Marketing For The Web

What is a Brief

A Brief is a document that includes information about your client. Do your homework on the client, what are the requests of the client. If you don't understand what they are talking about ask them to repeat it.

Good things to include in a brief

• General description of format
• Description of target audience = who are they targeting
• Message objectives = what do you want to say
• Where to look for inspiration = get examples off them
• What not to do = they need to tell you what not to do, have they got a style guide that you need to follow.
  

Marketing For The Web

Why is it important to market on the web

To make people see your site and to promote your site to businesses. To promote your site to businesses and make sure your site is well designed.

How People Find Your Site

People find your site through the coding and the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Content of Your Site

Make sure the content of your site is relevant to what is on your site. This makes it easier for the SEO to find your site. The SEO looks for Keywords on your site. Keywords are important with other criteria ie content, code. We then have to make sure this is all relevant to the website. The first thing the SEO does is to see if it as a robot text fiole in it. Robot text tells a SEO to leave the site alone don't find the site.

SpyFu.com

You can see what your competitors are doing by typing a url in and you can see what they are doing.

Blogs

Blogs are important because they are updated all the time. SEO love blogs they will go to a blog before they go to the site.

Marketing For The Web - What Will I Learn

• Why is it important
• Strategies & techniques
• How to market effectively
• Understanding your client needs
• How to present your findings

Groundwork

• Do your homework
• Understand your client and audience
• Do your research
• How to create a presence on the web

Client Related Practice for Web Design

How To Build An Accessible Website

When building a website take in account that people with disabilities also surf the net so don't forget them. One thing you can do to help people who are visually impaired is to add the alt key attribute to your site. This helps them because it gives them a description of what the images are when they hover over one on the site. This is then read out to them using a screen reader such as Jaws. Here's a short film on how people with disabilities use the internet below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2VVxrWun6A&feature=related

JAWS - Job Access With Speech

Jaws is a screen reader programme that helps the visually impaired to use their computers and surf the net. It helps them by giving them the information that is on screen via what is known as text to speech. This converts the text that appears on screen into speech so a voice on the computer reads out to the user what is on the page of the website they are on. Below is an example of Jaws in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK97XMibEws

Dolphin Guide

Dolphin Guide is another programme with an in-built screen reader and screen magnifier. As with the Jaws programme the information is read out to you by the computer and you can enlarge the text on screen using the screen magnifier. The Dolphin Guide is ideal for people who are blind or visually impaired, have little or no computer experience and has little or no technical ability.

Navigation

Make sure the navigation is clear and consistent throughout the site and that the position of the navigation is the same on all the pages. Make sure the navigation names are short and clear and that they tie in with each page. For example if you are on the home page make sure the user knows this.

10 Things To Implement When Building A Website To Make It Accessible To All

Below are 10 things you need to implement to a website to make it accessible to all. They are excerpts from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0)

1. Images: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
2. Image Maps: Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
3. Multimedia: Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
4. Hypertext Links: Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here".
5. Page Setup: Use headings, lists and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
6. Graphs & Charts: Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
7. Scripts, Applets & Plug-ins: Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
8. Frames: Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
9. Tables: Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize
10. Check Your Work: Validate use tools, checklist and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/

Our Visit To HERIB - Hull and East Riding Institute For The Blind

I arranged for us all to into HERIB so we could see for ourselves first hand how a blind person users the internet. We where shown a short film which talked about accessibility and how people with disabilities use computers. On the film we saw a disabled man using the computer just by the movement of his head using what is known as the virtual keyboard. There was also a person using voice recognition to work the computer. We then chatted to Sue Watling from HERIB who gave us a short talk about accessibility which was informative. We discovered that Amazon, M & S and even the 10 Downing Street websites aren't accessible for the visually impaired because of the content on them. Sue also talked about Bobby this was a free public service that aimed to make the web more accessible for people with disabilities. Bobby allows the user to test the web page to make sure it follows the accessibility guidelines.

Once we had finished talking to Sue we where shown some of the programmes we had talked about on the computers they have. Overall the visit to HERIB was very informative and useful and I am going to contact them again to see if we can arrange another visit because we didn't have that much time there. Also it would be good if we could arrange to see first hand a person who is visually impaired using the programme infront of us.

References

http://www.w3.org/WAI/quicktips/

http://www.mardiros.net/visual-impaired.html

http://herib.co.uk/pages

http://www.bcab.org.uk/

http://www.cosmic.org.uk/accessibility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAWS_(screen_reader)

How Supermarkets brand their websites

Sally asked us to look at how Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco brand their sites and who their target audience is.

