Google Analytics
Ive opened an account with google analytics and apllied it to www.greensky-creations.co.uk
I should have done it before the exhibition really, as this would have given me a clue as to how many people have been viewing it during the last few days. However, this should provided some interesting data from now on.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
All uni projects handed in... Where to now?
At this stage, my main long-term interest is in the design and creation of visually stimulating websites. But I don’t feel that I have a sufficient working knowledge of all the industry standard software and programming languages at this time. There are a number of subjects i need to brush up on, in order to realise this goal.
At this stage, my main long-term interest is in the design and creation of visually stimulating websites. But I don’t feel that I have a sufficient working knowledge of all the industry standard software and programming languages at this time. There are a number of subjects i need to brush up on, in order to realise this goal.
- Im currently in the process of learning about how to combat cross browser compatability design issues and updating my portfolio in tune with this new knowledge, so hopfully IE6 will no longer be the bane of my existence.. i doubt that very much.
- .NET iss 177 had an informative article on Content Management Systems. My portfolio site doesn't need a CMS as the content won't be updated that reguarly, but I'll certainly need to be familiar with this knowledge for work in the future.
- Ive also got a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) guide I've been meaning to read, so i'll be browsing through that in the near future.
mmm.. lots of reading to do. great!! :S
Monday afternoon:
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Portfolio 2.0 - update
Just a quick progress report of my portfolio site. Ive made a banner, menu, sub-menu and footer for the site.
I had a small problem with the width of the banner. It was too short, and I couldn't figure out why. I finally spotted the problem, after about an hour of looking! Turned out id just mixed up a couple of figures and set the width too short. I hate problems like that - they really piss me off! Heres a screenprint of the homepage:
Its also available online at http://www.greensky-creations.co.uk/
Its also available online at http://www.greensky-creations.co.uk/and my DeviantArt page at http://greensky-creations.deviantart.com/
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
PRP Overall Evaluation - Trends
The following clonclusions summarise the results of the artefact questonaires, in which people were questioned as to what genre of website they thought each artefact was designed for and the specific design elements that influenced their decision.
- #1 Gaming Community - Overall look and feel
- #2 Portfolio - Page layout and Content design/position
- #3 Auction - Page layout and Content design/position
- #4 News - Anomaly
- #3 Social Network - Content position/Colour scheme
- #1 Car showroom - Overall look and feel
I have gained the following knowledge about webpage design in each genre based on the above conclusions. (the # symbol marks a key to be linked with the conclusions above)
#1 - Devoted sites to a particular product or field.
#3 - Universal design for sites of this nature.
- Designed for functionality and usability.
- Sites of this genre are similar to optimise usability.
#2 - Shares the same results as #3.
- However sites of this genre are more flexible in
design and generally more aesthetically pleasing.
#4 - Anomaly result, due to changing approaches to
designing sites of this genre.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
PRP Artefact Evaluation
Artefact 6 – Car Showroom web page.
The Car showroom design took 4-5 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The elements of the design are in-line with the elements of ‘real-world’ car showroom websites. There are numerous design elements which are common amougst this genre of website, most noticably the colour scheme. Car showroom sites seems to prefere a ‘washed-out’ blue theme with lots of reflective glass-like surfaces. Many web site in this genre opt for a screen resolution that does not extend beyond the confinds of the browser window. Inside this fixed set of parameters are scrollable text boxes. This means that the amount of text on the page doesn’t interfere with the overall look and balance of the design.
I have encourporated these elements into this artefact.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 13 people surveyed, 54% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a car showroom site. 38% thought it was a portfolio design, while 8% thought it was a gaming community site.
The design element which averaged the most influential was the Content design. Other elements which had a positive influence were the Colour Scheme, Content Position, as well as Extra ‘Bells and whistles’, which included lighting/reflective effects – as indicated below.
Out of the people who were surveyed, 92% thought the page design’s primary fuction was either for marketing or advertising purposes.
