ARTM2210 Intro to Web Design
Just another Intro to… siteArchive for Student Work
Third bi-weekly review (onepagelove.com)
In this week’s bi-weekly review, I decided to discus the design techniques used on the site www.leaderstheconference.com. The website was created by Grayden Poper for an organization called The Resolved Church. Different forms of multimedia are used to illustrate the elements of a conference hosted by The Resolved Church. The elements are situated in a “list” format, which forces the reader to scroll down the page in order to read more information. The focal point of the page is a silhouette of a man in the background that guides the viewer down the page, along with the placement of the information. The silhouette is the reason for the viewer to navigate through the page a specific direction, in contrast to using color.
The range of colors is limited to very few colors: black, white, gray, red, and yellow. All colors consist of a high-density texture that adds visual appeal; in addition every color has been faded in order to weaken the intensity of the color. The red has been toned down but still attracts the viewer’s attention because of the grayish background. Since the red is very different, it stands out from the rest of the content on the page, which creates emotions of pride, fortitude, or confidence. Those emotions are important to influence the viewer to join the conference, because there will be leaders from all over the U.S. Also, yellow is used to emphasize the titles and names along with tracking; the designer increased the space between the letters. Overall, this was a strong design because of the simple color palette and the use of texture to tie all of the colors together.
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Grayden Poper: One Page Review
Grayden Poper is an interactive designer with a one page portfolio website. Poper uses color to attract viewer to his website. Bright green, blue, red and yellow are used as a main color scheme to attract attention. These bright colors are also placed on a black background, which stands for power. The website also uses a lot of geometric shapes, to attract attention. He has even listed that shapes inspire him. The artwork he has listed “pops” off the page because it is placed on the black background. The heading text on the website is extremely large font size. Also the artwork he chooses to display is very large and takes up the whole screen. The size of the text and the images, paired with the bright colors, is a lot for the viewer to take in. Poper may benefit from scaling down some of the images of his artwork.
Along with the bright colors, Grayden Poper portfolio website is unique because it is a one page website that scrolls down. Viewer scroll down to see Poper’s work, and his random ideas about design. Each section is separated with a large heading. Poper also has a right-hand side bar that allows the viewer to click on specific artwork, rather than scrolling through them all. Although the page is scroll down oriented, on a 15-inch Mac Book Pro, viewers are given the option to scroll left and right. This scroll is around ½ inch so it confuses the viewer. It seems like there should be something more to the right to look at but there is not. The scrolling is also confusing because Poper places his “design thoughts” randomly in-between his artworks. When the viewer is only expecting artwork, the design thoughts look out of place, and are ignored.
Grayden Poper has a website that is a cry for attention. Poper has designed a portfolio that screams look at me and what I can do. The bright blue, green, red and yellow will bring the viewer in making them feel comfortable. The black background gives Poper a sense of importance. The scrolling portfolio sets him apart from every other interactive designer you see today. The real test is how much business this web site gains him.
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Single Page Review
The site that I reviewed was the Strongarbh House. This website is very creative when you enter the site. There is a lot of color and variety that draws the viewer into the site. There are images that move as a side show when you enter the site. I think that this drawls me right to the site. The images are black and white and really make the site come to life. The web page has a navigation on the top of each section that you can click and it will automatically scroll down to the part that you clicked, or you can just scroll down and it will also take you through the whole page. This feature really makes it very easy to navigate. The website is also divided into different colors, and they repeat the colors for the different sections. The colors go with each other so there is a flow of style throughout the site. We can see that the colors make it look like a single page website. They also designed the website placing pictures at the end of each section so the people that are navigating know what to expect when looking at the different sections. Also as you navigate the site towards the bottom, the contact info is in different font and size to catch your attention. So when you exit the site you remember what the experience was like. Overall this single page site is very simple and gets the point across to the viewer. The style, color, and simplictity really makes the site stand out and makes you want to read and scroll to find out what it has to offer.
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One Page Love
I picked to look at the Switch Wine website. Going through the pages, this one jumped at me the most. The sites use of color is very colorful and really draws the viewer into the page. The colors of each page change as you scroll right to left. The use of graphics that come in when you get to the second section of the page is really neat and makes you want to see how the pictures relate to the information. Like i said the page reads left to right. Also if the viewer were to try and scroll up and down it still moves the page to the left or right. It starts with the title page which has the prime information on what the site is all about. This page has a good vibe and some graphics that really brings in the viewer. It is a simple easy maneuvering site with all the information easily found.
