Studio Brief 4 - Website Research

The first place any user will come for information will be a website. 

Website for 'Style.' - Full size screen as the landing page. The landing page has a animated slide show giving the website a flawless and smooth look, keeping the visuals new and fresh with each new image replacing the next. In terms of production the use of an animated slide side at full width could potentially disrupted the speed at which the slide show functions. Especially if the user viewing the website hasn't got a fast Internet connect or even have the plugin available for the animation to work. If the animation is run of HTML5 then any web browser can support it but If it required Javascript then some browsers may not support it.

Again, same style to the website design above. Interactive animation to the landing page. Websites using this type of design is very contemporary within web design and has really only became widely available due to HTML5 and web 2.0. The layout is simple. Logo and the navigation bar are the only features in sight, leaving the user to wonder, taking in the nature of the images. The only downfall to having a full screen animation slide show is how to replicate that on a responsive level. As having the same kind of full page slide show is more demanding and complicated when you apply it to mobile and small devices in general. There it could throw up issues like consistency and compatibility.

Whats really nice about this website is the way the hierarchy of information has been set up. For a maximum user experience, it's extremely beneficial to easily flow through the site and knowing what information is needed as soon as the user hits the page and whats is less important. As soon as you hit the site, you are greeted by full width featured image. Interesting the user and attracting their attention to the main part of the website which is downloading their product. Then underneath is the second most important part. Knowing how it works then onto the reviews the customers have left. The set-up is very structured and organised using colour and visuals.The image at the top clearly separates that section from the rest of the website. The rest underneath is very similar in terms of hows it's set up but it's still distinguishable by the grey strip to just let the user know that's it's similar in terms of content but is a new topic/section. 

Full page image. This website is for the band 'Chvrches' and they have cleverly took the album cover artwork and created an interactive feature on the website. The image is off flowers with blocks of colour. The blocks are essentially the websites navigation system. Each block representing a different part of the navigation, which are all hidden until you hover over the block. At first glance this kind of feature is very interactive and is pushing the boundaries of what a traditional website should look like. However, how far do you go before you start loosing the clear aim of any website design? A website should be easily accessible with the usability in mind. The user experience should be as smooth from when they enter the site to when they leave. Using features like this may make the UX experience complex. The target audience for the Chvrches are relatively young and the younger generation are more capable of understanding newer functions and features of website but if an old person came onto the site, the chances are they wouldn't have the slightest clue what they were doing as they aren't as experience and up to date with ever expanding technology. In this case the site works for younger generations but is isolating itself from other audiences.