In conclusion, the survey results suggest that the car showroom websites are recognisable via the actual look and feel of the page, rather than the functionality elements.
Artefact 6 – Car Showroom web page.
The Car showroom design took 4-5 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The elements of the design are in-line with the elements of ‘real-world’ car showroom websites. There are numerous design elements which are common amougst this genre of website, most noticably the colour scheme. Car showroom sites seems to prefere a ‘washed-out’ blue theme with lots of reflective glass-like surfaces. Many web site in this genre opt for a screen resolution that does not extend beyond the confinds of the browser window. Inside this fixed set of parameters are scrollable text boxes. This means that the amount of text on the page doesn’t interfere with the overall look and balance of the design.I have encourporated these elements into this artefact.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 13 people surveyed, 54% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a car showroom site. 38% thought it was a portfolio design, while 8% thought it was a gaming community site.
The design element which averaged the most influential was the Content design. Other elements which had a positive influence were the Colour Scheme, Content Position, as well as Extra ‘Bells and whistles’, which included lighting/reflective effects – as indicated below.Out of the people who were surveyed, 92% thought the page design’s primary fuction was either for marketing or advertising purposes.
In conclusion, the survey results suggest that the car showroom websites are recognisable via the actual look and feel of the page, rather than the functionality elements.
PRP Artefact Evaluation
Artefact 5 – Social Networking web page.
The Social Networking page took 2-3 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The colour scheme and layout is typical of the major social networking sites. I used a combination of the colours found on myspace and facebook. These are two of the biggest and widely used sites of this genre, and because I had these sites as a guide, creating the design wasn’t too taxing.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 10 people surveyed, 100% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a social networking site.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Colour Scheme and the Content Position – as indicated below.
As social networking sites contain such applications as chat, messaging, video, file sharing, blogging, and discussion groups, it is no surprise that the majority of people surveyed (60%) thought that the page’s primary function was for interaction (communication).
In conclusion, and as expected, the survey results suggest that social networking site designs are recognisable via the position of the content and colour scheme of the design. However, this survey does not take into account editable profile designs, which are common on myspace.
Artefact 5 – Social Networking web page.
The Social Networking page took 2-3 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The colour scheme and layout is typical of the major social networking sites. I used a combination of the colours found on myspace and facebook. These are two of the biggest and widely used sites of this genre, and because I had these sites as a guide, creating the design wasn’t too taxing.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 10 people surveyed, 100% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a social networking site.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Colour Scheme and the Content Position – as indicated below.
As social networking sites contain such applications as chat, messaging, video, file sharing, blogging, and discussion groups, it is no surprise that the majority of people surveyed (60%) thought that the page’s primary function was for interaction (communication).In conclusion, and as expected, the survey results suggest that social networking site designs are recognisable via the position of the content and colour scheme of the design. However, this survey does not take into account editable profile designs, which are common on myspace.
PRP Artefact Evaluation
Artefact 4 - News web page
Artefact 4 - News web page
The news design took 5-6 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. I based the design on the bbc.co.uk news website. I changed the navigation element of the design by adding a menu bar under the banner. This feature wasn’t in the bbc’s design, but this is an element which reflects other websites in the news genre. A genre which is especially dedicated to the access and usability of it’s content.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 21 people surveyed, only 14% thought the artefact was designed to be a news site. 52% thought it was a games community site, while 26% thought it was a car showroom and 8% voted for portfolio site.
The design element which averaged the most influential was the Content design and position. These elements were also influencial in the games community and car showroom designs.
This is the first artefact which has failed to be correctly identified by the people surveyed. A possible explaination for this that the site I based the artefact on (bbc.co.uk) is free from some of the print-based design elements associated with newspapers and magazines. Nowadays, designers are increasingly thinking about the accessability and usability of their sites. But this approach to may not yet be registering with user’s when they think of a news site.
