Category: Site Review

The name of the site that I am reviewing is HeartKids.co.nz. Heart Kids is a New Zealand based charity that raises money for children with heart disease and congenital heart failure. The site is a single page scrolling site that has information and stories about the children and people that Heart Kids helps. The site runs off a timeline based template, where you scroll down the page and find out more and more about the topic at hand. The site is very easy to navigate so someone that isn’t exactly computer savvy could still scroll through this site and learn about how they can help and donate for the cause. The site is very beneficial, has a very strong two color design, and very modern and artsy scrolling that allows for a great user experience. In my eyes this site helps the cause more.

Today I will be reviewing a website that interestingly is made of only one page. These websites are great in a lot of ways, there’s a clear way of viewing the page, as opposed to being able to go to any page on the site. It also can cost less depending on who you pay for hosting or designing your site for you. Sites like this are becoming more and more popular for all their benefits and while they aren’t perfect for every use on the web they are still important to understand.

On the website “one page love” you can find a large number of sites that utilize only one webpage, it’s a great site itself and highlights the best one page sites of a certain week. While going through the site I saw a visual striking thumbnail that I clicked on to visit a site about bandages.

As far as texture and color are concerned, this site is a lot of striking black backgrounds, and this is done really well for a minimalist look. Along with the stark black is a panel that is made to look just like a large patch of human skin, this is one of the best parts of the site as it showcases the products, bandages, with an appropriate background. Against the black the light skin texture causes extreme contrast, which pulls the user through the page.

The navigation is simple, in that it is only vertical. This works because the visuals of the website are very minimalistic and simple and the content layout mirrors this minimalism. The vertical site is broken into panels that either have information or visuals and go back and forth between the two. It also makes sense to be so linear because this is really just an advertisement and so it just gives the viewer what they need to understand.

As I have stated before the minimalism and contrast makes the site really easy to navigate as it just continues down vertically hinting at what the site is about, then explaining the product in text then revealing each bandage, finally showing the bandage on a mans neck in use and explaining the background of the product. Another great and useful tool on the webpage is the fixed buttons that scroll with the user and constantly allow them to purchase the product at any time.

I personally love this site. It’s a great example of how you can have a product website and make it simple so that any possible buyer can navigate it and buy the product. Simplicity and striking design are used together to make a really user friendly site that does what it needs to do.

source: http://sherwoodforlee.com/works/boo-boos/

The site I choose was a proposal for the McWhopper. This website used a lot of earth tones along with the colors of both McDonalds and Burger King. I thought the use of texture on this website is the best I have ever seen on a webpage. To go from one segment to the next all one would have to do is scroll down. However, it felt “glitchy” when scrolling and inconsistent. The site uses a lot of movement and its strongest element being contrast.

I think overall the site does well with the design. The movement through-out the site keeps the users interested. The use of contrast for the type makes it easy to read and relays a clear message. They use a good use of imagery, type and video to convey a number of different elements for the same message.

I chose to write about the single-page graphic novel, ‘The Boat’ by Nam Le, which can be found at this link: http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/ and covers 6 breathtaking chapters. ‘The Boat’ page blends beautiful ink and brush illustrations, haunting audio, and an impactful story with smooth and emblematic animations. The painted black and white texture of the page gives it a “storybook” feeling which is appropriate for the subject, and the watercolor is reminiscent of the water within the story. In chapter 2, a pale red-orange color is used with flowers and feathers, to imply a calm point in the storyline, but otherwise the page uses a monochromatic palette, implying the solemnity of the story. The page uses a top to bottom scroll, which is indicated by an arrow and the word “scroll” at the start of the page. There is also an auto scroll feature, which allows the viewer to be completely submerged in the experience. The visuals also tilt and move slightly with the movement of the mouse. There is a side panel, which allows you to click through the different chapters, as well. While scrolling, panels of illustration tilt alongside text, mimicking the movement of the water. The layout is mostly panels with layered illustrations and text, appearing and disappearing at certain points in the story. The panels move forward, shake, and sway while the viewer scrolls through the narrative. The panels and illustration style essentially make this page an interactive digital graphic novel. Speech bubbles will appear when the viewer scrolls to that point, once again creating fluidity and clarity. The background is also an interesting element to the page, and fades in and out of animated illustrations. The text and imagery flow well together and make the storyline and events captivating and easy to understand. Overall, I think the site’s design is exceptionally well done. I find this website to be especially inspiring and uniquely done. This is a unique concept that truly utilizes the one page design. ‘The Boat’ digitalizes a printed graphic novel, meanwhile still lending an experience to the viewer. The movement of the page, with wonderfully done paintings intermingling alongside the narrative, is effortless and mesmerizing.

