Reply #11: It Depends on Who You Want to Appeal To

[NashVegas]

Those are both very well-designed, very clean, and they look like they're intended for a young male viewer or gamer-types.

If you want a broader appeal, you'll need to use simpler design elements, IMO.

With that in mind, I prefer the new style, but would lose the "3D modeled" look of your layout, and try something that looks more of a suggestion of how the space is broken up than absolute borders. (Not sure if that will make sense)

On edit: I just read Hyphenate's post and there's a lot of wisdom in it.

I'm not a designer, I do back-ends, and his points are a perfect example of *why.* When you're working in a creative field, you're going to encounter two different 'management' models; those who will tell you what elements are required, then stand back and allow creative people to do their best job their own way and will simply approve or disapprove of what's submitted (so long as you have those elements), and those who will approve and then want you to make 500 minor changes that reflect the way they'd do it if they had the ability or time. (I'm not talking about flaws, I'm talking about their preferences.)