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Bi-Weekly Review 3
For my single page review I picked, Comic Sans Criminal. The website is very colorful when the viewer keeps scrolling down to view the page. The site uses the color to help the viewer know when one comic ends and another one begins. The tone of the website tries to be funny to the viewer and the color pushes the viewer to read on. The viewer could either scroll down or click anywhere to continue to the next joke.
I did ind this website entertainment with some of the jokes they had on the page and very colorful.
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Flight of the fireflies, bi-weekly review by Alex Antonacci
After looking through numerous sites on one page love I finally picked one to review, flight of the fireflies. It was simple, visually interesting and a pleasure to scroll through. When opening the page the user first sees a quite dark blue-grey background with faint white stars. In the front there is a cluster of yellow spots to represent the fireflies and a white arrow to direct you where to scroll.
When scrolling down the dark blue color becomes progressively lighter and the stars are replaced with clouds. The slow change to a brighter tone of blue represents the scene of night turning into day. The fireflies roam from one side of the page to the other when scrolling; this is the primary guide for the users eye. When the user hits the bottom of the page the fireflies form the words flight of the fireflies. Underneath the firefly formation a video is placed with a dark green field and a black tree line in the distance.
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Single Page Website: “The Better Chip” [http://www.thebetterchip.com/]
After searching and flipping through various single page websites on onepagelove.com, “The Better Chip” was no doubt the one that spoke to me. The simplicity of the homepage is not only easy to read, but it is also easy to figure out.
When you are directed initially to the site and waiting for the contents to load, a graphic is shown that reads, “Be Patient…You’ll Be Crunching in No Time.” This clever message engaged my interest right off the bat. It was entertaining to me a viewer that had no knowledge on the product.
After entering the site, the graphics and color set the tone immediately. The soft green grass that fills the lower half of the page give a feeling of nature and the outdoors, which then turns into a very organic feeling. The sky’s soft blue and grayish upper and lower menu bars also add to this organic feeling. Even the font type appears very natural and soft, which also complements this feeling.
Another big aspect of the webpage that sets the tone is the texture of the four main chips. The crisp clarity of the photos is evident because the chip looks almost as if it is coming off the page. The texture of the sweet onion, jalapeno, red pepper, and fresh corn look organically delicious.
As far as the navigation, as the viewer clicks on each chip, a drop down tab appears at the top of the screen and practically takes over the page. From there, you are able to read little tidbits about each flavor and view graphically designed photos. There are clickable arrows on the right and left of the tab to flick through and learn about the four flavors. Once the viewer clicks on a flavor, the drop down tab remains there on the screen for other viewing. You can click on the top bar on, “About,” “Products,” “FAQ,” “Where to Buy,” and “Contact,” for other information about the product.
Although simple, “The Better Chip,” seemed to speak to me. The tone is definitely achieved through the color palate and graphics, and the navigation with clickable arrows is extremely easy to function and use.
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One page website- Trip the Mind and Shine
I browsed through the One Page Love site looking for a website that I would most want my own to resemble when I put it together. The site I found to be the most interesting to scroll through was Michelle Thorpe’s, named Trip the Mind and Shine. Navigation through the site is very easy, as there are next and back buttons, which when pushed causes the page to appear as though someone is walking along a wall looking at pasted up posters. Each poster goes into great detail about what she does and the kind of photographs she takes. The format allows her to rely heavily on imagery without the site appearing cluttered. Widgets placed within each poster allow the viewer to explore even more of her photographs in slideshows and scrolling windows. All her links navigate to the corresponding website, such as her twitter, flickr, and facebook. I find this website to be both interesting and well made, as I had no problem using it and I found myself wanting to explore her work more.
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Single Page Website
The Website I picked was Jamie and Dan’s Big Day. This website is very creative is an invitation for their wedding and the page is a single page the goes vertically down. The web page has a navigation on the top of each section that you can click and it will automatically scroll down to the part that you clicked, or you can just scroll down and it will also take you trough the whole page. The page is divided in 6 sections each part is something about their wedding saying either the day, the place, the hotel you can stay, etc. The website is also divided in 3 different colors, and they repeat the colors for the 6 different sections. The three colors go with each other so is not an odd color pretending that is just another page. We can see that the colors make look like a single page website. They also designed the website placing pictures of the couple at the end of each section so the people that are navigating know where the content ends for each section.
