Personal Research Project

I've had a bit of a problem trying to decide upon a topic for this years PRP module. Choosing a topic that is both relevant to my interests and also one that will be relevant after graduation.

Originally I was going to investigate

What Techniques can be Employed to Create Eye Catching and Userfriendly Web Design?

I would use an Eye-tracking device to measure different techniques. Here I could analyse popular websites such as Google, Ebay and Amazon which are at the top of thir game interms of usability. I had a lecture on colour last year that covered many interesting points including how shapea and colour can trick the eye.

How Can Web Analytics be Used to Shape a Website to the User?

research a range of Web Analytic programs, apply Search Engine Optimisation techniques to my portfolio website and measure the outcome. Investigate customisation of the analytic program along with possible breaches of visitors information.

Can the Speed of Internet Connections Shape and Restrict the Development of the Web?

Japan and America have much faster internet connections than us, Europe and well...the rest of the world. It is not a surprise this is aiding their progession. Less better off countries still have dial up and Lisban is the only part of Nothern Ireland getting fibre braodband in 2010! Scotland and Wales aren't much better.


I realise that all of these are very broad questions and through reading around the topic I would specify a tighter discussion.

This weeks' aims

• loan and read project planning book
• create a gannt chart planning project time
• read around topic and specialise question
• discuss with tutor
  

youtube website:Boone Oakley

This isn't particarly interesting from an animation perspective but the way it uses YouTube is. If you type in booneoakley.com it will divert you to this youtube video on a youtube page.THIS IS THEIR WEBSITE. The links at the side, navigate you to a series of narrative animations and their work. The animations are very entertaining in theirselves because they are simple and comical, and the little tune is quite catchey. I think thats why I keep going back...

Website analysis:OwnYourC

Larrisa Meek has "been a 3D animator, Miss USA finalist, model, actress and reality TV star."[1] and is an addict of behance.net[2].

OwnYourC (own your choices) is a sophisticated flash website with original navigation and layout. It targets the younger audience with imagery and use of language like "sick", "sup!" and"yo!". Combating current issues like smoking, drinking and physical appearance, it involves the user through questions and collaboration with others. The data is visualized in a simple yet effective manner and can be filtered by age, gender, active users and location. Its stylish animation and design doesn't distract from the sites purpose, although it " feels closer to social networking than public information"[2].

OwnYourC targets a similar audience as many of the Anti-Piracy sites I have looked at and is also is tackling government issues. It is interesting to see how effective different sites are and the ways they involve the user.

[1] http://www.larissameek.com/about/
[2] .net magazine issue 193 'The top 20 designers'

Google.org combats swine flu & climate change

Google is putting money and expertise into prevention of flu epidemics. It identifies peoples IP addresses researching flu symptoms and activates questions to gather more information e.g. "Did you search for this topic because you have a fever or your friend has fever?".



Google is also researching and comparing cars on fuel efficiency with the hope that the information encourages the public to convert to environmentally green equivalents. They are also talking about applying the same kind of technology in our homes. By equipping every electrical device with meters to measure usage and connecting them to a Google application, we will be able to see how much we use in real time and help us reduce our consumption.

Anti-Piracy Websites

You Make The Movies gives the public the chance to enter your own mini-films into competition while encouraging people to fight piracy together. The run a series on cinema advertisements to convey the message and advertise the competition.

The Industry Trust website targets film and gives information about downloading legally, along with short videos by people who work in the industry. These short clips encourage people to see films at the cinema and discourage watching bad quality versions on your computer where your experience can be spoilt in comparison. It is also kept up to date with current cinema releases and relevent content.

The Website is up to date and doesn't give the impression of being nagged. It goes along with what Geoff Taylor said and educates the potential iilegal downloader and makes you empathise with the people in the industry.

Really funny IT Crowd anti-piracy spoof

Screen Thing takes the same position as The Industry Trust. Again it is targetting film piracy and informing the user on how to download legally. One other tactic this site employs is paying the visitor for their opinions "Just click here to give us your views on films and downloading to get £5! Nice one!".

