The single-page website I chose to describe and analyze was http://www.ashleyandjeffwedding.com, a website highlighting a couple that is planning to get married this upcoming year. The website seems to be acting as an invitation/information page both about the couple and the day of the wedding itself. The website scrolls from top to bottom is separated into five sections: the home page, info. about the couple, their engagement photos, details about the wedding with a schedule, and link to their registry. The website as a whole is very simple.
As described in Chapter 2 of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, it is important to create a color palette when creating a website because it gives you more options to work with than a color scheme would. The website, though simple, is not very visually pleasing. I believe the theme they were going for was rather calm, simple and rustic/outdoorsy. They chose shades of tan and creme to match their engagement photos, all of which were taken outside in the woods. Green somewhat acts as an accent color because our only see it in the picture on the home page and in their engagement pictures. The text is very light in some sections and could be hard to read on certain low-resolution screens. I think the palette works cohesively and visually goes together, but it is very bland and could use some warmer colors to make it a little more exciting. Not that I would know what the color scheme of their wedding is, but I would make the website match those colors (I highly doubt the wedding colors are tan, green and more tan).
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design defines texture as “anything that gives appearance or feel to the surface of a design or object.” The first thing you see when you open the web page is a picture of the couple in front of a beautiful rock waterfall. The picture gives the home page texture through the texture of the rocks, the wood, and the water. When continuing to scroll through the remainder or the website though, there is absolutely no texture. I don’t necessarily think the website needed a lot of texture for its purpose, but this continues to make the page very bland and boring.
The website as a whole is easy to navigate and flows in a very natural pattern. The text, though light in color, is easy to read through and tells a story. I do think the website’s design works well, but I think it could have been more creative and more visually pleasing. I do think, though, that a website is a cool way to get information out about a wedding.