Research - Fonts and Colours

12/10/10

I have been researching the fonts and colours recommended for websites. The website 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' suggests that it is best to use Serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Georgia or Sans-serif fonts such as Verdana or Trebuchet MS; these fonts and some of the others which are recommended on the website are displayed by the image on the right from the 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' website. It explains that the Serif fonts are more suited to print, whereas the Sans-serif fonts are the most legible for use on websites. I am thinking about using the Verdana font for my website as I like the style and it is very legible. Some people may see these fonts as boring, but I think that they work well while maintaining a good level of legibility.
'newbiewebsitedesign.com' also discusses the best text/background colour combinations to use in websites in order to enhance the usability and improve the overall design of the website. It advises that a website should not have white or light text on a black or dark background. It also warns against the use of 2 colours with little contrast between them, such as two tones of blue, as the text is often difficult to read against a background of a similar colour. Another combination which this website advises against is black text on a yellow background as this can cause eye-strain, there is an effective example of black text on a yellow background on the website which illustrates this point.
This will affect the way that I design my own website as it suggests a limit in the combinations of colours that I can use in terms of font and background colour. For example, I initially was considering using two tones of purple or green in my website, but after seeing the affect of the two tones of blue on this website, I don't think that using two colours with that little contrast will be beneficial to the overall design of my own website.
I think that it may be a good idea to use the same or complimentary colours for the font/background to the logo of my website in order to increase the effect of the branding and brand recognition in the website. However I will definitely have to take into consideration the effect that these colours will have.

This screenshot shows the website 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' which has been useful for a lot of my research.








This screenshot gives examples of colour combinations of background and text which don't work well.

Planning Update

12/10/10

I've begun the planning of the content of my website, including making mind-maps of the content of each page.

- On the homepage, I'm going to include links to other pages on the site with images accompanying them. At the top of this page, I plan to include some form of statement regarding the launching of the TV channel and website, and possibly include an image such as balloons alongside this.

- I'm going to form the what's on page into columns, with one column showing the detailed listings for that day, and one column showing highlights for the week. I may include a further column showing highlights for that day, but at the moment I'm undecided about this.

- On the featured show page, I'm going to create a programme that fits in with the video clip I'm going to embed. I've decided to embed the film opening video clip that I created for my AS media coursework, so an interview or news programme focussed on the 'actress' from this film, or its release at the cinema would probably be best. I think I might include a logo for this featured programme at the top of the page.

- I want to include a few more pages, so I might include a news page or maybe a forum or a contact us page, but at the moment I'm not sure which of these I will include. While a forum would provide more interactive content to the website, it might be more difficult to realistically design than the other pages, so I'm unsure whether to create one.

Analysis of a Newspaper Advertisement

07/10/10

The next advertisement that I have decided to analyse is an advert for the ESPN channel from the sports section of The Times. Its placement is significant as the matches that it is using to advertise the channel are rugby matches, and the page that it is on in the sports section is devoted to rugby news.
The advert itself is not very colourful, the predominant colourbeing black, however the red which is also used contrasts well. Red is a striking colour, and this conforms with the codes and conventions of newspaper advertisements.The main purpose of this advertisement is to persuade people to upgrade to ESPN which is a subscription channel. Its primary method of doing this is to show an example of what it offers, which is the rugby matches which will appeal to those reading this page as it details rugby news.
The placement of my advertisement is something which I hadn't considered before, however I now realise that it is important and that I should think of where in a newspaper my advertisement should be. Some newspapers have sections about TV, or with reviews of games, DVDs, CDs, films, etc. and I think that this would probably be the best place to put my advertisement as teenagers who are interested in entertainment would be more likely to read this section than they perhaps would be to read a serious news story. As I am thinking of having my TV channel as teen film TV channel, it would be useful to put the advertisement next to reviews of DVDs and films etc. I could also place it next to stories about celebrities or something similar as teenagers and young people are often interested in celebrity stories. The paper itself would probably be a tabloid such as The Sun as teenagers are more likely to read this than more serious paper.

Analysis of Newspaper Advertisement

07/10/10

The second advertisement that I am analysing is for the launch of a new period drama called Downton Abbey on ITV1. The advert appeared in the News of the World newspaper.
The advertisement itself covers a double-page spread of the newspaper and is dominated by the image of a photograph in a broken frame.
The clothing makes it clear that it is a period drama, and the broken picture frame along with the 'A House Divided' slogan/tagline suggests conflict possibly within a family, giving a potential audience an idea of what the drama's plot will be.
There is little information included in this advertisement, unlike the pets at home advertisement which included details of products and special offers. There is some factual information included however, for example the time and the name of the channel on which it will be broadcast. The ITV1 logo again provides brand recognition and conforms to the codes and conventions of a newspaper advertisement.
The colours in the photograph are vibrant and stand out against the dull background of the picture frame and table. In reality, a photograph from the period would not be in colour, but the strong colours in this advert perhaps connote vibrancy and liveliness in the past, or at least in the series. They also serve to make the image stand out.
The advertisement is mainly image-dominated and I prefer this as it is not as busy as the pets at home advertisement which had a great deal of information. I think the convention of including factual information is important to newspaper advertisements, but that too much information is maybe not as affective as keeping the advert more simple. I think that maybe I would keep my advertisement quite simplistic while still including information/details.