 

The single page website that I have chosen to analyze is deadfiesta.com. I came across this particular website through onepagelove.com and noticed that it was given the honor of ‘most loved’ on their site. I personally wanted to view a single page website that was known for being well thought out and uniquely designed, therefore this site was the right fit. When I opened the web page, the first thing I noticed where the bold, warm colors. The use of royal blue and bold orange helped clarify what the website was going to be about before even looking at their center graphic. The nicely used colors within their illustration help draw the eye to the main focus, which is “The Multicultural Day of the Dead Festival 2015”. Immediately below that is the date of the festival, October 24^th, 2015, and the area the festival will be held, Grand Island, NE. This information is the most vital to anyone interested in attending, and the web designers placed it perfectly on the page with a good amount of emphasis. They added subtle formal textures bordering the graphic, but it does not overpower their message. Instead, it gives the feeling of traditional patterns which ties into the tradition of the Day of the Dead festival. When navigating through this site, one simply scrolls down revealing many facts and answered questions about the festival. Each section is broken up by a bold color change, along with different added illustrations that help bring the whole site together. For example, the section promoting the “Dead Fiesta Dance” shows a well drawn graphic of the classic sugar skull performing music. It also gives an appropriate amount of information one would need to learn about it, and how to register for the event. Each section of text is fully centered on the page, and is alight with everything else. This allows for a large amount of information to be neatly organized on a downward scrolling page. At the very bottom of the page is their contact information, which I felt was a good place to put it. Those visiting the website are most likely inclined to continue scrolling downward to reveal more information and artwork, and after they’ve gathered that information, they are offered a contact list in case more questions are needed. It also gives the viewer a reason to continue scrolling downward, so they fully experience the website. In my opinion, this is a good example of a one page website that is trying to promote an event. It offers the feeling of a large advertisement, which is a good thing, and gives even more information than a simple poster would be able to contain. They also stuck with strong theme throughout it all, which helped tie it all together.  In my opinion, having a professionally done website can help bring people to the event, it gives people a sense that the event coordinators are serious about what they are doing, and will provide the best experience possible.

The single page website I chose is for a kitchen design company called “Eginstill”. The website first brings up a big picture of a kitchen on the screen. When I attempted to scroll down to see what else this website had to offer, it minimized the picture bringing me to a main page. The website has a very modern look to it, matching the kitchen designs and colors perfectly. There is a guide menu on the left side of the screen which includes contact information and the different kitchen designs the company has created. Each section in the guide menu has it’s own scroll bar and while I was scrolling through the different kitchen designs I noticed the designs labeled on the guide menu were either visible because I was looking at that design on the right side of the screen or they became hidden because I had scrolled past that design. The title of each section was labeled at the top of the page and moved with the rest of the screen as I scrolled through. For each new kitchen design there is a slideshow option for that set. Also as I scroll down the pictures expand to fit the screen. I find the design of this website very eye catching. The site’s design is extremely easy to read and understand the content. The entire website gives off a modern feel and it’s layout and composition is very well put together.

Sonic Blocks

Sonic Blocks is a one page music platform that allows users to create music by dragging different blocks into a centered cube. Each block has a different sound that adds to the music. The blocks are divided into treble, mids, and bass. The site’s layout consists of one center cube surrounded by floating blocks of varying sizes. The user can click each block and drag into the center. The site makes use of cool colors such as blue and purple. the background seems to be made to look like outer space, which adds to the feel of the site. The site is easy to use and understand. Clearly written instructions are shown once the page has finished loading. The music is interesting and there are plenty of possibilities. I ended up making a few beats of my own. Some good. Some bad. I was even able to put every possible block into the center and it sounded pretty good. This site’s design is very user friendly and fun to use. It is a good way to waste time and the designers seem intent on adding new blocks when they can. I plan on returning to this site in the future.

