Design of homepage and menu page

When I first started designing my application the homepage looked like top image.  I had information about what EcoWorld does and four buttons (Sign in, Register, Charts and Facts) which sent you to other pages. When you clicked "Sign in" or "Register" a box would pop up in the top right corner allowing you to enter your info, then take you to the menu page (bottom image).

I asked some users whether they found the homepage easy to navigate and understand.  The response I got from the majority of people was that:
-The colours were too distracting and bright and didn't relate to what the website does
-There's too much writing on the homepage that they would probably never bother to read
-The register and sign in options need to be easier to access with less clicks
-Having four buttons in the menu was too much, and too confusing, there needs to be less.

I looked at some homepages of other popular websites to see how much information they displayed and how they had their sign in and register options.

I noticed that facebook and hotmail homepages only have a small amount of information, so that it's just enough to explain what the website does and so that users will bother to read it.  They both had the sign in option on the homepage so that users didn't have to click more than once to get to their homepage.  There is also very minimal colours.  They both have a main colour and one or two background colours.  The colours are also quite light, not bright and in your face.

 

 I tried to come up with some more colour schemes that included less colours and which were lighter.  I chose the top colour scheme of blue, green, white and black as they are colours which relate to energy consumption and a healthy planet.  I wanted the main two colours to be the top blue and green as I found these went really well together.  The minimal colours would be white and black.  For the menu buttons I tried having them all different colours, but I found them too contrasting therefore I used a gradient between the three (second colour scheme).

Above is the homepage and menu that I came up with, taking into consideration what my users said.  I put the sign in and register options on the homepage for less clicks, I put a couple of lines of text briefly explaining what my application does, but not too much so that people didn't want to read it.  I wanted to still have a link to a facts page though, as I want non-users to be able to view it and read about the effects of global warming.  I thought having another puzzle button would be too much, so I chose to have the graphic of the recycle earth as the button that links to the facts page.  And I had 3 buttons on the menu instead of 5.

I then asked users what they now thought of the navigation and layout of these pages.  The response I got from most people was that:
- They were a lot more likely to read the couple of lines of text than they were to read the original paragraph.
- The colour scheme is consistent, less distracting and relates to the topic.
-  It's a lot easier to log in or register, therefore they're more likely to do it
-  They liked the graphic of the recycle earth and at first didn't know it was a button but because of its hierarchy and design it made them want to click it.