The opinions of the people who were surveyed about the primary function of the design is varied. I expected this after viewing the results to question one. The opinions are as follows:
To entertain: 28%
For communication: 24%
For advertising: 24%
To inform: 19%
For marketing: 5%
In conclusion, the survey results suggest that the artefact’s design elements are not in keeping with what people associate with a news website.
However, I think these views are likely to change as news websites become more geared towards user ease of access and usability.
PRP Artefact Evaluation
Artefact 3 – Auction Web page.
The auction design took 1-2 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The content design and colours reflect the most recognisable of auction websites - ebay. This is the quickest artefact I have created so far and, although I’m not 100% satisfied with the design, it encourporates all the basic design elements of an auction website.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. 58% of people surveyed correctly thought the artefact was designed to be an Auction website. 25% thought it was a news page and the other 17% thought it was a social networking web page.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Page Layout and Content design elements – as indicated below.
48% of people surveyed thought the primary function of the artefact design was for marketing purposes.24% of people thought the design was to inform, which co-incides with the percentage of people who thought it was a news site design.
The surprising conclusion is that the survey results suggest that people recognaise auction websites via the content position more than by the colour scheme.
Monday, May 12, 2008
PRP - Artefact 6
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact6.htm
PRP - Artefact 5
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at
http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact5.htm
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at
http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact5.htm
Friday, May 09, 2008
PRP - Artefact 4
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact4.htmWednesday, May 07, 2008
PRP - Artefact 3
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact3.htm
Please complete the survey based on this design. It can be found at http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/sutton/formfiles/n0096263/prpartefact3.htm
Monday, May 05, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Updates to Lava site
Im going to carry on improving the 'Lava' website. Not for the client project, as the deadline's passed, but for my portfolio.
Ive uploaded the site to the net on my own domain for a limited time. (http://www.greensky-creations.co.uk)
Ive added minimum height and width so it no longer scales to infinity! Ive also changed some of the margins/padding values to balance the design better.
Im going to carry on improving the 'Lava' website. Not for the client project, as the deadline's passed, but for my portfolio.
Ive uploaded the site to the net on my own domain for a limited time. (http://www.greensky-creations.co.uk)
Ive added minimum height and width so it no longer scales to infinity! Ive also changed some of the margins/padding values to balance the design better.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Software Tutorials
Just a quick post to make a note of a couple of good tutorials seen today for future reference.
Just a quick post to make a note of a couple of good tutorials seen today for future reference.
- http://www.lynda.com/ - Learn Flash and other software tutorials.
- http://www.timsilva.com/ - Flash button tutorial and other nice bonus layout effects.
- http://www.9tutorials.com - Photoshop, Flash & Illustrator tutorials.
- http://www.tutorial9.net/ - Photoshop effects
Monday, March 17, 2008
PRP Artefact Evaluations 1 + 2
Here are my submittions for the evaluations of Artefacts 1 and 2 of my Personal Research project. Ive not only uploaded them up on here for my own personal log, but also because when submitting them via the university network i was unable to submit images.
My research project question I am investigating is “What design elements most influence users when determine the function of web pages”
For this research I have created six web page layout designs as artefacts. Each artefact represents a different genre of websites. Users answer a questionaire, stating what genre of website they think the web page is of and how much the design elements influenced their decision. The design elements used reflect my research into websites of each genre. I hope to discover whether users use these elements to distinguish the function of the site without need for content.
Artefact 1 - Gaming community web page.
The gaming design took 3-4 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The colour scheme and layout is typical of web pages in the gaming community websites genre. I re-designed the artefact twice as I wasn’t happy with the design - the design above was the third attempt at this artefact - and so the only problem I encountered was that it took longer than anticipated to complete.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 20 people surveyed, 85% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a gaming community site.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Colour Scheme, Page Layout, Banner Size and Navigation – as indicated below.
60% of people surveyed thought the primary function of the web page design was for user interaction (communication).