Tesco

Their site is aimed towards people aged between 20 - 40 in my opinion. It is a clean looking site and is easy to navigate around. The colours used on the site are red and blue. The site displays everything they sell and uses a lot of images. Each department is in a different colour.

Asda

Asda and Tesco target the same target audience in my opinion. Asda promote their stock using an image slider and brighter colours. Asda use a lot of text and the prices are displayed all over the screen. They are aiming at a family on a budget in my opinion.

Sainburys

They are targeting an older target audience that is middle class in my opinion. They show all the offers and they draw you in with nice pictures of the food and drink. They use warm colours and it is easy to navigate around.

Waitrose

They are targeting a more up market audience in my opinion. They don't show the prices so you have to go into the shop. They have celebrities promoting food and drink that is available in the store. This shop is for people who have retired and have a bit of money and the time to shop in my opinion

Marketing for the web

Why is it important?

Marketing on the web is important because the internet is always on. People can view your site 24 hours a day 7 days a week whether it be at home, the office or out and about. For instance people can shop online which can only be good for business. Marketing on the web can attract more people to your site which will increase the amount of customers you get coming to your shop, business etc. Also it will enhance the branding of your company and products.

Strategies & Techniques

There are 3 steps to developing a web marketing strategy they are:

• Developing your product
• Developing your website
• Developing your market strategies

The first thing you need to create is a good product if you don't have that know one will visit your site. To attract people to your site you need a good product. Think of who you are targeting is it for a local audience or a worldwide audience.

How to market effectively

Once you have the product the next step is to develop your website. You need to make sure your website is fit for purpose ie if it is selling sports equipment make sure your audience know that is what you are selling. Everything on your site should make the the people viewing it want to stay on your site. If your selling a product on the site your aim is for people to buy that product and not shop else where.

The next step is your marketing strategy which should include short and long term plans.

Short term marketing strategies include:

• Purchasing Advertising
• Participating in Forums
• SEO Search Engine Optimisation

The above give your site a temporary boost in visitors. They are all important to your overall plan to marketing your site.

Long term marketing strategies include:

• Blogging
• Social Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc
• Giving away freebies

Having a short and long term marketing strategy will increase the amount of people who visit your site.

Understanding your clients needs

When building a website for a client you need to be able to meet the clients needs. "When customers buy a product or a service they do so due to several motivating factors such as desire to own, fear of loss, for security and protection, comfort and convenience, pride of ownership and to satisfy their needs".( This was a line taken from http://ezinarticles.com/?Understanding-Your-Clients-Needs=392444). First research what the clients business is and how a website would improve their business. Who is the target audience for the website. These are the questions you should ask the client to get a feel for what your site may look like.

How to present your findings

When presenting your findings make sure you can get them across so people can understand them. This can be done either by a powerpoint presentation, showing diagrams, graphs and tables of your findings. Or you could talk and handout your findings to the people in the room.

Five Website Reviews Presentation

Sally asked us toreview 5 websites and then present them in front of the group in a presentation. We would then rate everyone's presentation individually and give them feedback. The five websites I chose to review are below.

Website 1 TheGrand Canyon Skywalk

http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com

This site stood out to me as soon as I opened it. When you open the site you are greeted by a video in the centre of the screen showing people walking the grand canyon skywalk. This draws you into the site and it as a tag line Walk The Sky in a bold font that appears at the end of the film. It made me want to look at this site further and explore it more. As for the navigation it is easy to use and the fonts are clear and easy to read. I also like the design of the site with the background being an image of the grand canyon. On top of the image is the main container which contains all the content this is on a dark brown background. I like this site because you are drawn in by the video and think to yourself I would like to go there and try that.

Website 2 Photographer Rune Molnes

http://www.runemolnes.com

In my opinion this is a well designed website because you can tell what the site is for as soon as you open it. You open the site and you are presented with a selection of photographs in colour and black and white in the centre of the screen in an image slider. So these images draw you in and make you want to look at this site. Also the background is just a plain charcoal colour so it's not too busy. Also the navigation is easy to use and is clear to read. Overall this site is very pleasing on the eye.

