a-cero

a-cero studio is a website that uses more creative features than the usual websites i've come across. they definitely used a lot more flash than other websites i've evaluated. the home page i think is very cool and creative, they made an animation of there projects where they transform into framented pieces, creating an abstract composition. there home page has a very simple layout using black background and red text navigation labels. very simple and easy to read throughout the different levels which i liked, and easy to navigate into different sections of the website. one thing i thought was creative is they way they displayed their projects. there projects are displayed in the middle of the page, it starts with a sketch outline of the project, you click on it and the 3d model image appears, and allows the user to then click on the label "see project" which then its broken down into 4-6 labels depending on the project. it allows the user to see it in a 360 view, 3d images, interior, exterior, photographs, and floor plans. i think its a very cool feature because it allows the user to see the project from start to finish. the layout and design of the website definitely reflects the work of the firm. its very clean and crisp throughout the page levels. they use primarily two colors that work well compostionaly and have a great balance of text and images. another feature i like is that you're never lost throughout the levels of navigation because i know sometimes using websites that have been done in flash can be a little complicated to navigate. also knowing that this is an architectural firm's website, imagery should be hierarchical throughout the site which they do just that. keeping the user interested with the use of plenty of computer renderings and photographs. overall the website reads really well and design is well structured by having image on center of the page and text labels on the bottom. if there's one thing i would change is the rotation of the projects in how they are displayed but other than that, its very appealing and clean looking.

pugh + scarpa

This is website by an architecture firm located in santa monica, ca http://www.pugh-scarpa.com. Beginning with the home page, i find it very intriguing and simple to navigate. Their navigation system is very well organized in particular the project section because it allows the user to view by type or by all if preferred. One particular feature i like about the home page is the continuous image change of their featured projects. It kind of gives the user a feel of the type of work they do, and gives them a sense of what the firm is about. the hierarchy of this website are definitely the images of each project. you can tell they like to emphasize there computer renderings and photographs of the projects. another feature i think works really well is when the user hoovers over a certain image the title of the project gets highlighted on the left side of the page which allows the user to know the name of the project. the navigation is very user friendly because the navigation menu is on every page allowing the user to navigate easily and return to previous viewed pages. i also liked the simple use of color by using white and simple grays which works very well gives a good contrast with the images. the structure of the website is legible and very simple having the navigation headers on the left which are highlighted when hoovering over them, the images are layed out on a gridded system in the middle of the page, and all the contact and office information is on the right side. i think the layout structure works really well because its kept constantly throughout all the pages which doesn't confuse the user at all. i think overall pugh and scarpa's website does a good job in emphasizing their projects through high quality images and using minimal and simple colors, and using a very simple layout in displaying their information and imagery.

BIG

The first time I came across this website, I founded very interesting. The website www.big.dk is a site of architects from Copenhagen. The navigation system is fun and interesting because the links are these colorful illustrated icons that represent a project that the firm worked on or build. When hovering on the icons an image of the project is shown which facilitates the users navigation experience because it allows them to see the project before hand. This also can help speed the navigation process when the user is trying to find a specific project as oppose to clicking on every link to find the project. The hierarchy and focal point of the site has to be the colorful icons that appear on the home page which then link you to images of the project. The layout and design I find to be successful because of the many colors and icons they use. The white background and grid layout also helps the icons read clearly and facilitates the navigation process. The site is really simple to navigate; the only links are the colored icons that populate the homepage which then links you to the actual images of the each project. This site also uses a lot of images to illustrate the process of every project and physical models that they built. Everything on this site is very blocky as was the text. I thought the text font worked really well with the design and structure layout of the site because of the rigid theme. This is also another site I found that didn’t utilize a lot graphic design because of the many colors the icons and images had. Having a lot of images worked really well and made sense for the site because of the type of company it is. Overall some of the most successful features I found were the design simplicity, the usage of images, and the little use of text. When navigating through the site text doesn’t become important because the images are diagram very clearly. In addition, there were also icons that were interactive which I found it to be a successful feature because it draws users to navigate and explore the site for longer time periods. Finally, I think it could be really interesting and fun if website would just saturated the homepage with these more colorful icons which can make it more catchy and excited.

BT 3D Tim Borgmann

This website www.bt-3d.de showcases artist Tim Borgmann’s work such as 3d graphic, animation, and digital art. The homepage consist of 8 main label links across the top with image links along the left side, and a horizontal ban on top. The hierarchy and focal point are definitely the images of Tim’s work which continues on to the third level of the site. The look of the website stays pretty consistent by having the images as the focal point and text is kept at a minute scale. I think the site is simple to navigate despite the fact the text seems cluttered and of less importance. Some of the text links can be hard to read and navigate because of the lack of emphasis in relation to other text. One feature I found unsuccessful is some links tend to open separate tabs as oppose of keeping the user on the same page. Also the layout and design of the site, I felt needs improvement. The layout is fairly simple but seems unbalanced by having images on one side and small packed text on the other. The design also could be improve especially the title which makes it hard know what exactly the user is looking at and maybe use different font types or font sizes which can help read the site much better. Obliviously this website is mainly focused on the art and images of Tim Borgmann which I think are very superb and work well with the white background. I think the white space works well because the images are just full with color variation and are very powerful. In addition I think it makes sense that it uses more images than anything but feel it can be more compelling by having a better composition and editing some of the text. Overall I rate the website a 6.5 from a 1-10 scale and would just improve on some of the issues I mentioned. Lastly, another feature I thought worked was the resolution of the images. I appreciated the image size because it allowed me to see interesting details of his work and kept me in the website for a longer period of time.