The single page website that I chose to review was done by James Ellington. The designer’s topic discussed the hills and forests of Iwate, Northern Japan. The first thing I encountered entering the site was some information about what the site had to do with. The designer clearly stated that he took a trip to Iwate and was inspired by the landscape and wanted to create a page that informed others of its beauty. To navigate to the next concept of the page, al I had to do was scroll down and I was greeted by new background noise and footage of the forests. He had “Inspiring Soundscapes” as his largest text, which let me know that that is what this part of the page was going to talk about. Beneath the large text he talked about what you would hear while walking through the forests and the background noise he added made it fee like I was there, which I thought was very creative. To get to the next segment of the website, all I had to do was scroll down again. I was greeted by new footage again and new large text that said “Motion Into Life.” The footage was of a running stream and the background noise parralled the footage accurately. The text beneath the large text was there, again to explain this segment. When I scrolled down again, to find another segment, there was no footage; instead a simple picture of the tops of trees. However there was new background noise and more large text to explain the page. The text read: “Sound x Motion x Experience.” The text underneath, or the text that has been used to explain each pages concept, did not make sense to me for this part. It didn’t have much to do with his experience; it simply stated that he was leaving Iwate that night and would not be returning. My final scroll led me to a short biography of the designer with a picture in the background that matched the footage that I was greeted with one the opening page.

Overall, I think this website was laid out very well. Everything was consistent and I didn’t have to do any thinking as far as navigating the page went. The different segments of the website were unified by similar text, sound, and imagery which created a nice even flow. The images and footage he chose to have on each segment worked well together because they all had a similar color palette, letting me know that this was indeed one website. There wasn’t much texture in this website as far as the text went because everything was black and white with a sans serif font. However, there was still texture and this could be found in all of his different footage that he chose to add. I think he made the text so plain so that it didn’t take away from the pictures. It was clear to me that his intentions were to make his viewers feel as if they were actually in the forest of Iwate and I think he was successful in that aspect. I think the designer did an excellent job on this single page site.

As the weather gets colder, I realized I am in desperate need of new leggings. As I entered the Athleta website, my eyes went immediately to the changing picture in the middle of the screen providing me with new arrivals and different design collaborations. Directly above the moving picture screen is a list of categories. I very easily click on Bottoms which leads me to a new page of many different pant styles. On the left of the screen are specialized categories for sizes, specific styles, or more features. If I scroll down I see lots of images of different pant styles with readable labels. I then click on the tall option in the specialized categories section of the website. That click then brought me to more bottom options but specifically the tall style I was looking for. Now on the left side of the page there are size options, color options, and price range options. I scroll down the page until I find a pant style I like and click directly onto the picture. Now on the screen is a big picture of the pant I clicked on including a zoom in option, different colors of that same style, recommended options, and the rating for that pant. After choosing my size and desired color, I clicked the all caps add to bag button. A message pops up telling me I added an item in my bag. It gives me two options; keep shopping, or checkout. I choose the bright red checkout button which then takes me to my shopping bag.

I found that my overall experience with Athleta’s website was quite easy to use.  The website was also very pleasing to the eye. Don’t Make Me Think emphasizes on making a website convenient. The site was easy to look at. The designs were simple and the process of checking out was quick and painless. The layout and ability to find a product was dummy proof.

I am drawn to fashion trends and spend a fair amount of time looking at clothes, usually that I can’t afford, online. I like to buy clothes from a variety of websites because it gives me a more diverse collection, so I’ve spent a lot of time on clothing websites. I was recently introduced to the online clothing company “ASOS” through online advertisements,  and it looked like the type of brand I’d be interested in.

The website has a fairly simple layout and is easy to navigate. Upon clicking on the “Women” page of the website, the page shows current featured collections, or allow you to look at individual products towards the bottom of the page. Dragging the cursor over the “Women” tab also creates a drop list of the variety of products to look through. It is incredibly easy to directly search for what you are looking for, or to browse through collections.

Another interesting attribute of ASOS is the ASOS Marketplace, which allows you to shop from independent, vintage boutiques through the website. The Marketplace website is nearly identical to the regular website and is incredibly easy to navigate as well. I like this idea because it gives a whole new range of products that are able to be purchased through the website.