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Bi-Weekly Review 3- Paige Neat
For the third bi-weekly review I chose to examine the Creative Rocket website. This site is very simplistic in nature yet still appealing. The color scheme of the site is mainly black and white, creating a sense of neat crispness. Though mainly black and white, the site has small splashes of color. This works to Creative Rocket’s benefit. The contrast of the plain grays and the vibrant colors generate more emphasis on the important items in color. There is a very delicate balance in the site since there is only one splash of color. It is possible for some viewers to remain stuck on the spot of color and not fluently graze over the entire site. But, the contrast of the dark black and bright white of the non color portion of the site may help the viewer’s eye to recover from this rut. I noticed that my eyes flowed evenly over the page, and I believe that this is due to the site’s contrast and simplicity. The large font also helped to pull my eye around the page.
The site contains a scroll bar along the right of the page. This also allows the viewer to quickly and easily navigate through the site. This control allows the site to provide more content than just the initial screen view. The site also has many possible links to other important parts of the site. These links are made very clear, and this simplicity also helps the site. Overall, Creative Rocket is a site which utilizes color and navigation tools to compile a successful website.
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Switch Wine
Switch Wine is a company that creates Australian certified organic wines. There are three navigation options at the top to scroll through on the one page site: ‘About Switch’, ‘The Wines’, and ‘Contact.’ However, the viewer can freely scroll to the left (or to the right if you’re on the center or end of the page) if they choose to do so. The colors used are nature inspired, along with a black accent. Colors that are used include blue, green,yellow, white and a sand color. These colors help play along with both the organic and Australian factors, because they are very clean and natural. The black accents help guide users along the website, pointing them in the right direction. (There is literally a big arrow pointing to the right on the homepage.) The contrast engages users and guides them along the site by showing how to properly read/use the one page website. Yellow, sand, and white contrast well against the blues so viewers can be shown information and text accordingly. The about Switch page uses a blue background with mainly black accents as graphics and lighter color text to show enough contrast to help guide viewers around the page. The next scroll option is a wine list offered by the company. The background is black, the text is white, and the images are of the blue and green bottles. Though the color of the site changed, the same scheme is being used to help tie everything together. Contact is the last part of the website, and uses more of the yellow, which has been an accent color throughout the site’s design until ‘Contact’. Each part of the site uses the same colors, but with variations of which one is the most dominant. The overall color combination of Switch Wine is appropriate for an organic product from Australia.
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Bi-Weekly Review 3
Austen Czapla
Bi-Weekly Review 3
Jeremy Mansfield Site
Upon first looking at Mansfield’s one page site, I was confused to was the purpose behind it was. At first I thought it was a site to sell ammunition for guns. After reading all the information on the page, I figured out that it was a site advertising his design. The bullets at the top of the page, lead me to that first assumption, but I realized they were there because he is from the south and he is going for the southern cowboy theme. The color scheme on the site is really good though, in my opinion. It is a very bold color, but is also really easy on my eyes at the same time. I really like the texture added to the background, I think it works better than a solid background. My when all over the place when I first looked at the site, It took me awhile to get a grasp and figure out what I was looking at. The text colors compliment the background colors really well. Although his site isn’t very long, scroll wise, its very effective with all the elements it brings to the table. It is a one page site, but he has links that lead you to all of his social media sites like twitter, facebook and vimeo. Overall, I think the site is very well put together, and all the aspects compliment each other very well.
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one page review
The website I chose was called Heckuva’ Frontier Wranglin’ with simply good css. I feel like the sites use of color fits very well. I like the way the website sticks to only three colors. It’s not too much going on and it’s still eye catching. I like how the websites titles are bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. One small thing I like about this website is that next to the titles it has a symbol that tells what that section is about. It’s a nice little edition that adds to the website. The page navigates almost like a Facebook or myspace page. It has the about me section and then contact information and some extra listings. The user has to scroll up and down to navigate the page. Overall I like the page, I think the type face works really well with this page and I like how it’s very simple but straight forward. I would like to see it a bit longer though it’s really short and there isn’t much detail to it.