Website 3 Tapas Bar in Stockholm Sweden

http://www.mediskokochbar.se/index.html

I came across this site for a tapas bar in Sweden it stood out to me because of the images used on it. When you open this site you are greeted by different large images of the cafe bar and its food and drink that rollover across the screen. So this draws you into the site and makes you want to delve deeper into it. It is pleasing on the eye to look at and the navigation and fonts are clear and easy to follow.

Website 4 Sugar Shack Records

http://www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk

I think this site is well designed because it is easy to navigate around. I like the fact you have an image slider of some of the bands featured on the site. Also when you click on the bands name underneath the slider you are taken to another page that gives you info on that chosen band and you can purchase their music on this page. I like the typography they have used for the name of the site. I especially like the font used for the headings its an urban looking font in white that stands out on the black textured background. The colours used on this site are black, grey and white and they give it an urban look. All the text is clear and easy to read. I think this site is targeting people who love music ingeneral and is aimed at the student age group who like their music and go to gigs.

Website 5 Two Giraffes Web Design Company

http://twogiraffes.com

I like this site because it is very illustrative and that is what caught my attention when I first opened this site. I like the look of the opening page with the navigation at the top above a nicely illustrated picture underneath. I like the way the text is layed out and it looks clean with the text in brown on top of a white background. The navigation is easy to use and you can find your way around the site. It is a clean and bright site and the colours work well together. I just like the overall look of the site and the way the backgrounds are illustrated.

Presentation Feedback

• I need to make sure everything works before presenting and have a back up plan if something doesn't work don't rely on internet connection.
• No introduction I didn't introduce myself and what I was going to talk about.
• I had good intereaction with the audience.
• I talked to the screen rather than the audience at times.
• I need to project my voice more.
• There where a few silences I stopped talking.
• I had good hand gestures.
• I became more confident as I went along.

Persona's

Phil Batty from Force-7 came in to give us a talk and Sally asked us to look at how he introduced himself and what was he wearing and look at his body language when he talked. We had to write our findings down and from this create a persona on him. Following up from Phil Batty's visit I contacted him asking if me and my colleagues could go in and talk to him one on one and ask himsome questions. I thought this would be a good idea if we had to write a persona on him and he agreed that we could go in.

We all wrote a list of questions to ask Phil Batty which he answered and from his answers we each did our own persona on him.

Here's my persona on Phil Batty

Name: Phil Batty

Occupation: Director of Force-7

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Location: Hull

Traits & Attitudes

Phil is the director of Force-7 marketing and communications agency

based on High Street in Hull. Force-7 offers a wide range of services which include graphic design, strategy and research, street team activity, consultation and social media management. The staff range from 16-24 years old.

Their target audience is marketing managers who get into jobs early they are aged between 30-40 years old and are interesting people. They have a reasonable budget and they are professional and not based locally. This is the type of client they aim at.

His Goals

• Phil's goals are for his company to be the leading youth marketing agency in the words of Phil himself "to be the best out of the rest".
• Phil wants to try and change the way people look at youth marketing.
• Their target audience is marketing managers who get into jobs early they are aged between 30-40 years old and are interesting people. They have a reasonable budget and they are professional and not based locally. This is thetype of client they aim at.
• His five year plan is for the company to be working on niche brands in six months. Then within a year working for them out right and then he would like to bring in 5 heads of departments to help him out. In five years time Phil would like to have left Force-7 and be working in social care.

His Needs

• Phil's needs for his company are to increase the skill level of his staff and make sure they recruit the right people.
• To expand the company he needs to plan and invest in the right people and take some risks along the way to sell the portfolio to the client.

I also did a persona on myself which is below:

Name: Chris Dunn

Occupation: Web Design Student

Age: 35

Gender: Male

Location: Hull

Traits & Attitudes

Chris is currently studying in his 2nd year of three on a BA Hons Degree Web Design course at the Hull School of Art & Design. Chris already as a Degree in Graphic Design that he gained back in 1998. He has chosen to back to university and study Web Design to further his career aim has a Graphic/Web Designer in the future. Chris uses the internet a lot for study and leisure time.

In his spare time Chris likes running and he has ran the London Marathon 10 times to date. Chris is also a big fan of Hull City Football Club where he is a season ticket holder. He also likes to go out with his mates and likes going to the cinema. Chris's favourite place to go on Holiday is New York he loves it there.

His Goals

• Chris wants a website that shows off his talents as a graphic/web designer to prospective employers.
• Chris wants to show all the work he has done whilst at university on his site.

His Needs

• The site needs to be easy to navigate around
• The site needs to showcase his work and reflect his personality.
• The site doesn't want to be too busy.

