Now my work is nearing completion, I would like some feedback on the final product so that I can make any last minute adjustments and improvements.
http://guba.uni.cc/witness/index.html
Please visit this link to my final product and then post any comments or ideas on this blog post so that I can make some adjustments based on your criticism.
The Final Design
The website is now near enough complete, with only a few things to finish off and add, so I thought I would explain the design and the function of the website as a whole.
Firstly, the function. The main function for the website than Ned and I have created is to serve as a source of information for our fictional channel - Witness. There are many different functions for a television channel website and some channels use their websites in different ways. One example is the BBC. Due to the size of the channel, the BBC's website serves as a media portal rather than an informational website, with many different varieties of content being displayed over numerous pages. This includes the BBC's iPlayer and their news and weather services.
Other, smaller television channel websites such as Comedy Central's website, focus more on giving the reader information about the channel and its programmes. These websites tend to be much smaller than something like the BBC's and contain information about selected programmes, what shows are upcoming and usually a programme guide for the next few days. This is the type of television channel website that Witness is. The aim for the website we have created is to give information about the channel to the readers, so they can see what programmes are coming up and what these programmes are about.
Secondly, the design. The main aim for the design was to keep it very clean and simple to use, but also very functional. For this reason, we have kept the design very plain, with all the content boxes being in plain but bold colours, so that they stand out to the reader. To make it easier to use, the website is split up into smaller boxes of content, such as those in the sidebar and in the "Top Picks" box on the main page. These make it easier to find the content you want.
Thirdly, the content. Content on a website is more important than the design of the website, as it is the thing that keeps readers returning. In this instance, the content is information about the channel and it's programmes. Included in this content is information about a handful of select programmes, including a description and show times for each of them on separate pages. Also on the website is a programme schedule for the upcoming day and an about page, containing information about the channel, including things like when it is in, which channels it is broadcasted on and who to contact if needed.
To balance the text, there are a lot of images throughout the website, including the large image cycling box on the main page and smaller images on the majority of other pages. Images are far more interesting to the reader than plain text, attracting them to the area and to the linking page.
Firstly, the function. The main function for the website than Ned and I have created is to serve as a source of information for our fictional channel - Witness. There are many different functions for a television channel website and some channels use their websites in different ways. One example is the BBC. Due to the size of the channel, the BBC's website serves as a media portal rather than an informational website, with many different varieties of content being displayed over numerous pages. This includes the BBC's iPlayer and their news and weather services.
Other, smaller television channel websites such as Comedy Central's website, focus more on giving the reader information about the channel and its programmes. These websites tend to be much smaller than something like the BBC's and contain information about selected programmes, what shows are upcoming and usually a programme guide for the next few days. This is the type of television channel website that Witness is. The aim for the website we have created is to give information about the channel to the readers, so they can see what programmes are coming up and what these programmes are about.
Secondly, the design. The main aim for the design was to keep it very clean and simple to use, but also very functional. For this reason, we have kept the design very plain, with all the content boxes being in plain but bold colours, so that they stand out to the reader. To make it easier to use, the website is split up into smaller boxes of content, such as those in the sidebar and in the "Top Picks" box on the main page. These make it easier to find the content you want.The colour scheme for this website is very plain, with only a handful of colours being used, including black, white and blue. These all contrast well with each other and make the use of blue stand out more. However, the change from a blue to a lighter one as the background colour makes it very soft and calm.
Thirdly, the content. Content on a website is more important than the design of the website, as it is the thing that keeps readers returning. In this instance, the content is information about the channel and it's programmes. Included in this content is information about a handful of select programmes, including a description and show times for each of them on separate pages. Also on the website is a programme schedule for the upcoming day and an about page, containing information about the channel, including things like when it is in, which channels it is broadcasted on and who to contact if needed.
To balance the text, there are a lot of images throughout the website, including the large image cycling box on the main page and smaller images on the majority of other pages. Images are far more interesting to the reader than plain text, attracting them to the area and to the linking page.
Overall, I believe that the combination of the website design, the content and the type of channel it is, make a good package and make the website seem as professional as some made by the television channels themselves.
The Design: How far we have come
Since we first created our design mock-up, both hand drawn and in Photoshop like below, we have changed many different parts and the majority of the design, to a point where it looks also completely different to first planned.
This is due to many changes in ideas and also inspiration from many different locations, including many already existing websites such as The Discovery Channel and Comedy Central.
Our first design for the website was hand drawn and on squared paper to help plan out the design as accurately as possible.
We decided to keep the design as simple as possible, but focus on user interactivity and dynamic content, things that keep the reader on the website for as long as possible.
The large box on the page cycles through a selection of images, which the user can click on to be taken to separate pages for each of the programmes.
The other, smaller boxes contain images and text that describe the channel and its content.
The second image shows the first colour mock-up of the website that we made. The colours in this image are the colours that we originally chose for the design, as we believed that these stand out against each other and go well with the genre of our channel and its mise-en scene.
The greens chosen stand out a lot against the dark grey, creating a bold impression, very much like the type of channel that we have created.
The use of a darker green for the logo helps it stand out further and makes it one of the first things you see, keeping the name and logo of channel in your head.
The first version of the website we created was a little different to what we first planned in our mock-ups. Firstly, the colours have changed from a green and grey combination to a blue and dark grey. These colours stand out as much as the previous set but we believed they went better with the genre and mise-en scene of the channel.However, the layout is very similar to the one that was first planned, keeping to the simple and easy to use layout.
The next step in the creation of the website changed the design quite considerably. The colours were stripped and cut the design down to a very simple thing, using only black, white and small bits of blue.
One large feature of the website was complete at this stage though, the image slideshow, which make up a large part of the page.
One large feature of the website was complete at this stage though, the image slideshow, which make up a large part of the page.
The next stage saw a vast amount of work being completed, including the remaining parts of the design and the content that fills it.This stage kept with the black, white and blue colour scheme but added a pattern background image, giving the page a more informal appearance.
Many key features were also added to this version, including a programme guide, schedule and an about page.
These steps have lead to this, the most recent version of the website. Not much has changed since the last version, apart from a few minor additions to the content and a few fixes in areas.
However, the background image has changed once again, now a gradiant changing from one shade of blue to a lighter one. This creates a more friendly appearance to the website and also injects a bit more of the blue into the design.
However, the background image has changed once again, now a gradiant changing from one shade of blue to a lighter one. This creates a more friendly appearance to the website and also injects a bit more of the blue into the design.
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