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Bi-weekly review- Single page website critique
The website had a gray background with gray text with black outlining for the title.. This made the site very easy to read. However, the dimming effect on the pictures was kind of confusing. i wasn’t sure if I could click on them until I got down to the bottom of the page where there was an explanation of the origins of the pictures and how to get the pictures. I think the page flowed easily and could be followed. But the pictures where kind of small even though you could click on the to make them bigger I think it would have been better to make the pictures a little bit bigger. On this site, the user has to simply scroll up and down to go from content to content.
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Single Page Site Critique
I chose to look at the firefly single page website. Out of all of the sites to choose from, this one caught my eye first. The sites use of color is what caught my attention. The background is purple and there is a pink/orangish circular gradient in the center. There are also little pink colored dots that move around the screen. They are portraying fireflies. Since these “fireflies” are moving around the page, it makes my eyes move with them and I see all of the page. This web page reads from top to bottom. It starts as the title, moves down to the search bar, and then finally moves to the content information. The user does not have to scroll left or right, just up and down.
I find this page very easy and fun to look at. It is easy to gather all of the information in a short period of time. Also the use of different fonts and the color scheme make me want to look at it more.
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Single Page Website-Nick Evanko
The site I chose to observe was twofishillustration.com. This site was created by a designer who’s name only appeared as Jon Doe. On the single page website his work is displayed as well as a brief profile description as to how he got started in his work. At first glance, the site’s header “Creating Stuff Since 1984,” was quite hard to make out due to it’s white letter color against a light grey background. I had to highlight the title just so I could read it clearly. The rest of the site was very interesting. The main attraction was the artists work, which was displayed in a black, white and grayish tone and when the mouse hovered over it, it changed to full color, therefore drawing in the viewer’s attention on the selected item. The mix of black and white to color was an interesting approach I found to be effective in drawing the viewer in. The black and white is a calming tone, and when the color appears, it creates excitement in the viewer.
The designer also made it very easy to navigate the single page with the use of header options at the top of the page such as, Introduction, My Work, and Profile, that when clicked, directed you to the desired section, without having to search with the scroll bar. This makes for fast, efficient navigation that becomes useful when viewing a large single paged site. The designer also used a great deal of negative space, especially towards the bottom, to separate the information so that it does not blend together and create confusion for the viewer. Overall the site was very effective and well designed.
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Bi-Weekly Review Single Page Website
Elliott Burns
Web Design
Bi-Weekly 3
February 12, 2012
For my single page website I choose http://www.dura-edge.com/. This site is for a company that specializes in soils for athletic stadiums. As such the color pallet of this sight is very earthy with rich browns and greens. The color choice gives the site a very natural feel and makes it seem like something traditional or correct for sports with a history. The most intense colors are at the top of the page where the company lists key facts about its business that might entice a potential customer.
The layout of the site is a top to bottom scroll but it also has a ribbon across the top to take you immediately to a particular section of the page. The page is laid out from top to bottom with information at the top about who they do the work for. These are big name sports teams and will definitely impress a visitor. Then further down the page discusses how it maintains a proper athletic stadium. After that it explains the products that dura-edge sells to make this perfect soil happen. Finally at the bottom of the page after the visitor has been impressed and informed all they can on dura-max they come to the contact section. This will allow them to buy the dura-max product that they have been so impressed with from reading about it.
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Comparing coffee sites
The two websites I chose to compare for this review were Starbucks.com and Crazymocha.com. Starbucks’ layout is simple; there is a navigation list stretched across the top, a video is the largest element in center of the page, and more articles underneath the video. There is a very limited amount and use of color throughout the layout. The site is balanced, for example, the video has text and thumbnails beside the image, and below the video is a list of articles adjacent to a row of small images. The main focal point of the site is the video since it is the largest and most central element. Certain text is emphasized throughout the site by the color green, which separates those phrases from the black text. The simple color palette creates unity within the site, in comparison to Crazymocha.com.
