edsonweb.co.uk

Review of 3 'User Provided Information' Social-Networking Type Websites

For this review I have decided to review three websites which I currently or have previously used. This way I believe I can provide a better report of user experience having used all of these website for some sort of long-term period, as opposed to just over viewing them briefly for the purpose of this Blog post. The only downside to this is that all the website's I will review are 'forum' based. However I do believe with the exception of the big Social Networking websites i.e. Facebook, MySpace, there are very few specific alternatives without forum-esque layouts.

www.dslruser.co.uk

This website is direct quite specifically at armature, semi-pro and professional photographers, who specifically use DSLR cameras. I started using this site upon purchase of my first DSLR. The website has a friendly approach. Being photography based the general appearance is made up of quite a few very strong and professional looking photographs.

The user account system is fairly comprehensive. They receive their own profile, a mail box and an online photo-gallery section where they can upload their own work. The amount of information available to budding photographers really is endless and very comprehensive. I really like this website!

www.fiatforum.com

This is another website I have used a lot in the last year. As a current fiat driver I found this site very useful for querying little things that would usually take a garage hours to respond to, as well as advice on insurance and servicing etc.

As a user experience this works well as there is a massive following, providing a wealth of information on one topic. The only two downsides I can really find for this websites are that it’s aesthetic design is not particularly good. Like many forum based website there is a big feeling of ‘importance’ amongst the longer-subscribed members, which can be a bit daunting when trying to find information and asking questions.

www.free-riders.co.uk

Unfortunately, this website has recently been taken down and this URL now forwards to a similar, although not as impressive website.

The reason I wanted to review this, despite it no longer being ‘live’ is that I really admired the technical and aesthetic design to the website. It was again, forum based. But it made the whole experience feel much more like a general facebook or myspace website by using small widgets to keep the user feeling informed and involved, without having to endlessly respond to posts on the forum. I liked this site a lot and hope it comes back online one day.

Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on what I have been doing over the summer, and especially what I've been up to over the last few weeks since getting Adobe CS4 Web Premium (it's fantastic).

My Own Website:
I have a go at designing my own 'space' on the internet atleast once a month, and everytime i go back to it and i don't like it, as such, it never gets made into a full a proper site.

In the last few weeks i've had a couple of ideas flying around i think i might be getting very close to a design i can commit to using for a full website.

The first design i came up with recently was this:

When i first created this i really liked it. Unfortunatly however, after looking back on it over the next few days i realised that it was probably too load, too bright and a bit of a photoshop disaster.

The second rendition i came up with was this:

After disliking the previous site design because of its load nature and potentially, slightly 'childish' design i went for something a bit more formal. Unlike the previous design i still really like this. However i don't think it is best suited as a way of advertising myself as an interactive media artist. I believe that it verges a bit too close to being a 'generic' or 'typical' website layout, and as such i don't think it reflects the best of my creative ability. I will however contemplate using it either as the basis of a client project in the future, or purely as an example to show clients to see what sort of thing they're after.

My most recent design for my website is below:

At present i am really happy with this design. I think it is well balanced in all considered areas of design, from my POV atleast. I have put the image online at 'http://edsonweb.co.uk/vector/' to see how it looks on the internet. Still deciding upon what background to have etc.

Please leave any constructive comments to help me increase my design potential.

As some of you will already know, I do a lot of design and web maintenance work for my Dad's business (something to do with business management). I've currently been producing mock website front pages, logos and other small graphics for them to look at to see what sort of 'image' best reflects them. Some of those that I am most pleased with are below:

New v Old Logo
Potential new, slightly Web 2.0 style front page:

Business Card-Like Graphic:


That's about all worth showing! =)

Dan Saffer Interview

Looking at this interview had a bit of a disrupted start (the link from the lecture didn’t work!). But after that it got interesting.

This designer clearly knows what he is on about, and is very intellectual. The points from this interview that interested me the most were:

· Knowing the medium

· User-input

· Applied art

· Newbie mistakes

Knowing the medium, in his words, were to explain how you can only do good design, if you are aware of the surrounding design and competition. He also says that we should consider physical design as much of a parallel as digital, and I have to agree. I can’t say that I have ever really thought about it in this way, but after seeing it written down it has become evidently true. Some of the best digital designs you see today have something to do with a physical design form, be it street art or architecture, many of these styles and principles are copied and inspirational to a lot of digital works.

User-input, Saffer believes, can add great quality to a design. After all, they know their business much better than you do, and putting as much user-input into design as possible gives a piece a much higher chance of approval from a client. This is definitely something to remember during any client project.

Applied art, meaning something that is both aesthetic and functional. I think this defiantly one of the most important things to keep in mind when producing websites. One of the website my group presented in class, we thought, was a classic of example of where this had not been taken into account. Creating a website that looks great, with no functional ability, is about as useful as a painting. And a website that works great, but is horribly designed, is about as interesting a dictionary. Website really needs a happy medium to be most effective.

This designers notes on newbie mistakes made me realise some errors I have made, and probably still making today. He explained how it is important to create many different designs for one thing, not just to find one or two and run with those, this is something I cannot deny I am guilty of. The problem is, as he put it, “It is hard to kill your babies, but sometimes you have to.”

Overall a very interesting article, leaving me with a few things to consider in my future approach and designs.

Joel Schafer Interview

I really couldn’t agree more with what this guy says. When reading the article I found myself constantly nodding my head and thinking “he is absolutely correct”, on many subjects. I found it very interesting when he mentioned using a ‘manuscript’ to plan a website. I’m not entirely sure, in a web-design sense, what a manuscript would contain. Although I am sure this will come to light sooner rather than later.

His opinions on colours schemes, Web 2.0 layouts, and photography are ones I can relate to very easily. When asked “Tell us about your use of colors in your designs.” (Note: American spelling, I assume it’s a Yankey website) He responded by saying he currently prefers a greyscale layout and one other colour. I found this particularly supports my current preference of website colour schemes Even within the last week I have used this thesis on a current project.

Although I’m probably meant to be analysing this from a technical view point, I think this designer has a real likability about him. I enjoyed his comment about his first website; he says his first ever live site is still currently in use. Although he keeps the address to himself. I liked this particularly as it reminds us that everyone has to start somewhere, and that I should probably keep my first websites under my hat as well.

I can’t really agree or praise this designer anymore, so I should probably stop. All I can say is everything he said I already believed, and has in a way, confirmed my thoughts, or has made me realise where I might be going wrong in some basic principle areas.

I have bookmarked this interview, and will be doing some research into this designers work later.

The interviews can be found at:

Dan Saffer: http://www.designinterviews.com/interviews/interaction-design-is-an-applied-art

Joel Schafer: http://www.designinterviews.com/interviews/599