Client Related Practice for Web Design

Professional Practice

In a few brief paragraphs research and describe in your own words how you would tackle each of the points below.

• Communication of Ideas
• Presentation Skills
• Generating Ideas
• What Design Means
• Project Planning

Communication of ideas and concepts

How to put your ideas across by communicating them and your concepts to others so they remember them. First think how you are going to get your idea across are you going to show your ideas/concepts on paper. Or are you going to show something or get other people involved to put your idea across or will you say something.

• Create a concept story
• Create a concept map
• Communicate with visuals
• Communicate with help from others
• Communicate by saying something

Presentation Skills

There are three things you should do when you make a presentation. The first of these is using visual aids when appropriate. Visual Aids help you achieve your goals and objectives without boring the people you are presenting too. Research as been done that shows how people take in information during a presentation. Research shows that during a presentation we only take in 7% text. Compare this to 55% visual aids and 38% speaking. So when doing a presentation make sure you include some visual aids whether they be pictures, graphs, tables or props. Don't make your presentation all text because your audience will lose interest.

Always be prepared for your presentation don't turn up and forget what you are going to say. Its a good idea to rehearse your speech out loud a few times before you do your presentation. Also before the day of the presentation rehearse it in front of family and friends and get their feedback. I did this when I was best man at my Brothers Wedding and it helped me conquer my nerves because I had rehearsed it out loud in front of people before hand.

If your presentation as to fit within a time frame make sure it is not too short or too long. A good way to do this is time yourself so you know how long your presentation will be.

Most of the time your audience will only remember three things from your presentation. This is known as the rule of three because we tend to only remember 3 things. So when writing a presentation make sure you plan the three main messages you want to get across. Once you have these structure your presentation around them so they are the main content of your presentation. Also have a beginning, middle and end to the presentation.

Generating Ideas

Generating ideas can be easy and hard it all depends on what you are generating ideas for. Don't just come up with one idea come up with as many as you can. Always jot down your ideas on paper as soon as they enter your head. I find writing down words that are associated with the company, business etc work. Also drawing visuals on layout paper or in a sketchbook help me come up with ideas.

For instance when I was working in Design I had to come up with corporate id's for clients. I used to write a list of things associated with their business/company down on paper as a starting point. From them I would draw out ideas for their logo, corporate id on paper. I would also research the company to see what they did because if you don't know anything about them how are you going to create a corporate id for them.

What Design Means

For me design means the following:

• Design is a way of communication
• Design is creating something and bringing it to life
• Design is something that is pleasing on the eye
• Design is all around

Project Planning

Project planning is a way of showing how you intend to work on the project from beginning to end with in a deadline. Have a checklist of things you need to do in a certain time frame and tick them off as you do them. Then move onto the next stage and do the same again so you know what you've done and what still needs to be done.

References

http://www.wisdump.com/design/what-design-means-to-me

http://www.presentationmagazine.com

http://ideacommunication.org

http://www.wakeupcloud.com/generate-ideas

Designing for the User Week 10

Evaluation

Reflecting back on this assignment I am pleased with the look of the site and my user feedback. However I would have added a video if I was my confident in using flash. However I have added two screenshots that are linked to videos on You Tube which are about the dales. So this shows what I would have done if I was more confident in using flash. Overall my site works and does the job it is intended for which is to promote guided walks in the Yorkshire Dales for people aged 60+.

Designing for the User Week 10

Analysis

From the results of my user tesing I knew what changes I had to make to the site. Overall the feedback was good and the only thing I need to change is some of the links on the map because at the moment some of them are dead links. So that is what I am going to do today find you links for places on the map that go to dead links. I also decided to make the press the red button text on the map page bolder and in red so it was easier to read.

I searched on the internet for links for Richmond, Leyburn, Ingleton, Clapham and Skipton because these where the links that didn't work. I managed to find websites that had walks and links I could add to the map. Once this was done my site was finished and I just had to upload my site.

Design for the User Week 10

User Testing

Here are the questions I asked for my user testing and the answers I got back. I asked family, friends and people I know in the 60+ age group to test my site.

Q1 Is the website easy to use?
Q2 Is it clear which is the home page etc?
Q3 Is the site fit for purpose?
Q4 Do all the links work?
Q5 Can you read the text clearly?

Answers

Michael Stempczk

Website is clear andeasy to use.

Index is fine and it is clear where yoy are on the site.