Another site to use very limited amounts of color is Crazymocha.com. The site uses black, red and a white background; this creates unity throughout the site. The site is asymmetrical with the slideshow in the center, navigation stretched across the bottom, and the logo in the top right corner. This layout is much more simpler than the Starbucks website. There are few options for the viewer to click on, but it leads the viewer to click on certain elements. The most obvious focal point is the large image on the center of the site. Both sites create unity, balance and emphasis in unique ways.
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Starbucks vs Crazy Mocha
Starbucks and Crazy Mocha have two completely different websites. The Starbucks website has more going on as opposed to the flash-based Crazy Mocha site. Both are unique, yet effective in the way they display information and how their users are able to navigate through the information.
When I first glanced at the Starbucks website, I found it to be very sleek and modern, with their famous white and green color scheme emphasized. It is very complex in that it holds a lot of information and there is a lot going on on the website itself (links almost everywhere, a video, top stories, etc.). The site is balanced, however I noticed it has a fixed layout, which could pose a problem for web users with monitors that have a high screen resolution. The site is unified very nicely, with all of the main stories and events emphasized.
Crazy Mocha, on the other hand, is quite different from the Starbucks website. Although it is very simplistic, I found it to be the more pleasant and eye catching of the two. It is completely flash based, and offers a full screen view of the site, which you do not see every day. It seems as if the information a customer would want is very easily obtainable. Balance wise, although it has a large amount of white space, the site works in that the layout is not fixed and adjusts to any window size. The elements of the site work together to create a simple, user friendly environment.
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Bi-Weekly Review 2
Dunkin’ Doughnuts Layout is very colorful with large bold text. They use a lot of emphasis on the main topics from their types of coffee, doughnuts, food, and special drinks. The website is very balanced from the use of different sizes of the shapes that hold the information. Starbucks website is rather boring to me. The layout to the page is rather simple, not to much color or animation. They only had put emphasis on one part of the page, the short video in the center of the page. To me, I would have to say the Dunkin’ Doughnuts site is more effective to the viewer because it is short sweet to the point and very easy to go throughout the different links on the page. The Starbucks one you have to scroll half the page to even get close to what you are looking for. Also the use of color and different pictures to the page really makes it interesting due to the fact it gives you an example what you are really looking at.
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Starbucks vs. Caribou
Starbucks and Caribou both have similar qualities to both sites. The layouts are similar with link to their drinks and locations at the top of the page and having special deals in the center of the page. The emphasis for both of the chains is to try their new coffee and hopefully that will lead them to buy their coffee more.
The layout helps the users easily go throughout the site because what most people will look for is either location or drinks which they both have at the top of the page. The new flavors will draw more of an audience if a user likes one above the other.
I like Caribou’s site a little more than Starbucks because Caribou’s seems to me to be more colorful and their center shows more what is going on at the store. The one thing Starbucks has which is nice is a video in the center which shows a deal for Monday through Wednesday.
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Starbucks vs Tim Hortons
Starbucks vs Tim Hortons
Starbucks site is fairly well laid out, it is simple to navigate and fairly clean. Starbucks uses a large video to tell more about there products, which i think is a good idea to communicate a lot of info without the test. As u scroll down the layout does seem to become a little boring and static, especially with the white plain background. The navigation at the top of the site is very clean and neatly laid out, also has good spacing between the options, which I think helps with the ease of use.
Tim Hortons site is defiantly a lot more interesting to look at. It has reds and light browns in the background that really fit well with the Tim Hortons branding. The site is also fairly organized with the layout, and uses more of a grid like structure with many boxes for different information. I think this works well but also does come off as a little to much to look at as well.
I think overall the Tim Hortons site looks better and is easier to use then Starbucks. Tim Hortons does a good job matching the brand identity and seem consist with there other graphic elements. Starbucks site is clean and well organized, however I feel like it doesn’t even look like Starbucks made the site, something about it just looks off.
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Cummings Coffee vs. Starbucks
Cummings Coffee is a small company with two locations in Butler, PA while Starbucks is one of the largest and most recognized coffee companies in the world. Obviously you would expect their websites to show the disparity between their market sizes. Surprisingly, however, Cummings manages to hold its own with a simple but charming website.
The Cummings Coffee website is very simple. There is a photo in the center, a logo in the top left corner and a list of five navigation options in order on the left. The site isn’t meant to be big and flashy much as the company itself. Cummings has a mission of producing old school coffee and ice cream as well as an assortment of in-house-made chocolate confections. Their website reflects the size of the company but still provides all the information you need. The homepage also features links to maps and directions as to how to get to the two locations available. Having directions on the homepage allows customers to find the address quickly without having to dig through layers of web pages to reach how to actually get to the physical locations.
