Web Design 101 Research: March 2013

Friday, March 15, 2013

Homepage Research: Meshuggah

Meshuggah:

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Site by Din Studio.

Critique: Everything about the background is pretty cool, but that's all there is to the homepage. Checking out the navigation, you have to click from the drop down menu to get to a page with some context; clicking the link on the navigation itself will just lead to you to a page with nothing on it. Some obvious fixes would be to include some information on the homepage in a way that the type didn't disappear into the complicated background. It'd also be helpful to link the 'Meshuggah' part of the background to the index, and change the '-' on the navigation to 'home', since that's where it leads. The faded effect on the footer is kind of cool and its color goes well with the background, but the words are still difficult to read.

Homepage Research: Massive Attack

Massive Attack:

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Created by Kwame Corp, a digital advertising agency.

Critique: The large album image isn't bad, as it's always a nice touch to have on a band site, but it might be made better by adding a gradient to the bottom edge so that it disappears into the background a little more. They did a really nice job on the color scheme, especially swapping the color of the category backgrounds; when on a lighter background, they're darker, then they're lighter on a darker background. This meshes with the main background gradient very well, and I like how they applied the same light on dark/dark on light concept with the navigation and the footer. It would help their page a little, though, if they had their playlist set up, and if there wasn't so much random information. Placing a limit onto how many blog posts appear on the homepage would help, as well as having some sort of information under their live performance category, even if it just says something like, 'coming soon'.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Homepage Research: Mütter Museum Store

Mütter Museum Store:

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Critique: The header is attractive and I really like the font used throughout the page because it's so simple and clean. The sign-in link stashed above the side navigation is a little awkward, though. One major change that might help the homepage's appearance would be to center the wrapper so everything isn't hugging the left edge, and to create drop down menus in the top navigation to get rid of the side navigation.

Homepage Research: H.R. Giger Museum

H.R. Giger Museum:

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No creator's info or copyright given.

Critique: The layout's kind of cool with how they have his latest work presented first and you can flip through the art right on the homepage, but the design as a whole isn't very interesting. The copy on the navigation is pretty cool, but it could be pulled off better by having them aligned horizontally so that the lines on each word could connect as one long navigation bar. I'm also not a fan of how the image and type are just floating in the center. An easy fix could be giving the body in the center it's own black box like the side panels.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Homepage Research: MoMA Store

MoMA Store:

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Critique: The MoMA store site is a branch off of the museum site itself, so including the link back to the original page near the footer was a good idea. Keeping the links and font like the MoMA logo in the header was a good idea, too, as it keeps the page minimal and uncluttered. My favorite part is how the change the header and footer color schemes to match the them of the ads, and this time they used black to contrast with the large rainbow ad. Everything's in it's place and organized well, like the two navigations being of different sizes and colors. Lastly, I admire the way they extended the different color header and footer bars from side to side and kept the content in the body center; it feels as if there's no wasted space and keeps everything divided.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Homepage Research: GAP

GAP:

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Critique: The mass information seems chaotic at first, but after taking a moment to look over it all, it's grouped together well. The typical searches, like store locations, are placed in boxes right under the search bar, and all the information related to making a purchase is gathered above the shopping cart link. I'm not sure if I like how the logos of each brand are included in the topmost navigation; I feel it might be adding to the cluttered feel. A good fix might be making all the ads the color of the current page's logo. This might work, especially since they all have distinctive colors. The rest of the page is clean and simple, including the mass of information near the footer. Using bold lines to separate it all down below makes it much easier to look through.

Homepage Research: Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss:

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Critique: First of all, the ad catches my eye right away. Its color's are vivid without clashing with everything else; the black and gray gradients are a good idea in that they keep this effect universal with any ad. The entire top bar is well organized, considered all that's up there. I admire how the two navigations are kept separate, and the 'My Account' link is well placed and aligned above the shopping cart link and search bar. The homepage is well put together and includes everything any other site presents without looking cluttered. The style of the homepage suits the company.