Analysis of Newspaper Advertisement

03/10/10

I have been analysing newspaper advertisements as part of my research into this medium. My first analysis is of a 'pets at home' advert from The People newspaper. I am aware that my advert would be for a TV channel rather than a shop, but feel that broad research into newspaper advertisements would be of most benefit.The pets at home advertisement takes up one full page of the newspaper and exhibits several of the features typical to newspaper advertisements.
The logo at the top of the page makes the brand easily identifiable, and the continuation of the logo's colour scheme to the whole advert increases the impact. The green also stands out well against the white.Persuasive language is used throughout the advertisement, including phrases such as 'great value,' 'what's best for them,' and 'specially trained people,' all of which have positive connotations and are designed to make the audience feelthat the company care sbout them.
As well as this, factual information is also given to provide potential customers with answers to any questions that they would ask. The slogan 'where pets come first' is used in conjunction with the logo, and a pun ('top dog for pet care') is also used to make the advertisement more memorable.
The images used are of animals and of the products on offer, there are images of different types of animals such as lizards and fish etc. in order to confirm the claim that they cater for 'every kind of pet.'

Research - Website Usability

03/10/10

As part of my research, I've been doing research into website usability. Jakob Nielsen's website (http://www.useit.com/) provides advice on making websites more user friendly and contains lists such as the 10 most common mistakes of website design (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html). This list includes things such as having websites with a fixed font size, something which is common to most websites due to conveniance, but which can be a problem, particularly to older users; it also warns against using anything on the website that looks like an advertisement, for example banner ads.
Nielsen claims that advertisements such as banner ads are ignored by web users because they know that they are advertisements. One of the websites I researched (the Kerrang! website) used banner ads, and I felt that this detracted from the site itself. For this reason, I think I am unlikely to use anything that looks like a banner ad, even if it isn't actually an advertisement, in my website.
Few of the websites I looked at had a changeable font size. I think this is less important when your target audience is teenagers as older people are more likely to struggle with reading smaller fonts than younger people. It's still something to consider however as people of all ages can have seeing difficulties.
Nielsen's research into teenage responses to websites is also useful (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/teenagers.html), it warns that teenagers, like older people, do not like small font sizes and dislike large amounts of text on a webpage. It warns against boring websites, providing a list of interactive features such as forums, message boards, games, quizzes, and online voting to keep teenagers interested. These are features which I have seen on some of the websites that I have researched, such as online voting on the bliss website and games on the E4 website. I thought that these features were quite effective, but think that they shouldn't be overused because I feel that it reduces their affect.

Planning - time plan

01/10/10

Above is a print screen of my time plan. I have filled it with the dates I feel are necessary to complete the tasks that make up my coursework. These are flexible dates that give me a general idea of what times I am working towards, this is the breakdown of the timeplan:
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS: Websites - 04/10/10; Newspaper ads - 10/10/10; Listings magazine - 20/10/10
PLANNING: Website - 12/10/10; Newspaper ad - 25/11/10; Double page spread for listings magazine - 5/12/10
CONSTRUCTION: Website - 22/11/10; Newspaper ad - 20/12/10; Double page spread for listings magazine - 17/01/11
EVALUATION: Website - 15/12/10; Newspaper ad - 07/01/11; Double page spread for listings magazine - 10/02/11

Planning - Navigation

01/10/10

I've decided that I'd like to use a top navigation for my website because I like the way that the websites I have researched have used them.

The website 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' discusses the positives and negatives of each navigation position (http://www.newbiewebsitedesign.com/4-classic-navigation-positions#more-498). It lists four classic navigation positions, adding 'top plus one side navigation' and 'top with double-sided navigation' to the normal top or side navigations. The site claims that top navigation is useful for leaving more room for content whilst making it difficult if you want to have lots of links in your navigation. Side navigation is described as easy and with lots of room for links whilst being more restrictive in terms of large images etc. when it comes to content. This side doesn't differentiate between left-side navigaton or right-side navigation, wheres Jakob Nielsen's site (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/navigation-menu-alignment.html) claims that left-side navigation is better as right-side navigation is often missed by people scanning the page as the eye is naturally drawn to the left.




This image is from the 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' website and gives an example of top navigation.






This is also from 'newbiewebsitedesign.com' and gives an example of left side navigation...





....and this gives an example of right side navigation.