Cummings Coffee also features a very well designed “about” section on their page. Within the section is simple information about the company today but a customer can also scroll through the history of the coffee shop and a gallery of photos both new and old. This section gives a good feel, yet again, as to what this company is all about. They are proud of their long history and are looking forward to a bright future.
Starbucks coffee is one of the largest coffee companies in the world. There are very few people, at least in the USA, who aren’t familiar with their mermaid logo, their concept of high class coffee and the feeling that they evoke. The site is quite busy and confusing despite their lack-luster color pallet and layout. At the top of the page there are six main navigation buttons with no less then 20 more options in drop down menus when the main options are scrolled over. The sites body contains a rather large video surrounded with at least 20 more navigation choices and yet another 20 at the bottom of the page.
When looking through the links it is easy to get distracted and in some way discouraged. While looking for a way to find a store location on the website I clicked on the main navigation labeled “Coffeehouse” thinking this would lead to store locations. I was disappointed to find that it didn’t. Instead the link to store locations is in a very small navigation link in the very bottom of the left side of the page. Obviously Starbucks cannot offer the same method as Cummings. Starbucks has thousands of locations but this information seems important enough to warrant a space that is easier to find.
Comparing Cummings Coffee to Starbucks seems like trying to compare a beat up old car to a brand new model but there are somethings that even that old car has that the new model only attempts to mimic. Cummings Coffee’s website is simple and easy to navigate but they have less information to impart as well. Still, it is difficult to look at a website with a simple elegance and not fall for it. Cummings Coffee holds a small town charm that is reflected in their clean and easy to navigate website while Starbucks overwhelms the sense and makes navigating and finding specific information incredibly difficult. In a battle like David vs. Goliath, the small guy wins again.
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Caribou Coffee | Crazy Mocha
Biweekly Review #2:
After comparing the two sites in detail, caribou coffee’s website is better than Crazy Mocha’s in terms of aesthetics, navigation, layout, emphasis, content, balance, and unity. Overall, I think Crazy Mocha’s website is a poor design and is cheaply put together. It feels like it is a template they used from a web builder site. To be somewhat fair to Crazy Mocha, there is limited content on the site to navigate through, and they claim there will be more soon. However, I am not so sure if there ever will be; I visited the site last October and it has not change at all. The site centers on a picture slide show with a small navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. The problem with the pictures is that the slide show doesn’t loop and when replay is clicked it remains white. As a result, the balance of the site is somewhat poor in the way it is laid out. The bottom navigation forces us to look at the bottom with nothing at the top except for a crazy mocha logo on the left. The unity of the site as a whole isn’t horrible; it is a flash website so you never really leave the home page. They do not put much emphasis on the navigation bar, but the logo of the company is very clear and draws the users eyes to it. The only aspect of the site I really liked was the cross fade transition between pages, which made the whole site feel strung together and the navigation smooth.
Conversely, Caribou Coffee’s website is a fantastic in all the ways Crazy Mocha is not. The layout has an excellent balance to it with a clear visual hierarchy. There is a clear sense of organization and excellent grid like layout featuring multiple columns and sections of information. With a very clear visual hierarchy, it is very clear what the emphasis is on. As a result, users can navigate through this website in seconds with no thought. The site is really nice in terms of aesthetics, the color palette is great featuring blues and browns and the typography is diverse featuring at least two different font types used in different sections. The overall unity of the site is fantastic as well; all the pages look the same in terms of color, layout, and navigation. In addition, the website features an excellent store navigator that shows all the stores on a map with a directions option. Crazy Mocha should really take some time and study Caribou Coffee’s page.
-John Marshall
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Barnes and Noble Review
I reviewed the site barnesandnobles.com. Once you enter the site it gives you a good overall view on what to expect when shopping on the site. The layout really makes the site work and its very easy to search what you are looking for. All the topics and categories are listed at the top of the page. This feature really helps customers out because on most shopping sites you have to navigate to find your way around. On this site, as soo as you enter it you are already ready to search for your product. They list all there top selling books and as you scroll down the page they give recommendations for customers on magazines and books they think will be a good read. They also list best selling books and books that are making the news headlines. Having the site set up in a way of simple navigation like Barnes ans Nobles really gives this site the edge. It gives a great overall perspective on what Barnes and Nobles is all about.
