I chose to review the single page site NativeSwinson.com. My eye was drawn to this site because of it’s simplicity and nice design. After opening up the site, I first analyzed its texture and color. I think its use of white and black backgrounds keep the site clean cut and allows the content to stand out on the page. The use of both black and white as backdrops give the website depth. The homepage stands out the most with its use of background images that look almost as if they were drawn in the background. I think the use of the paint brushed drawing that change on the homepage give the site even more depth and dimension. This is something that I think works really well in the design. Native Swinson also uses a set color palette of cool colors that go together nicely. The choices of blues and greens give the site a serene, and nature like feel which is appropriate for the content of the site. Overall, I genuinely liked the use of texture and color throughout this site and find that the design elements work well together.
As for the navigation of the site, I find it to be slightly chaotic. In order to scroll through the site, you do not scroll but you have to click on the words in the navigation bar. Once you click for example “About” button the entire screen shifts either left, right, up, or down. I feel that not everyone will grasp this concept as quickly as I did and may be confused that you really can’t scroll and that there is no blatantly obvious indication on where to click to get to the next portion of the website. As I mentioned above, I liked the different images on the homepage however they only appear if you click an arrow key on your keyboard. I think there should be some indication that there are more images, like with the use of arrows on site’s homepage. Another specific portion of the website that I would like to mention is the setup of the Gallery. At first, I did not even realize that the list of content on the left was even clickable. Then I noticed that if you move your cursor across the content the image changes on the right. The problem I find with this is if you move your cursor the image changes, so I think it could become frustrating to some users that the image they want isn’t staying up.
There are design elements of this site that I find make the site easy to scan, read, and understand despite the criticism from above. The site is very well organized with content that is clearly sectioned off, making it easy to read. I like the simple fonts and overall layout. I also find that the site has a very clean look, it doesn’t overwhelm you and has no clutter. Although I find that the use of the navigation bar to scroll may not immediately stand out to some users I do find that the flow of the site overall works very well.
All said and done I think that overall this site is done very well. To highlight some key points I made above, the texture and color design elements are done very well. As far as the navigation I think the site can be improved with some minor adjustments. For example, I think that making it more clear what is clickable would be an improvement. I think making what’s clickable more bold to users will help them to more easily understand and navigate this site. Also, making it a point to display that there are more images to be viewed on the homepage would be another change that I think would improve the site. I think adjustments on the sites Gallery portion might be something they want to consider. I think the Gallery could be more user friendly by using thumbnails of images with their titles below them. Like I said overall I think Native Swinson did a great job at designing their website, but there is always room for improvement.