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When picking the reference sites for my major project i had to take into consideration the nature of the site that i am creating. I will be doing a version of the Stone Fest music festival, so therefore i needed to find websites that fitted the design that i wanted and style. I found a mix of sites that display different things that i would like to use on my own. The websites that i have gathered are not all music festival sites, though the ones that aren’t have characteristics that i find visually enticing.
Layout – All the Websites that i have gathered have a centered layout, meaning that the main part of real estate is always centered on the computer screen and doesn’t stretch like a liquid website would. Four of the Five have a very shallow home page which results in the user to click on links to navigate their way through the website. The Logo’s are all top left or top centered and all of which are a linked home button an effective, simple and use able way of finding your way around the site. The menu bars are all up the top, except for the Abec-11 site which has a very small menu bar at the bottom which i don’t like all that much, having the menu bar at the top and keeping it constant will make the user happy. The last thing is that behind the centered text related part there is an empty space that is filled with either a graphic that will duplicate on larger screens, those that aren’t filled with a graphic have one colour which is a simple but also looks good.
Navigation – As mentioned before all of the menu bars (except the Abec-11 site) are located at the top of the page. The menu bars don’t move when you are travelling through the website making it easy to find your way back and forward without losing where you are. The menu/navigation bar for all sites include links to the other parts of the website has to offer. Having a menu bar that holds your information in other pages is a much better way to sort your information and keeps all the congestion on the page which in turn prevents long pages that have to be scrolled through to get to what you want.
Content/Information – Because i picked websites that had a very shallow front page the information is kept very tidy and in columns with side information in other boxes not connected to the main content. Sites such as Soundwave have very little information but the information that is there is mostly videos music and news, only really important things can be found on the homepage. To get more information you need to explore the links in the menu bar. The Loaded long boards site is similar and has a repeating slide show of their products playing. All the sites also contain important upcoming dates such as tour dates, product launches etc.
Style – I like alot of styles and not all these websites are styled the same but that’s not to say that i don’t like them. All of the sites are very simple and don’t have much on them, they aren’t flash sites, and it is this that i like. Having everything tight and clean is also very nice makes it easy to read there aren’t annoying advertisements everywhere or useless links to parts of the website that can easily be accessed on the menu bar.
Colour – There a two different colour styles dark and simple and graphic. The darker sites involve more within the main content area and the stuff that is in there is colurful which brings attention to the more important content. The more simple sites are broken up a bit better and more organised and the only colour that is found is in the slideshows or behind the links.
Logo/Site ID – All the sites used have a site ID that is easy to locate and visually appealing. Soundwave has a massive header that follows you around the entire site but isn’t a home button, the home link on the menu bar has that job. Loadeds site ID is badge like and being red stands out from the white. The rest of the sites also have similar characteristics.
Slide shows – Soundwave, Loaded and NIN all have a form of slide show or embedded video which grabs the visitor as soon as they enter. They are entertaining, informative and composed well and overall makes the initial visit to the site pleasurable. Anything can be put in these areas interviews with bands, music videos, professional photographs that relate to a product you own or they are just there to make the website look professional so that you can sell your profession.