In conclusion, the survey results suggest that the artefact’s design element are mostly in favour of the overall look and feel of the design, rather than specific elements.
Artefact 2 – Portfolio
The portfolio design took 2-3 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The content position and lighting effects are similar to that of online portfolio web pages that I have seen. I didn’t have any problems while creating the artefact, although I did remove the original banner as I felt it detracted from the design theme.
The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. 80% of people surveyed correctly thought the artefact was designed to be an Online portfolio website.
10% thought it was a car showroom and the other 10% thought it was a gaming community web page.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Page Layout, Content Design and possition – as indicated below.
75% of people surveyed thought the primary function of the web page design was for advertising (drawing public attention to).
In conclusion the results of the survey suggest that the artefact’s design elements are most in flavor of content design and content position.
The next two Artefacts will be completed and uploaded after the submittion of my Client 'Live' Project, which is due in 14th April.
Here are my submittions for the evaluations of Artefacts 1 and 2 of my Personal Research project. Ive not only uploaded them up on here for my own personal log, but also because when submitting them via the university network i was unable to submit images.
PRP – Artefact 1 Evaluation Robert Hammerton N0096263
My research project question I am investigating is “What design elements most influence users when determine the function of web pages”
For this research I have created six web page layout designs as artefacts. Each artefact represents a different genre of websites. Users answer a questionaire, stating what genre of website they think the web page is of and how much the design elements influenced their decision. The design elements used reflect my research into websites of each genre. I hope to discover whether users use these elements to distinguish the function of the site without need for content.
Artefact 1 - Gaming community web page.
The gaming design took 3-4 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The colour scheme and layout is typical of web pages in the gaming community websites genre. I re-designed the artefact twice as I wasn’t happy with the design - the design above was the third attempt at this artefact - and so the only problem I encountered was that it took longer than anticipated to complete.The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. Out of 20 people surveyed, 85% correctly thought the artefact was designed to be a gaming community site.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Colour Scheme, Page Layout, Banner Size and Navigation – as indicated below.
60% of people surveyed thought the primary function of the web page design was for user interaction (communication).In conclusion, the survey results suggest that the artefact’s design element are mostly in favour of the overall look and feel of the design, rather than specific elements.
Artefact 2 – Portfolio
The portfolio design took 2-3 hours to create in Photoshop CS2. The content position and lighting effects are similar to that of online portfolio web pages that I have seen. I didn’t have any problems while creating the artefact, although I did remove the original banner as I felt it detracted from the design theme.The following graph displays the results of question one of the questionaire. 80% of people surveyed correctly thought the artefact was designed to be an Online portfolio website.
10% thought it was a car showroom and the other 10% thought it was a gaming community web page.
The design elements which most influenced these answers were the Page Layout, Content Design and possition – as indicated below.
75% of people surveyed thought the primary function of the web page design was for advertising (drawing public attention to).In conclusion the results of the survey suggest that the artefact’s design elements are most in flavor of content design and content position.
The next two Artefacts will be completed and uploaded after the submittion of my Client 'Live' Project, which is due in 14th April.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
PRP
First draft of gaming community design. The box background colours where the content will go need to be darker i think, but it looks ok for now. Ive started the blog design, which should be finished tomorrow. Also the questionaire relating to the six artifacts will be drafted tomorrow and then created using 'Autoform' on the VLP.
- Dimensions: 1024 x 768
- Type: JPEG
- Size: 209 KB
- Original Type: PDA
- Original size: 3.41 MB
First draft of gaming community design. The box background colours where the content will go need to be darker i think, but it looks ok for now. Ive started the blog design, which should be finished tomorrow. Also the questionaire relating to the six artifacts will be drafted tomorrow and then created using 'Autoform' on the VLP.
- Dimensions: 1024 x 768
- Type: JPEG
- Size: 209 KB
- Original Type: PDA
- Original size: 3.41 MB
Thursday, February 21, 2008
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