MONTHLY REVIEW 2:

I chose to observe the Carlos Sousa website for the second monthly review. The site uses both texture and color to emphasize its contents. The navigation on this website is crucial and creative. Multiple design elements make the site easy to scan, read, and understand.

The first screen on www.carlosousa.net portrays great usage of texture. Beneath the text and other contents is a subtle map. The streets and text of this map become a pattern since the map views the ground from a distance. This pattern provides texture for the website.

Another screen on this site features an autobiographical segment on Carlos Sousa. This page has a slight texture as the background. This texture consists of multiple shapes fit together. Though this pattern is not bold, it provides dimensional texture for this portion of the website.

Sousa’s site also utilizes color to achieve a successful design. A simplistic color palette was used. Black, white, and various shades of green were chosen to form a successful color palette for the entire website. This choice was successful for this site because it emphasizes the subject matter. It also brings each page together with unity.

Since Sousa’s website is a single page site, the user must have an efficient way to navigate between sections. The first screen does not explicitly say what to do to get to the next portion of the site, but the scroll bars are brightly colored to draw attention. I found that this was somewhat confusing at first, but the top to bottom scroll bar was effective at properly navigating to the next portion of the website.

Multiple design elements make the site easy to scan, read, and understand. The website exemplifies a grid design. The separate boxes on the site contain various information, and the grid is a useful way to organize this content. The site also shows unity through its simple color palette and similar shapes. Rhythm is also visible on this website in its textures. All of these elements come together to form a good design.