The ASOS website aesthetic is clean and minimal: a white webpage with bold Helvetica text in black. The neon color palette and vivid graphics give a pop to the webpage and alludes to the current 80’s and 90’s fashion fad. The photography used is again simple, shot in the studio with a white backdrop, bringing attention to the clothing and styling. Overall, the website is effortless but still portrays a distinct fashion statement. The website immediately suggests the type of customer who they intend to purchase their products: young, trendy individuals who want to stand out.

I’ve been looking for a fur jacket, and after a simple search I found several I was interested in. Upon clicking to put it in my cart and purchase the item, I did have to make an account in order to buy the product, but it was an otherwise streamline and direct process. The minimal format and smooth navigation of the website made it enjoyable to use and left me with a good impression of ASOS. 

us.asos.com

Today I will be reviewing the positives and negatives of a site that millions of people all over the world have used, Ebay. For my test I will be looking for an alarm clock to purchase. Upon entering the site there is a lot going on, as with many sites specifically e-commerce sites. As I read in “don’t make me think” as users our eyes are drawn about the page and scan without reading much specifically. The first thing that jumps out is a large box at the center of screen right with a title reading “hot new deals” along with photos of furniture. Because I am looking for an alarm clock I don’t click on the hot deals box and instead find the search bar, which is at the top center of the page. This may be because when the page loads it’s directly in front of you and is easy to find and use. As I begin to type in “Alarm” the search box drops down and shows the phrase “alarm clock” in an attempt to guess my full search, also giving me the option to either search for it across the entire site or just a specific category. Along with the correct search of “Alarm Clock” comes many other terms beginning with Alarm that I do not need. After typing in half of alarm clock I select the phrase with the category”home decor” next to it. The next page that appears is the results of my search, once again I scan the page and end up following the pictures of different alarm clocks down the center right of the page. On either side of the listings are advertisements, some for other products on Ebay, others of outside companies. I scroll down the page looking mostly at the photo of the item and the price. Because I have a good idea of the type of clock I want I find my way to the left most side of the page at the top. Here I find the options such as price range, color, and style. I select the check mark next to the color black and the page changes slightly in the center to only display black clocks in the photos. I then select modern under the styles option and a similar result occurs with the items listed. I continue to scroll down the page until I find a clock I like. After clicking the blue name of the product it takes me to another page with details of the clock, including price, shipping cost, delivery time, and a description of the product from the manufacturer. I see more photos of the clock and decide I want to purchase, so I tap the large blue “buy it now” button. The page I am then brought to is a conformation page outlining my total costs shipping address, which is already filled in from having used cite in the past, and my payment type. Then in blue at the bottom right hand corner is a button that asks that I confirm the purchase.

I went into the review of this site thinking that any tools that helped me to find my product should be considered positives, and those that were confusing or misleading be negatives. That being said the site is more over positive, Right away when you enter the site you can find the search bar, which is the most important tool when you already know what you want to buy. At the same time if you are simply in the mood to buy something there are plenty of windows that advertise deals and special products on the site right now. While searching the auto guess is pretty spot on if you’re looking for a fairly normal product, like I was, and the ability to choose a category is a great addition to get you to the product you want even faster. Once you have searched for your product the results are the most dominant things on the page, each clearly showing the price and photos of each product. By far the best tool on the page is the narrowing of the search through the options that I mentioned like, color, size, cost, and material. When there are millions of products for sale on the website the more detailed the search options the quicker that you can be connected to the product that you want. Finally the buying process is easy to do and works with the user step by step, stopping them any time that something is filled out incorrectly and waiting until all fields are confirmed.

The biggest problems with the site for me were based in formatting. While the search bar was easy to find it would have been more difficult and taken longer to locate the search bar, many important links to categories are in plain black text that doesn’t specifically denote a clickable link to someone that is simply scanning the web page. Along the same vain of reasoning, the search option tool on the left side of the screen are plain black. I found myself scrolling down through the page and viewing the listings for a time before going and changing the settings to get me closer to my desired look.

Overall the site performs very well and is easy to use as a means of finding and buying products from all over the world, as well as comparing the prices of items from different distributors. This seems only to make sense with a website that is so well known and used. There are specific reasons that some sites fail while others make million each year, and it has a lot to do with the interface.

