest phones months in advance of their release. Lucky, lucky guys!
Dial-a-Phone is actually the company behind the D-a-P blog, and it’s a company of… err…obviously, mobile phones and other gadgets. Well, see? I couldn’t find an about page for the D-a-P company, so that could be something I’d like to have added there.
As for the blog:
+ The overall design is neat;
+ You can easily find out who’s behind the blog;
+ Yellow is used as a buzz color, you can’t miss the ‘free delivery’ on the top right corner, and all the other free stuff on the footer;
- The size of the yellow buzz items at the footer is too big;
- The spot of these buzz items -I believe they are, aren’t they?- is not that strategic;
- The footer is over-loaded. You should keep that for the company’s homepage, but remove it from the blog’s;
- I see different degrees of the blue color all over the blog. I understand that the company’s logo is in blue, and that it should be a little around the blog, but many degrees are used around, and I am personally bothered by that. You don’t see the same degree of blue on the header and the sidebar for instance. I’d perfer those to be the same;
- Why is the ’submit your comment’ button green? That’s so off for me, that it’s hurting my eyes. Well, not that much, but I think it’s ugly there;
- The titles could (read ’should’) be in a smaller size;
- I hate the font ‘Verdana’ by default;
- The background of the RSS widget should rather be blue;
- And wait a second, that *huge* RSS feed button is about to jump to my face! Seriously, do you think having a bigger button than average will persuade readers to subscribe?
- What’s with all the RSS readers’ chicklets? One link to the feed’s location is enough for me.
So: one average sized RSS feed button, one link to the feed’s location instead of the carnival of chicklets, and the RSS email subscription, all on a blue background, and get rid of the green ’sign up’ there. Please!
Do you want to be creative with the feed? Design a small mobile phone, with its screen as the RSS clickable button, and the phone’s buttons as letters that could be read as something close to ‘email subscription’, or symbolize it. That will be awesome!
And as I came to think about it, design a bigger phone -than the RSS one- and have its screen display any news you want to be noticed by your readers. Maybe what I see as ‘buzz items’ on the footer could be displayed one by one (like ads) on that phone’s screen?
You can even make a smart use of this phone buttons to point out to some other parts of the blog.
It crossed my mind that maybe a top commentators widget could be added, but this is more of a company’s blog, so maybe it’s just fine without one.
And finally, I hope the guys at D-a-P host more contests, to give away the latest phones they receive to review, *before* they are released to the public. — Alright, this is subject to discussion! But do check their contest to win an iPhone.
Please don’t participate, I want to win this iPhone all for myself. Thank you very much for understanding my selfishness.
– Alright, if you just ‘have’ to enter, do NOT copy my review! — I know you will!
**Nick, eliminate all reviews coming after mine. Thanks!