The site is fit for purpose with the proviso that the links on the map page are corrected.

No clicking on some of the towns on the guided walks map the links don't work eg Rischmond , Leyburn

All the text is easy to read and very clear.

Marilyn Dunn 

Q1 The website is easy to use and looks good.

Q2 All the pages are clearly marked and easy to follow.

Q3 The site does what it says it does it provides information on Grand days out in the dales.

Q4 The links to Leyburn,Richmond, Ingleton, Clapham and Skipton do not work.

Q5 The text is easy to read and follow even with my varifocal glasses.

Denis Beecroft

1     Yes, as a novice to computers I found it easy to use.

2     I found the homepage etc easy to use, although sometimes I had to click a few times before it would connect.

3     Yes

4     There were 4 links which detailed the walks that did not work.  All the others worked fine.

5     I were glasses and found no problems reading the text.  It was very clear.

Margaret Beecroft

Yes, the website is easy to use and the links were easy to understand.

The homepage, etc were set out very clearly and the adjacent links could be accessed with no problem.

The site contained all the information you would require if you were planning a walking holiday or days out walking in the Dales

I had difficulty accessing some of the links which described the walks in detail.  These were namely Leyburn, Ingleton, Richmond, Clapham, Skipton.

I had no problems reading this website.  The background was  light so the text could be read clearly

David Fisher

Q1 Yes

Q2 Yes

Q3 It was informative and it was clearly marked to show us where to go on the site.

Q4 The links took a while to work and go to the relevant page.

Q5 No. We both needed our glasses to read the text.

Geoff White 

 All the answers are yes 

Conclusion

What I've noticed from peoples feedback is the site works apart from one or two links that don't work so I need to get them altered and find links that do work.

 

Design for the User Week 9

This week I have continued working on my site in flash. I have added all the content for the site and have given all the place names on the map buttons for the user to click on to take then to a link or pdf of a walk in that area. I decided to change the white boxes that contained the text to Aplha's so you could still see the image in the background but could still read the text. Below is how site looks now with a Home, Guided Walks, Book a Tour and Contact Us pages.

The next will be to do some user testing on the site. I intend to ask family and people I know in the 60+ age group to test my site. Then from the results of the user testing I'll be able to see what needs changing and what doesn't

Designing for the user week 8 22/4/10

This week I started getting my site created in flash after finishing the logo design. I also decided I wanted a map of the dales so the user could click the relevant location on the map and info on walks in that area and a map would come up. I found a map on the internet of the Dales which I imported into Illustrator and drew around it with the pen tool. I then added the place names and red dots next to each name that would be transformed into buttons in flash. Below is what the map looked like after I had finished it in Illustrator.

After I had drawn the map out in Illustrator I imported it to the library in flash along with pics of the Dales I had found on the internet. I then started designing my site in flash using the rough layout I had drawn out of how I wanted it to look. Below is my first flash design for the site:

I created a home, guided tours, book a tour and contact us pages in a green nav bar underneath the header that displayed the Grandays Out Logo I designed and the Yorkshire Dales official logo. Underneath the navigation was the main content which would be text on top of a faded out pic of the Dales.

Designing for the User Week 7

After talking to Jay and showing him my logos he suggested I change the blue background to green under the bridge. I did this then I started drawing out ideas for how the site would look and the content I would need. After drawing out a couple of rough frameworks for the site I began to put my design into flash and that is the stage I am at now.

Design for the User Week 6

After my tutorial with James last week I researched how older people use the internet. I looked at http://www.seniorsnetwork.co.uk according to this website "Older people aged 65 and above use the internet relatively little in comparison to other age groups (14% of people aged over 65 compared to 57% of people aged 16 to 34 use the internet)". 

Understanding the User

If older people are going to use my site I have to think about their needs. After researching I found out that older people can be put off the internet by poorly designed sites and the use of technical language they don't understand. So I need to make sure my site is a good design and the navigation is easy for them to use and understand.

Branding and Logo Design

After talking to James I decided to call my company Grandays Out. I then started drawing ideas for the logo and came up with a few designs. I then picked a couple I liked to draw up in illustrator ready to show James next week. Below are the two I drew up:

 

Design for the User Week 5

Today I had a tutorial with James to discuss how I was getting on with the Designing for the User brief. I showed James the research I had done on my blog and then we agreed what I needed to do next.

