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Friday, 14 January 2011

RESEARCH - Existing band websites

I have previously looked at the typical conventions of band websites, however I decided to look at websites again in more detail to ensure that the website I am designing and creating considers these elements.

For example, I looked at the different navigational tools that are used which I identified to be rollover buttons and text hyperlinks. In addition, a typical convention of this type of website is the navigation bar is located at the top of the page and is kept consistent throughout the different web pages.

Text hyperlinks are also a common type of hyperlink that is used, for example Kasabian's website uses text hyperlinks for their navigation at the bottom of their web pages. Using a variety of hyperlinks improves the navigation of the website and creates easy accessibility for the user when moving around the website.
CONTENT:
I also looked at what information is usually included on a band website. I therefore looked at what pages they usually consist of and looked at their content. By accessing a variety of band websites I found a variety of common pages:

I have identified the most common pages on a band website are:
  • Biography/History of Band
  • Gallery/Images
  • Music/Video
  • Tour/Gig Dates
  • Recent News
  • Blogs/Forum
Undertaking this research into web pages has improved my knowledge of what information a band website should consist of. I looked at several website and these were the pages that were commonly used. Therefore I will consider my findings when designing and creating my own band website.
FONT STYLES, SIZES AND COLOURS:
I also looked in to the fonts that are used for alternative rock and Indie/rock websites as this is the genre of the website I am creating for my ancillary task.
For font styles I looked at the following features:
-Sans or sans serif fonts
-Iconic fonts used for band names
-Different styles for headings and main text

In both of these examples the most common font colour is white and this is the case for the majority of the websites I have looked at. The reason for this is because the majority of them use dark coloured backgrounds to reinforce the genre of music, therefore a white or light coloured font colour is used to stand out on the background.
This is shown in these examples:



Font Sizes:
I also looked at the use of different font sizes and why they are used. I established that that on most of the band websites I have looked at, they are used to differentiate the headings, sub-headings and main text. This makes it easier for the user to understand what the headings are and creates a more effective layout. Overall this technique improves the users understanding of the information which I think is an important aspect to have for this type of multimedia product.


I also looked at the different multimedia features that are used to present information about the band. Using multimedia features improves the interaction that the user has with the website, in addition it grabs the user's attention and keeps them interested throughout all of the web pages.

Examples of multimedia features that i discovered on band websites are:
  • Videos
  • Flash Slide shows
  • Music Players
  • Interactive Menus

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