Author: sophia.eureka

A site that I found that is similar to ours is for a food truck called Revival Chili. This site has a layout that is very easy to navigate, with a bar at the top that includes all options. Once a user clicks the option they want, the page automatically scrolls down to show the page. The texture of this page is very simple.

The text is very balanced and on a straight line, with a plain background.The color scheme for Revival Chili is very simple sticking with black and white for the navigation bar and background. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design says that “ample use of white space, and lack of surrounding color” allow for “photographs to pop off the page” which gives “life and light to the design.” Revival Chili does exactly that because their logo really sticks out. The logo is yellow, red, and green. “Yellow is an active color, red is known to increase human metabolism, and green symbolizes growth, freshness, and hope.” The combination of the three is used nicely in this logo and is very memorable.

This site is very similar to the site we are making for The Bastard Child food truck in terms of layout, which I think is good because it is simple. Our colors and texture are very different. We do not have any “white space.” Our background features the truck from the logo tiled lightly. Our colors are very neutral and mostly warm. The Bastard Child’s site stands out because of its fun mood and interesting visuals.   

 

After visiting the onepagelove.com site, I chose to analyze “Moe Amaya’s Portfolio.” In terms of color, it is pretty simple with a white background and bright blue text. The shapes that are included to the homepage add some texture and detail. In terms of navigation, this site is kind of difficult to use. Some of the links listed do not work. They are not really well organized either. The site scrolls from top to bottom, making it easy to scan. Bold text helps keep some organization, but the categories on pages are all over the place. The categories that are listed don’t really emphasize that they are click-able. The user has to hover over the text to find the option to click. This site is suppose to be advertising for his portfolio, but his name is written rather small compared to the other sections. After scrolling down the page, there are more details about the artist, but the boring theme continues. There is a lot of text and the site makes the user feel like they are scrolling forever. Overall this site is pretty plain which can be fine, but in terms of this site, it does not make a user want to spend much time on this site.

I chose to visit the Puma website. When first visiting, the home page with featured products pop-up. I knew when I got to the site that I wanted to look at the women’s products. It was very easy for me to find, located at the top left of the page next to the Men and Children tabs.

After reading the first couple of chapters in “Don’t Make Me Think” I actually realized how much thought is put into mapping out a site. The first chapter talks about getting rid of “unnecessary thinking” for the user of the website. When I went to puma.com, I really didn’t think at all about navigating my way through the site.

Another thing the book mentions is the concept of “scanning.” One of the reasons we do this is because “we’re usually on a mission.” As soon as I read this assignment, I went straight to Puma’s website to find shoes because I was on a “mission” to do that. The second reason is that “we don’t need to know everything.” This is very true. I would say more than 80% of the time I’m only really interested in what I needed to find.

These chapters made me realize that user-friendly websites are a necessity. Especially in the case of a successful website!