Jumpman 23

The website www.nikecom/jumpman23 is the site of one of the best basketball player in the world Michael Jordan. I think this website does a great job in keeping a simple legible site and managing to have a lot of images along with video clips. The sites navigation homepage is simple and group labels correspond successfully. The layout consists of having the image on the middle and links at the bottom which reads really well. There’s a series of images and video clips that appear at the bottom of the page only when hovering over labels which I think helps maintain the simplicity look of the homepage. Once you begin to navigate the label links at the bottom, it becomes more apparent what the site is about, which is the label “Jordan”. Each photograph takes up the whole page once it’s clicked and is of high resolution appearing very clean and crisp. The look overall is kept pretty consistent throughout the site levels. The colors are kept to minimum and the focal point appears to be every image which I think they do a great job in emphasizing that effect. There are no images that have more emphasis than others or label headings that are bigger than others besides the “fight club” heading. I also liked the balance of text versus images and the simple use of text. The text color and size is kept to a minimum allowing the user to focus more on the image which is what this site is going for. I think they do a great job in having information that relates to the heading link and making it very easy to read throughout. On some of the images it feels like you can hold the actual shoe in your hands. I think overall the sites main focus is to attract the visitor to the imagery and the Jordan lifestyle which is done successfully. One thing I didn’t really like is how it links you to other stores when deciding to purchase an item. The fact that I am no longer in the jumpman23 website takes away from being part of the Jordan team. I think if being able to shop directly from the website it would make the experience much more exciting.

UFC

UFC is one of my favorite sports to watch; therefore I tend to visit their website daily www.ufc.com. The website definitely holds a lot of navigation links that can lead to confusion to first time users when navigating the page. I’ve become very familiar with the site by visiting it consistently. There’s not really a hierarchy because of the numerous ads, sponsor images and movie clips they have going all over the homepage. It’s very much cluttered with a lot of color even as one continues through the links. The header hierarchies, I think can improve because sometimes ads and images tend to overpower the main heading of the site. They seemed to use a lot of different font text, size text, and color text which causes it to appear very busy. The labels of the navigation seem legible and well aligned at top and are effective because they’re link to information regarding the label heading. Another flaw of this website is once the user begins to navigate, there’s links that carry on to second and third level but some that discontinue by portraying only an image. Also the composition layout of the website can be improved because there’s no balance, consistency, or hierarchy within the page. There’s also no focal point throughout the page do to the many images and lack of organization. There’s seems to be a lot of images as well as text that can misguide the user to what he/she is trying to see. One reason I can think this website has not been updated is because the users and consumers have gotten use to the clutter and busy imagery. Obviously this sport has grown rapidly in popularity and revenue over the years which can make the company reluctant in updating the website and avoiding disappointments from daily users. Although I think it can be done successfully without loosing fans and users because it definitely needs composition and balance throughout the site. Also making their “ticket sale” and “products” links easier to find and get to which I think it’s important for a company like the UFC and doing a better job in organizing sponsorship images and ads throughout the page. One feature I find to like is the video clips because it keeps me drawn for longer time periods.

suckerPunch

One website that I visit daily is www.suckerpunchdaily.com and it’s mainly a website that shows the work of contemporary artist, architects, and designers who offer stunningly unexpected and beautiful skills. The design of the website is probably as simple as one can get. It has a white background which I am a fan of white space, with images of artist’s work, and a brief description. The hierarchy of this website is the work these artist and the title text “suckerPunch.” There’s no navigation links on this website besides where the user can click on the image and more images of the project display. I think having more links to these artists could have helped in knowing more about who they are and their work. It has a simple layout throughout the page; images on the middle of the page, text on the left of the image, and artist name on the bottom left hand corner. Color is kept to a minimum where only the images give the color to this website. Overall “suckerpunch” is an easy website to navigate and seems that the main focus is the artist work. I think this website is kept in this simple format because it wants to draw the users strictly to the work and nothing else. I come to this website daily because I enjoy seeing other peoples work and also serves as inspiration. Several things I would do to improve this website is have more links to these artists work, have a description of what this website is and what they’re all about, and have a section where people can leave comments to their work. I like the white background and the simplicity because it draws the user to the beautiful imagery of these artists.

NikeId

The website www.nikeid.nike.com is a well known website for buying and customizing sport apparel like basketball, baseball, football, soccer, running, and track in field. The website navigation is one that must be looked at first before beginning to navigate due to its abundant use of color and name groups. Although there’s a lot going on, it’s fairly easy to navigate through the website. The amount of pictures and text is kept consistent through all levels of the site which helps knowing where you at in the site. I think it does it great job in being able to access any page within the site at anytime and managing from any uncertainties. Every link has a well balance use of content and manages to have the product of advertisement be the hierarchy of each link. The image being the product versus the text is well balanced and makes it easy to read because of the use of black background, the text is primarily white, and the product uses multiple colors. They don’t tend to use a lot of bold headings but have size differentiation in labels of navigation which reads well in helping user find information on that label. Another feature I like about this site is the structure of the site. They use a simple grid layout that helps user navigate and find labels very easily. I think they used this simple layout because of the amount of information and products they have and the different age groups they cater to. I think this website is about imagery and color because their products consist of many different colors and also allows the user to customize and be a “designer” of their own shoe, bag, shirt, etc. One of the main attractions I thought was the color palette bar in the home page, where it allows you to click on your color preference which then links you to products of that color and lets you continue altering other color features. I think overall this website does a good job in advertising what they’re all about and have useful information for their audience to know what “nikeid” has to offer. Its hard to say what could be done to improve this site, but since I’ve been to one of their stores in London, I would improve it by including products that I saw in the store that aren’t advertised in their website. Graphically, I think it’s simple and legible considering the amount of links and products they offer.