Brief Two

For the second project I will be using my cousins band as my client. They are a local band called Late of the Pier and are signed to the major record label Parlophone, along with other well known artists such as The Beatles, Coldplay, and Kylie Minogue!

Their current website is very minimal and only consists of a music player which contains all the tracks from their first album. The only other items on the page are links to their MySpace, shop, and the sign-up form for their mailing list.

I personally don't feel the current website does the band justice, and does not fully showcase how innovative and exciting they are. I think this is currently a very important thing for a band as it's the first place potential fans will go when they hear about a band and if they are presented with an extremely minimal website with no news or any real relevant information then it is likely they will leave the website straight away. Therefore I plan to design a website which is exciting and grabs the users attention from the start. I also want it to be interactive and the most important thing for me is that their music is easily accessible.

It is an exciting project for me because it is within the family, yet has the potential to be an international website. If I do a good job it is likely my cousin will decide to swap the website for their current one and this could lead to more work for me.

Check out their music here; http://www.lateofthepier.com/

Things That Are Brown

Things That Are Brown are a small web design company based in Seattle, run by a husband and wife. They create really well layed out websites which are extremely effective and easy to use. Their own personal website very much sums up their style, and alot of the websites they have created follow a very similar layout.


It is very easy to navigate the website and the simple plain background means that attention is not distracted from the main body of information and people focus on what is important. A lot of the website has been created on Photoshop and then put together to creat a really neat and clean feel. They have also used different hover effects really well in order to create interesting links which are very easy to use. The website is also very informative without being boring and maintains a fun feel throughout which overall makes for a very happy web experience.

My favourite website from their portfolio is for the company MIX Online (http://visitmix.com/). That website looks like this;


This website is set out in a very similar way to the portfolio website of the company, but it still manages to become a completely different experience through the use of different colours and fonts. I really like the way they have used a very low-key light grey background and then put little splashes of colour in different places throughout the page. The page also has a nice feel to it, with everything being big and bold and it becomes obvious very quickly how to navigate through the website and what different things do. There are also several uses of really interesting graphic design in the page, particularly in the top right with the use of different coloured circles which overlap. Also a very heavy typography influence is apparent in the site, and some of the fonts used are very interesting but work really well together to create a nice and clean site.

The other sites designed by the company follow a very similar layout, with the links located in the top right corner and everything fitting together really nicely. They also use very plain backgrounds and little splashes of colour in different places to add a really nice design effect.

Design Exercise 11

The three different platforms I have chosen are mobile phones, digital billboards, and tablet computers. I feel these are all extremely relevant at the moment, especially so soon after Apple announced its new iPad.

These three platforms are all varied in the length of time they have been around, but they are constantly bringing out new technological advancements which enhance the experience of the user and make the different platforms seem newer.

Mobile phones have been around for some time, but it is only recently that the capabilities of them have really become amazing. This is primarily down to touchscreen technology and 3G which allows the user to connect extremely easily with people all around the world. Touchscreen allows the user to have the world literally at their fingertips and gives a more interactive feeling to using a mobile phone, the most notable phone in this category is the iPhone.

Apple has its own dedicated 'App Store' which users can access through iTunes, or directly from their phone and it allows them to instantly get new applications which have different capabilities. Apps can be produced by anyone around the world, and these can then be added onto iTunes and then freely downloaded by anyone, obviously they are checked before they are added to the App Store else it would make it very easy for someone to hack into the system.

Overall the whole touchscreen interactive feel has really taken off and made millions of pounds for various companies around the world. It also has the capability to do some really interesting and experimental things through apps.

I personally feel digital billboards will be something which becomes more and more apparent over time. This is due to different enhancements in the quality of picture available through things like HD, and Blu-Ray. Another thing which I can see big companies taking advantage of is 3d. Last weekend saw several pubs around the UK show live football in 3d, this is the first time anything like that has happened and I feel it will become more and more popular. Companies will be able to bring in exciting and intriguing advertising campaigns which will attract more customers. This once again brings interactivity into the picture as people will feel as if they are within the advert.

Finally I can see more and more tablet computers being created to compete with the launch of Apple's iPad. The iPad is a huge release for the tech world, and although its first model has major flaws, such as no flash player, eventually it will become as popular as laptops. Once again through the touchscreen it adds even more interactivity and people feel as if they are interacting with something real. The iPad also uses the same App Store used by iPhones and this indicates that apps will become more and more popular and the store will continue to grow with thousands of people adding their own content. This could have a negative impact on a web designer and force me to change my practice. If people are doing everything through interactive apps, then it could be the end of the browser.

I think in one years time the major digital platform will be a combination of these three things. Phone technology is so good now people are able to access the internet and connect with people instantly. Also the recent screenings of 3d football games will happen more often and eventually, in a decade or so, everything we watch will be in 3d and allow the user to interact more.

Personally I don't think tablet technology will take off for a few years time as they are not yet able to do the same things a laptop can. However, once people can install programs onto a hand held tablet computer then it will become very popular and lots of people will be using them.

Overall these different technological advancements will mean I will have to be constantly moving forward as a practitioner. I will have to learn skills in lots of different software packages in order to keep up with the latest device.

Update

Been very busy these past few weeks with various different things. First of all are the two websites I am working on for the Peacock pub. I have been trying to experiment with my second design more and it hasn't really come out how I intended it to, but I still think it works fairly well.

Alongside this I have been working on the website I made for a family friend's business, this can be found at; http://www.germanauto.co.uk and it is now very close to completion.

I have also been working on my own personal website which I am very happy with so far. It isn't online yet, but it looks like this;