One could say that I am almost addicted to audio and finding the best out there for audio. I have recently been doing research on finding a portable speaker that could meet my specific needs and wants in such a product. A commonly known store and site for all thinks electronic is Best Buy. For this reason the website that I choose to for my purchase was BestBuy.com.
Like I said before, the product I am looking for is a portable speaker. When I go to the site it is easy for me to find the bluetooth/portable speaker selection. This is in a drop down menu from the top. Once, I got to the selection I had the option to sharpen my view. I could do this through the side bar on the left of the screen. A problem I ran into with this is that every time I selected something such as price the page would refresh automatically. Now, this would not be a problem if someone did not know exactly what they wanted but I did and had many different boxes I wanted to select. Instead of selecting all the boxes I wanted then submitting it, I would select a box then the page would refresh, then select another one. This was frustrating but was the only problem I ran into. Once I decided on the product I wanted I could either add it to my cart on that page or click on the product and add it there.

Overall, I would say that there site works well with ordering products. The only issue I ran into was selecting multiple boxes to lower the search at once. This automatic reload option would work well for a person only checking one box.

Our world has drastically changed in just a small amount of time. The technological age has boomed giving us access to new resources and means of making life easier. A prime example of this is the rise of large e commerce sites. For this review, I have chosen to take a closer look at Microsoft’s website and their online buying experience. The first thing I noticed when going to their homepage was the layout. The entire page reminded me of the grid system they now use in their products such as the Surface Pro tablet and the Xbox One. The layout as a whole was very symmetrical and easy to navigate, all with the use of large blocks of color. In the reading, Don’t Make Me Think, the author mentions how much design has changed in the past few years. Instead of ‘fancy’ fonts and the over-use of ‘fun’ images, minimalism is now used instead, giving it a sleek and modern look. While ordering on Microsoft’s website, the process of putting something in-cart, and beginning the billing process was somewhat grueling. Each link I clicked to move to the next step gave me a pop-up ad for either Xbox Gold Membership or asked for my e-mail in order to receive “coupons”. For me, it was too much product pushing, especially when I would have already been making a purchase. Other than that, the layout they used for giving product info and reviews was very simple and easy to understand, and I would consider purchasing from their online store in the future.

I do a lot of online shopping. I have ever since I got a job and a debit card. Amazon has always been my go-to and I never would buy clothes online, in fear of them not fitting after the long wait for them to be shipped, until I saw an ad for JackThreads. There was a checkout code that gave you 30% off and free shipping, so I had to check it out.

The site is set up well. Neat, compact, and easy to navigate. This time I figured since fall is coming up, I’d search for a jacket. The home page has categories shown in large boxes. Everything is easy to read and there are a lot of categories. I clicked on “Jackets & Outerwear” and the first thing shown are the best sellers, then the rest are shown with the recommended jackets first. On the far left of the page are the filters. There are a lot of options here. Brand, size, type, color, even a filter for how warm the jacket is.

Now, this site is not for searching for a specific item. Most of the brands are not huge names, and a lot of the items are exclusive to the site. There is a search bar if the user is looking for a specific item, but I doubt someone that has never been on the site would use it effectively. I normally just browse the site with a very general idea of what I’m looking for and I almost always find something for a good price that I would deem worthy of a purchase.

Does this site “make me think?” I would have to say no. If I want to browse this site with a general idea of what I want, I will be able to find an abundance of options to choose from. If I want to narrow it down to one specific article of clothing, there are a good amount of filters to use on my search. Everything is laid out nicely and easy to navigate.

 

The Website i choose to review is Amazon.com, The design principles that are utilized are that i found this website to use a very colorful color palette. i found that also everything is very organized and ordered into categories and centered in the page. I found it is very easy to navigate my way through the site as all the buttons are at the top of the the page which made it very easy for me to find were i needed to go to access my account, and to find my wish list and any gift cards i would need. I found that the search bar is very easy to access to as it is at the top of the page, overall the site does make you think that much as everything is very organized and in categories to make it easier to find what you need. Access to your wish list and account are very accessible also so it does not make you think as much. overall  i really wouldn’t improve that much on the website as everything is very accessible and the color choices and overall design are very good as well, and the text is also very centered which is excellent as well.