It is clear that this website is targetting a younger audience with its bright bold design, quizzes and attempt at social networking. Targetting a younger audience is possibly the way forward as they are statistically more likely to be commiting piracy, but i'm not entirely convinced it will work. Similar to The Industry Trust, trailers are viewable for current films so there is a chance that people would come back to the site but seems to me they join say hello in the shout box and leave, especially as every post has to be approved before it displays!

Knock off Nigel is another anti-piracy campaign for the films industry and again targetting the younger audience. However I would say the website is aimed at a much younger age group compared to the others. Unlike the other sites I have analysed knockoffnigel doesn't give any factual information, instead it encourages the user to poke fun and embarrass friends for downloading DVD's. I doubt this tactic would be very effective with children after about the age of 13, so I was quite surprised to see that they often mention "getting a round in".

From a web design perspective, the site is well layed out for a young audience and follows simple navigation. Each item on the notice board takes the user to an activity: games, quizzes, watch lastest advert, download ringtone or send a friend a message telling them they're tight. It is a Flash site, but doesn't take long to load and has the feeling of a micro-site. This is a possibility as www.knockoffnigel.com is currently "reserved for future use", although bit of a backward way of going about things.

Copy Right Campaigns

On my quest to find out more about file sharing piracy I stumbled upon this Copy right campaign.

War Report: Record Industry vs. Internet Piracy

A major factor at stake is piracy on university campuses – since 2007, over 6,000 "pre-litigation settlement letters" were forwarded by the RIAA to students in USA, “generously” offering them the chance to stay away from a possible lawsuit by reaching an agreement out of court. Read more...

Virgin Media and BPI Work Together on Anti-Piracy Campaign

An article posted on 7th June last year stated that

"Virgin Media and the BPI the British music industry association) have joined forces in a new anti-piracy campaign which targets alleged illegal file sharers who will be sent warning notifications...The campaign will follow a two-warning-letters-approach; one sent by Virgin Media and the other one “signed” by the. However, contrary to expectations, no "three strikes" process is included for now. Those who don’t cease their illegally file sharing activity will not get disconnected(...)

The chief executive Geoff Taylor declared:

"Education is absolutely key to reducing the extent of illegal downloading" (…) "We believe that new partnerships with ISPs can help build an internet in which music is properly valued. That will benefit not just musicians, songwriters and labels, but all internet users who love music. This joint campaign with Virgin Media is the first step towards achieving that goal.""Read more...

Celebrities Engage in Anti-File-Sharing Campaign

ISP: File Sharing Concerns Us All, Let’s All Fight it!

According to Sky, the government, broadband providers and copyright holders should collaborate if they want the issue of online piracy dealt with.Read more...

File Sharing vs. Intellectual Property (October 3, 2009)

Simon then pointed out that “You only have to look at the number of people who came off illegal filesharing when iTunes came out to know that filesharing isn’t the answer, it’s not the future, it’s not valuable of itself – it’s a technology that currently is being used to circumvent the law. Read more...

Mary Slessor Website Flash Animation

Gary also said that he would like a "kids zone" to the website. For this I am creating an animation to tell the story of Mary Slessor this will also feature a voice over.

Here are some screen shots:

Mary Slessor Foundation

I contacted The Mary Slessor Foundation offering my services as I thought their current website was in need of updating. Gary (their contact in Dundee) agreed and gave me a rough understanding of the charity's work. He liked the slightly quirky navigation I have used on my portfolio site and apart from the Mary Slessor logo they had no current branding.

I did some research of charity websites and took inspiration from the World Wildlife Foundation. Also with my own website in mind, I took images that reflected the website's pages e.g. History and Our Work. The idea is to have a sentence or two appear when the user hovers over each image. This will allow a first time visitor to have an understanding of the charity straight away.






WelcomePage_Design 1










WelcomePage_Design 2






The main site would follow a similar layout to the following images.






I chose horizontal navigation as the vertical created too much wasted space and looks cluttered. I have aligned the navigation to create a balance with the logo, Charity name and strap line on the left-hand-side. The client also had the idea of changing the images on the header to according the the page's content, so I will be taking that idea on board.



The client wanted to incorporate green, as this is the main colour of the Nigerian flag. Although the flag is a 'grassy' green colour, I went for this rather more 'sagey' colour as is suits the design and creates a more serious feel.

The interaction will be followed through using javascript to alternate between pictures.