Hi, I have been a subscriber for a year ad a half almost so I can't say much about the "start here" course, it probably is useful as a quick orientation, if it pops up first on someone new's page (at this point I had to search for it after reading this thread, I couldn't find it other way).
Maybe others have said this already, but I'll just say it again... A better structured list of the courses would be most helpful for new and old subscribers! Because the courses do not follow an exact structure - some are short, some are hours long, some are one video, others divided into short parts, the instructors are different... it is even now difficult for me to understand what I'm looking at without clicking start course and browsing a bit. It's hard even to find all courses on one theme despite the groupings or search options. I click around a lot when I try to find a new course, or sometimes I remember having seen a course I was curious about but only remember the graphic so I scroll through all the pages to find it. I rarely click on the overwiev as it doesen't give some information I really need - ex. the lenght of the course. I have to "start course" and browse the left menus to get a better idea of the course format.
The thumbnails with awsome graphics are really nice and help remember visually the course and make the page look professional but I would love to be able to see a plainer list of all courses, sorted by topic, and at first sight the list to have clear information about them - not having to click on every one to find out more. The data I belive would be useful would be: the name of the instructor, the lenght, how many parts the course has, maybe level or other skills previously required in the course. I would also want to know if it is a live session recording with students (these are fun and interesting but tend to take longer and stray from the point from time to time, so if I try to get these into my schedule I have to be careful) or the online course format, wich tends to be more concise and to the point.
Another thing that seems confusing to me although I got used to it - while being logged in SVS, some parts of the website appear to me as if I am not logged in, and at first I was tempted to use the "Curriculum" tab on the top and "all courses" and those appear not to be for the already logged in user but still function at the top of the page.
Hope this is useful and as apositive, I really love SVS materials, and while I hope to see a segment structured more for graphic novels and comics, I see there is enough great material on the site for any approach at illustration!