Conrad Freeman Unit 6

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Percival Ward
5 years ago
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The layout is quite simple, even plain, but it fulfils the objective of informing the user of what product they re looking at. The intended purpose is to inform people of their product, Doritos.

1 Graphics Assessment. First graphical product: The first product is a picture of the website for Doritos. This product is probably designed for teenagers and adults, and is not for younger audiences (probably not for people younger than teenage years). The layout is quite simple, even plain, but it fulfils the objective of informing the user of what product they re looking at. The intended purpose is to inform people of their product, Doritos. The advert is to provide information about the product and to present certain adverts and contact details. This website features a prominent banner across the top of the website a feature most likely used to very quickly draw attention to the most important parts of the website. The dominant colour palette of this website is orange and white, the shade of orange being quite rich. This is most likely a feature employed to create a suitable contrast between the white that is also used in conjunction with this colour. The font also consists of shades that stand out from their respective background colour (white on the orange, black on the white). This feature, coupled with block capitals, is an effective way of drawing the user s attention to the font. Also, the entire page seems to have this geometric approach, where the layout is blocky and lacking in any real curvy graphics. The bold, simple and contrasting effect was possibly utilised to make the webpage very easy to understand (it is Doritos, after all).

In colour psychology the colour orange is associated with sociability, liveliness and energy. It is also associated with vitality and enthusiasm.

2 In colour psychology the colour orange is associated with sociability, liveliness and energy. It is also associated with vitality and enthusiasm. The intention of this webpage is similar to the previous page. It is designed to present information about the charity, and also to provide information about cancer and how you can help fight it. The features utilised consist of strong contrast and clearly available titles and text-based information. Whereas Doritos used these techniques to attract potential and existing customers, Macmillan uses these techniques to attract those who may have cancer or who need help understanding the condition. Also, the website is also designed to attract the attention of those who may be looking to donate to the charity. The colours on the website are quite pleasing to the eye a soft shade of green is not the most abrasive colour to look at. This coupled with a palate of pastel shades of green on the tabs and buttons creates a colour scheme of colours which are not hard to look at. On top of the colour choices, the use of strong purple stands out, which is an effective way of drawing the user s eye to the donate button. For example, if the donate button was the same colour as the other

3 shades of green it wouldn t be incredibly effective at standing out, as it would just be another green asset on the webpage. In colour psychology, the colour green represents calmness and harmony. It also removes anxiety and depression, and is generally seen as a relaxing colour. This is the kind of vibe you would want from a website that is the online face of a charity which is fighting cancer and is trying to help people, as a calm approach would help users of the website feel more relaxed. The front page is completely filled with links and information that is relevant to the cause, and through a compartmentalised style of consigning certain parts of the page to hold certain pieces of information this webpage avoids information overload, where too much information (however relevant) is displayed, and dissuades the user from using the site again. Effects, Effectiveness and Design for Purpose: First Graphical Product: The Doritos page is fit for purpose, in-so-far as it s unlikely that you re going to consult it, and should you ever need to it will have the information you need. I would imagine that very few people think to look on Doritos website for information about their product. This is because there is very little your average customer would want from a website of a food snack, apart from contact information (should the product be faulty). This information is often given on the packet itself, further removing the real need for a website. Regardless, the website is relevant to the themes of Doritos, with vibrant colours that incite liveliness and images relevant to the actual products they sell, and also the Mariachi band that has featured in the TV adverts. With regards to the webpage s influence over the user, the page uses a mainly vibrant, orange colour that has been associated with liveliness and sociability, contrasting with white and black in places to make certain fonts and windows stand out. The lively colour is a desired effect, as the Doritos are hot and often eaten at parties or while celebrating and having fun. Using colours that reflect this theme keeps the product consistent. It would be inappropriate to use black, for example, as the dominant colour of the page, as it doesn t reflect the vibe that the product is trying to incite. With regards to the design features for promotion, the Mariachi band image as the background is a very large and effective way of linking the product to what people know and have seen. The band features on the Dorito adverts on TV, and by making this association the website feels more familiar to those who may have seen the band on TV. In accordance to this theme of liveliness and parties, the Mariachi band image is another asset that can bolster these emotional themes. This means that even if someone has never seen the TV adverts, the image will still be effective at making the user feel lively. The MacMillan page is fit for purpose. The usage of the aforementioned features creates a feeling of calmness and acceptance (predominantly the usage of green on the page). Additional features include reassuring and friendly wording of text on the page and images of people listening to others. This further instils this feeling of compassion in the face of cancer. Their effect on the audience is

4 mainly a psychologically calming approach through the use of friendly language on the page and calming colours which are commonly associated with relaxation and helping others. This webpage has been designed with promotion in mind through the fact that organisations like this need active funding from voluntary sources to keep going. On the page, there are several links to donate, essentially meaning that the user will never not be able to find a donate button. There is also a significantly sized button for contacting the charity, which is important as well. This is important, as users going onto the website looking for someone to talk to about cancer related problems need to know where to look. Strengths and Weaknesses: First Graphical Product: The first product (Doritos) has several strengths. Firstly, the simple layout is allows for easy navigation around the website. Couple this with a contrasting, vibrant and relevant colour scheme and you have yourself a very effective website design. The page only really consists of 3 parts: the background, the main window and the top banner. The background of the page is relevant to the product s promotion (as mentioned earlier) and increases the website s promotion of its product. The main window contrasts with the strong orange and stands out, with catchy phrases like add a little Mexican. To bolster that party-esque vibe. The weakness of this product is that it is perhaps too simple. The layout and very blocky approach is effective and simple, but I think that they could ve added more to the page. It lacks in quality and in the amount of pages that are linked from the homepage. All in all, it feels like the website was very sparsely made, and what pages exist are lacking in both quality and quantity. If I were to make improvements, I would alter the homepage to have the main section of the page so that it displayed much more information about the product. I d also add more pages, with contact information. Unfortunately there aren t many things that can be said about this page. It lacks content simply because the product its promoting isn t that complicated. You can t say all that much about tortilla chips, after all. The strengths of the MacMillan page are its approach to the user. The friendly wording and calming colours help create an easy-going website. The layout is simple enough with regards to main page asset layout; however, I think that one of the weaknesses of this page is the scrambled layout of minor features, where some minor parts seem random or almost out of place. For example, the two donate buttons. Although having 2 makes it easier to spot where to donate, the addition of identical buttons just makes the page feel overall messy.

5 I would change the page so there exists only one donate button, and change the windows, so that all the images are geometric in style. This is simple a personal preference I feel that geometric, structured layout seems much more professional.

Reviewing and Evaluating your Website

Reviewing and Evaluating your Website Introduction In the following review, I will be evaluating the website that I have produced for my client. I will make sure I have made the website appropriate for