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Assignment 5: Site Critique and Concept Demo

essential reading: Siegel Chapters 6-9

Your midterm assignment is a typical problem in web site design:

You are working at WIZ KIDZ, an up-and-coming web design firm. Your newest client, Tina, is the web-master at a fairly large organization. When the organization first got on the web, they were leading the way. Now, the competition is catching up and no one is quite sure where things went wrong. They're desperate!

Where does Tina work? You decide:

University Of Chicago

Improv Olympic

Your assignment is to take a good, hard look at your client's web site, and present a new concept. First, draw up a web-based report that assesses the web page on several levels:

First Look:

  • Immediate likes and dislikes
  • Comparison to similar sites / competition
  • What stands out after your first visit?
    • How easy/difficult is it to find something?
    • Are the colors and graphics consistent/pleasent?
    • Are there frame problems or slow pages?
Audience:
  • Who is this page aimed towards? (can be more than one group)
  • Who will be using it? (again, can be many different user types)
  • Are they addressing the needs of their audience?
Content:
  • What does this organization have to offer?
  • What are they offering?
  • What should they offer?
  • What makes these pages different from their competition?
Design:
  • What's the basic theme?
  • Does the design concept work?
  • Is the site well-organized?

    Right now you can go to many places from the site's home page. Which of these destinations do you feel are most important to a user (be sure you know who you're aiming at here...)? Which topics are the biggest challenges in terms of information presentation and organization? What's missing from this list?

    Which pages are buried under the wrong category?

Basically, you're job is to tell your client what they have right now, and what they can shoot for. What changes would make it easier to use? How can they get people interested in their site? How would YOU make it better? But remember, Tina worked pretty hard to make this thing what it is right now, so you'd better be tactful (there are other design firms out there....). Give detailed information but don't make it too long...(500 wds min 1500 max).

To really win your client over, you'll need more than just words. Your report can include links to other sites, example images or text from other pages...basically, you want to show this client that you know how to use the web to communicate your ideas effectively.

In addition, you should provide the client with a mock-up of the site. This includes a main home page with a full-fledged layout and design concept, and at least 4 active category links to well-developed pages. The purpose of these category pages is to show how you would organize and present information from the areas you feel are most important to the site.

Overall, your site mock should clearly show your vision for the site. Include some new, original graphics, but feel free to edit and re-use existing images, styles and colors. Use standard HTML to make the fonts and colors appealing, and use tables or frames to lay out your pages. If you use frames, sure to consider the issues of navigation and bookmarking.

Above all, think about your critique when you are designing. In the end, the pages you design will really bring your point home.