Misc Novel Updates Fanmade Website Redesign (unofficial !)

Hey guys !

So I don't know if it's okay to post this here, if it isn't I apologize and mods feel free to delete this !

Short story : I was bored and recently annoyed by a client I'm working with so I decided to do some other stuff to calm my mind. I remembered an exam I did when I was a student (rebranding / redesign of exisiting stuff) and I really liked that kind of thing, so I decided to try again, but this time with NU.

So here's my version of what I would see for a modern NU :

New Version (after your feedbacks) :

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Web Mockup :

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Mobile Mockup :

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So after your feedbacks I took another approach. I got rid of the banner and just put everything to fit into the first fold. I decided to go with a "dashboard" style as I think it fits into what NU is about (I guess ? haha).

This version is optimized for 1080p monitors but could easily fit any other resolutions since this kind of design is totally responsive (blocs and bootstrap are best friends).
Moreover, the good thing about this kind of blocs is that it's possible to choose to "hide" it or not, move them around, etc. it's adjustable (if coded with this intention).

Anyways, I made this version even more simple than the first one. I also decided to show more topics since 2 doesn't seem enough to me.

This is it.. For now !

See you nuffians ! o/

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Old Version (before your feedbacks) :

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Full image :

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Mockup :

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So my idea here was to use the top 3 novels of the month as the banner to add more "liveliness" and also to "promote" them (although for the most part they do not need promotion). I really didn't want to have a blank header so that's just my personal taste.

After that, I just remade the list (to make it more "modern looking"), while adding a filter and a few more informations. I also decided to limit it to 10 entries and add a button "load more" to load the updates of the day (10 by 10). I did this to not overload the homepage.

Then I decided to put the monthly ranking on the homepage so they would have more coverage and also added images to give the website more colors.

And finally the latest forum topics because I find myself looking at them quite a few times whenever I refresh NU, haha.

Overall it's quite simple, but that's what I wanted. To keep it simple. Since even though the current website has no design, it's quite functional and I'm used to it.

So that's it, I haven't done yet a novel's page, I'll do it next time. Btw, I'm aware that there are flaws and some missing stuff (maybe a topbar for user's stuff, etc.), obviously I did this on my free time, expect to have a better version next time !

PS : if you have any other stuff you'd like me to redesign, I'd gladly try if I like the website and of course if I have enough time.

 

very cool!!!!

 

Just for the record, that looked amazing.

 

That's pretty cool, you know.

 

Thats good actually. We need to make it resemble a certain shady group's website because they have quite a big reputation, kappa.

 

Just enjoy what you make, people can appreciate it

 

looks nice, lets have @Tony throw a look at this

 

That looks awesome

 

Looks great but it reminds me a bit of qi and I don't like that...

 

That's really nice looking, but I think it's close in visual concept to a lot of agregator websites (color schemes, forwarded covers of monthly ranked novels, global lower priority to basic content (list of updated novels) compared to huge featured visuals, big flowing empty spaces, the fact that if you don't scroll you'll think there's only one novel on the website, etc...).

 

1. Doesn't look that functional, but I'm a minimalist so that might be it, bling for the sake of bling is just an eyesore
2. It looks incredibly shady

 

is it just me or tis is look like QI inspired?
also how many script you'd need to create em?

 

Is it just me who thinks that this reminds one of QI ??

 

it basically is QI. But that said i do like their kind of concept and this does seem like a nice change. Think its better the way it is tho. I mean honestly the only thing i would like to see is change in the actualy list. Like give the cover images next to the the link title and have the summary expandable like how it is in RRL. so you dont gotta go to the page for it unless you want more details. Minor changes like that. Tho this design is nice, im a traditionalist!

 

Looks something that i hate...

 

cool design but i don't think the ux is good, the current one shows recent topics, latest favorite updates, and all other relevant stuff in one view without having to scroll down, using yours we have to scroll down a lot which is not a good thing for user experience

some people visit NU hourly, they don't have to deal with that big novel recommendation on the front page, it looks cool for the first time but when you visit every hour or every 3 hour it will be annoying to see that everytime

people who say it looks nice and NU should change into that have no idea what they're talking about, but i really like the logo though, simple and elegant

 

I love NU because of the simple and easy-to-use design.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys ! Don't worry about being harsh or whatever, I'm used to it, some clients are way worse...

Anyways, yeah, as I said, I'm aware that there are flaws that I plan on correcting when I have time. For the UX part, I do admit that I didn't think much about it, heck, I didn't even do wireframes. But honestly, I just wanted to do pure UI.
But if you look closely, this version isn't the "user version", by that I mean there's no favorite, etc. I guess it might be possible to add something like a "remove banner" or stuff like that as "preferences" when logged on the site. But to me, I think it's important to have something to catch the eye for the new user.

I say this from experience, as 95% of the clients I deal with want a huge banner on the first fold. Tho I understand that NU isn't some corporate or marketing website, I do think it's quite nice to have a banner.

As for the "block order", I did it that way because of my own experience. I like to have my updates on the top, then see the ranking, then finally forum posts. That, again, are my preferences.

As for the QI thing, although it "kind of" looks like it, I think it's just because both NU and QI are about novels AND both are blue themed. In fact, other websites looks like QI.
I won't talk about QI's methods or whatever as it isn't the point here, but it's sad to read "I don't like it because it looks like QI". It sounds to me like "I don't like you because you like Taylor Swift and I hate her". I do understand that people hate QI, but objectively, QI's design doesn't reflect their shadiness or negativity.

PS : Just to avoid misunderstanding, on the full image I posted, the thing around is just decoration. The real page is the thing on the middle (look at the mockup images to understand what I mean).

 

it was a joke. how about make it like osu's homepage where the visitor can change between the old and the new theme? although i'm not sure about the burden or the server's cost