Team Web Updates (pt. 1)

Posted: July 28th, 2009 | Author: Bleeding Blue | Filed under: Design, NHL Sites | No Comments »

What a better way to kick of the new season and the revival of Bleeding Blue Note than to take a quick look at what the teams are doing in terms of new website updates. I know a couple of other NHL fan sites are doing this as well, so I’ll defer to to them for in-depth critiques.

Working in the web/graphic design industry, I’d like to think me eye has become accustomed to what I consider both good and bad design. I realize it’s entirely my own personal taste, so what I like or dislike may not agree with what you consider to be a good design.

It looks as though all the teams are finally updating their sites to be center-justified, which I always prefer to left-justified. It allows more flexibility in terms of both content as well as overall design. The main NHL site has been center-justified for some time, so it’s nice to see the teams conforming to it as well. I’m sure it was an NHL mandate.

With that said, let’s get into it by looking at my home team, the St. Louis Blues:

ST. LOUIS BLUES

Pretty much a carbon copy of their old site, save for the addition of the Scottrade image in the left sidebar, which you can barely make out. I like the gold navigation bar though. The jersey behind the logo could have come out and the header could have carried through into the left sidebar into a larger crowd shot. Overall fairly average.

ATLANTA THRASHERS

I like the header, but giant players in both sidebars are too imposing make it feel a bit cluttered, especially with the fans in the header as well.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Sort of the exact opposite of the Thrashers, the Flyers go minimal in design. I actually really like this design, though compared to some it almost looks unfinished in a sense. The textured background doesn’t detract from the main content and I love the header pulling the sidebars through.

FLORIDA PANTHERS

Egads. All kinds of bad. The navigation is transparent and gets lost as a result. The two players on either side makes the sidebar much too busy, especially when they’re pulled into the header under the navigation. The header has way too many elements in it as well.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

I like this design, though the sidebars are almost too muted or unclear being taken from the upper bowl. It takes a second to figure out what you’re looking at.

EDMONTON OILERS

Love the header and the wispy sidebars running through the header. The two players don’t look right being two different sizes and two different justifications. It looks like the one on the left is falling off the page.

BUFFALO SABRES

While I appreciate what they were going for, the sabre sidebar is way too contrasty with the royal blue near the edges and have too big of  drop shadows. I give them points for keeping a player shot out of the sidebars though. Also, which logo is their official logo? Both the classic and Buffaslug are incorporated everywhere, including over each other in the header. Talk about your branding identity crisis.

PHOENIX COYOTES

I’m almost willing to cut them some slack due to their financial troubles, but this design is just really poor. There’s almost nothing there, and the player shot on the right sidebar is cropped way too much even at this wider resolution.

COLORADO AVALANCHE

This is by far my favorite site design so far. They do an excellent job incorporating the sidebars through the header, and not one element is too much. I would argue the player shot is a little too hidden, but at lower resolutions should look decent.

---