Having pictures and detailed information about there books have helped the site gain customers and has kept them strong. Once you navigate through all the topics and choices there are so many selections to choose from. The only thing that bothers me is that the text is very small once you click the topic you want. It is green and the font is very small and hard to read if you have bad vision or just have trouble reading. It makes for a lot of confusing and difficult navigation. The homepage is very well designed and really makes an impression when you first enter the site. Once you get past the homepage and onto the categories is where it become difficult to understand. In terms of color, background, style, and layout they have really hit the home run and make everything stand out to the viewer.
I think shopping on Barnes and Noble was a bad and a good thing for me. I think it was great to come across for me to look at all the new top selling books. I also think it was bad because I know I will be back to look at all the new books that are coming out and spend more money on the site. It has gained my attention and I will be back on the site for numerous reasons.
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Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Crazy Mocha
Companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Crazy Mocha are know best for their in-and-out style of service. Because costumers are use to quick cups of coffee in the morning, they may not realize that these companies have websites. When looking at these companies’ websites, they are extremely different.
Dunkin Donut’s logo is immediately seen in the top left hand corner of the website. Crazy Mocha’s logo is oddly placed on the top right side of the page. This is an odd placement because it is not natural for our eyes to look right before left. Dunkin’ Donut’s website has a traditional layout with tabs across the top with options for the customers to click on. Crazy Mocha has placed these tab options on the bottom of the page which is also odd for a website.
Dunkin’ Donuts is a balanced website as the margin/white space is equal on both the left and the right side. On Crazy Mocha’s website, the white space is equal and balanced on the left and right side, but the white space is a large amount. The top of the website also has a larger amount of whitespace. All of this white space creates a separation of the website and there is no unity. It seems as if the pictures and logo are floating in the empty space, as they are not connected to anything else in the website. Dunkin’ Donuts website has a good sense of unity though as the website is balanced with pictures on the left and right. Words on the bottom balance the tabs on the top of the website.
Overall Dunkin’ Donuts has a more efficient website. The colors on their website of orange and brown helps gain branding and is easily recognizable from their customers. All of the pictures look appetizing on the website so customers will be tempted to try them. They also emphasis their newest product by places a large picture in the middle of the page. Descriptive words are used to make the picture and product eye catching.
Crazy Mocha’s website is not as effective as Dunkin’ Doughnuts and there are many reasons. Crazy Mocha is a local companies so they may not have the funds as Dunkin” Doughnuts to fund a better website. Simple techniques like a more traditional layouts and less whitespace will help improve the website. They can also add smaller pictures instead of a slide show of large pictures.
-Shelbey Surgent
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Tim Horton’s vs Bewley’s
By: Alexandria Antonacci
I picked Tim Horton’s and Bewley’s as the two coffee chains to review this week. Tim Horton’s is based in Canada and the US while Bewley’s is based in Ireland, Japan, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Tim Horton’s
After the user chooses their native language and location on the simplistic first page they are quickly directed into the site. The site design holds a well thought out menu. The header and footer pop out of the page in a warm red color contrasting the middle section’s light tone. The use of red on the top and bottom menus is complimented by bits of the color in the center. That center has one large slideshow rectangle on the top left which is balanced by the evenly sized squares surrounding it. This site requires a minimal amount of scrolling, creating an easy to use, easy to find what one needs menu. The fact that it’s so simple makes the user feel less overwhelmed at first glance.
Bewley’s
When the user enters Bewley’s site the first element they will notice is the use of a number of visually appealing images on the slideshow at the very top of the page. The purple color scheme centers ones attention to the white page in the middle. The purple headings and purple text jump out of the white page but still blend with the overall layout. The center is organized with two horizontal rows of four square links. This placed in the center keeps the user’s attention with simple ways to show where the one should click next. At times the design seems too simple with the text above the squares in an unimpressive left alignment.
In conclusion I find that Tim Horton’s site was by far the most effective site to use out of the two. Although both sites hold a quite similar layout, Tim Horton’s was overall more impressive. The moving graphics, quick-paced slide show and centered menu can be exceedingly appealing to any user.