Action agreed:

• Expand research to include organised tours of any kind to see how they do it.
• Look at design
• Look how older people use the internet
• Look at layout and wording
• Consider how best to use flash
• Start branding and logo design

Now I will start to look at the list above and start looking at organised tours of any kind to see how they do their tours. I will also look at how older people use the internet and then start looking at designing a logo for my company.

Designing for the User Week 4

Today we wrote down all the information we had found for the Parsnip.com website assignment we were given before reading week. We researched the organic market and competitors to see if the sites already out there were html or flash. What we noticed was most of the sites were html and usually in green and brown colours.

We also looked at a presentation on coming up with a branding/logo for the brand. We looked at good and bad logo designs and discussed why they were good or bad. After this presentation we went back to work on the parsnip.com assignment. Me and Andy brainstormed ideas for the logo and what the site would look like. We came up with a logo and then a rough wire frame for the site before the end of the session.

Designing for the User Brief

For my Designing for the User brief I picked out of the box National Park Tours Service for Seniors. I have chose to do a site on the Yorkshire Dales National Park because it is the nearest to this region and I can go and take photos there.

Needs of the End User

• easy access to the park
• Tour guide
• transport to get there
• organised group tours

Target Audience

60+ just retired with time on their hands.

Competitive Analysis

I am competing against other National Parks so I need to make people want to come to the Yorkshire Dales. I have noticed that other national park sites use natural colours like green, brown, blue and various shades of green. Below are links to National Park sites already on the internet.

http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk
http://www.traveldales.org.uk
http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk

http://www.yorkshiredalesandharrogate.com

How can I improve what's already out there?

• I could make the site more interesting to look at for the user
• Add more photos/pic of the park
• Add a map for the user to click on the area of the park they are interested in.
  

How to Design an Interactive Product

Today we learnt the ten steps to follow when designing an interactive product. When designing anything don't just jump on a computer. Before you even touch the computer plan what you are going to do down on paper. Think of the target audience and what the client is after. Research what is already out there and think how can I improve that?. Start off by researching the product or service and brainstorming ideas down on paper. We don't actually go on the computer and start designing it till we have a concept down on paper. Once this is done we can create a wireframe in Photoshop which we can show to the client in this case James our tutor. Once we have the green light we can go ahead and design the site. I will follow the ten steps when create sites in the future because its a helpful guide.

We also were given a Task to do in pairs me and Andy paired up. Our task was to create the Home page for a fictional online organic grocery store called Parsnip.com. We used the ten steps we had learnt today and firstly researched organic food and who the target audience will be. In our next session we will begin to come up with ideas for the site and the content we need to add.

Design for the User Week 2

Flash Websites Good and Bad

Good Site http://imakemycase.case-mate.com/

For our task last week we were asked to find examples of good and bad flash sites and present them in front of the class this week. I found a good example of a flash website on the fwa website this is a website for creating your own design for your mobile phone cover I like this site because there's so much going on for the user. It all starts when you launch the site the user can move the pointer around the screen and shapes and drawings appear where you move the cursor. So immediately you want to explore this site because its crabbed your attention. You then click on the Design Your Case text and this takes you to the menu screen with a selection of mobile phone covers for you to browse through. At the top of the page is the navigation with buttons for Artists, My Designs, Cart and Cases each page draws the user in. This site would not be as interesting to view if it wasn't in flash so that is why I think it's a good example.

Bad Site http://www.lingcars.com

In my opinion this site could have done without flash instead the designer or so called designer as used so much flash on the site it looks tacky. There's icons flashing up all over the place and the navigation bar at the top is different sizes. It is just awful the target audience for this site is supposed to be aimed at people who want to hire cars but frankly I wouldn't hire a car from them after looking at the site. They have gone over the top with the use of flash and colour scheme is bad to. This site needed more html in it than flash because the layout is all over the place there are no text containers which means it just all looks bad on screen. The less said about this site the better because whoever built this site doesn't have any web design skills.

Designing for the user week 1 27/1/10

Today we had our first lesson with James about designing for the user. I learnt about how to make my web page easy for the user to get around. The user could get confused so make it easy for them to navigate around. What I think is a good design and easy to navigate around the user might not follow the site how it was intended to be used. Never mislead the user a good interface is invisible no one should know it is there.

We also had to do a group activity which involved us going round the building and identifying things that don't work like they are intended to. We had to go off in groups and find three things around the building that are designed badly. My group found the fire door on the landing, the push lever on the main entrance door and the fire exit sign in the games area. We took pictures of them and we are going to talk about them next week.