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Sheetz vs. Starbucks
Sheetz:
Sheetz’s website it not large and it is not flashy. It gets straight to the point. You go to their main webpage and it is clearly laid out where to go you then click coffee and it gives you three options. Espresso bar, self serve and the nutrition facts. Clicking either one takes you to a new page within the main page. It is straight and to the point. It is clearly laid out and not overly flashy. It is easy to find what you are looking for and if you decide to do the nutrition facts it works exactly like if you were ordering a drink in the store.
Starbucks:
Starbucks website looks nice but can be overwhelming. There are so many links within links it can be easy to get lost. Trying to find a certain coffee can be difficult cause you need to know exactly what kind it is. The one saving grace is that there is a search bar to at least help you find what you are looking for. If there was not a search bar this website would be unusable to someone who never drinks starbucks.
I would say that starbucks grabs your attention better but it can be a bit much at times. I personally prefer sheetz’s website because it is easier to navigate and makes more sense to someone who just wants to see what kind of flavors they have and the interface for the nutrition facts is the best one i’ve seen.
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Caribou Coffee VS. CrazyMocha….Begin
Crazy Mocha is a different kind of site that I’ve seen in a while. The basic layout of of the site is a slideshow in the middle, the “Crazy Mocha” coffee company written in the top right corner with a menu at the bottom of the page, with a pop-up menu. The colors it uses is a very basic red, black, and white which made up the negative space around the different elements in the web page. It’s a very simple page where you don’t need to scroll down, and you can see everything at one time. Which I think works very well with that basic idea. However I feel this webpage needs work with the menu itself, where the drinks section is still being worked on. I also feel it could have been more effective with the actual logo of the company in the top right corner. Other than that I feel that it is a decent website page but I feel it could use some more work to make it have the same feel throughout.
Caribou Coffee Is a very interesting webpage, it is the near the same page layout where you don’t need to scroll down too far to see all the information. The background uses a light tan and even lighter words within it to describe the coffee. The inner page where everything is placed is very precise in the menu. The colors they use are of their logo and base the different links towards being that tint of blue or the shade of brown. The layout of the page showing the main deals in the middle of the page emphasizes the deals of the day, or week. It is a very effective webpage in my mind very clear, and very easy to navigate.
Who Won: I feel Caribou Coffee did a better job at relaying the information of what the company sells, and the different services they provide. The Crazy Mocha site is an interesting layout but some of the links would not work well due to the fact that they were not complete. The color scheme works well with both sites but the Caribou Coffee site doesn’t just rely on white to divide up the page and make it an interesting page.
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Starbucks vs Dunkin’ Donuts
Starbucks Coffee vs Dunkin’ Donuts
The first site I visited was Starbucks. It was very simple and plain, but not in a bad way. There is one large picture shown and along the top there are drop down tabs with large sub menu’s inside the tabs. I found it hard to navigate some of these tabs because the headings inside them were white and so were the options under the headings. Besides the picture one the homepage, there is nothing that really stood out to me in any way. I had a huge problem with the way everything was positioned on the page. The whole site is set from the left side of the page, which was very hard on my eyes. That was the main problem I had with the site, but everything else went very smooth. The one thing that was easy in the eye was the colors. The colors were primarily black, white and grey, besides Starbucks trademark green. Over all the site was good, but definitely could have used a little more character, in my opinion.
Next, I visited Dunkin’ Donuts. Upon the first look of their site, I was blown away, but not surprised that they used a lot of their trademark, orange color scheme. Like Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts site also consisted of a large picture with drop down tabs above it. I was able to navigate the tabs on Dunkin’ Donuts site far easier that Starbucks. The headings inside the tabs were a different color from the link, which made all the difference in my eyes. The thing that made Dunkin Donuts better that Starbucks was that the site had a centered layout, which was much easier on my eyes than Starbucks site which was based off the left side of the screen. The only problem I had with Dunkin’ Donuts was the colors were to bright for my eyes, but that is nothing that can be chaged due to the fact that orange is their signature color. Overall Both sites had there pros and cons but If I had to pick on, I think I would pick Starbucks. I would be able to get used to the site being on the left over the bright colors of Starbucks.
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