Sunday, September 25, 2005

Comparing Sites

Blog assignment #2. How fun.

Kristian Olsen Art & Design vs. Chapters Indigo.

Let me compare these sites based on the four main categories discussed in class. These traits include: utility, consistency, coherence and visual appeal. The Kristian Olsen site is simple and effective. The site's layout is not only attractive in its design, highlighting the creative artwork, but is simple in its design. The flash slide show cycles through Olsen's various artwork and puts it front-in-centre of the page. While your eyes are first drawn to the artwork flashing at you, little squares are located to the left. These squares represent the different prints and entice the visitor to click on them. Different designs of Olsen's portfolio are hidden within each thumbnail and link to a larger sized version of the design. The new page allows the visitor to zoom in on the print to get a better visual on the interesting details of the design. The essential parts to the site, like the navigation bar at the top and the shopping cart, are placed intrusively and fit into the site's overall appeal. This simple yet visual appealing site works as a portfolio perfectly and is well designed.

Chapters Indigo main page is a good example of a typical online store site. The book retailer, who also sells music, DVDs and small gifts on this site, use a basic design that many sites use to showcase their merchandise. Overall the site looks professional and well organized. The navigation bar at the top is easy to use and highlights the different pages on the site well. The only problem I find is the large advertisement in the middle of the page. It distracts the visitor from the rest of the site and focuses them on the ad other than the content of the site. This ad is located in that very spot to get more attention and, therefore, the advertisers pay more to have it. Either way, I find it very distracting. The menus found on both left and right of the page are used to break up different categories and aid in the navigation. Content found down the middle of the page highlight the current deals the company has to offer. Overall, it is easy to find what one is looking for with this navigational design but could use a facelift in visual appeal. Sure it's a simple site, designed to be general tone but a little spunk would help it have more appeal.

When both these sites are put side by side, the differences stick out like a sore thumb. The Olsen site was designed to attract the visitor to the artwork and so it uses a more artsy approach to the design. The Chapters Indigo site, on the other hand, is simple and designed around practical navigational needs. Both sites however share in the practicality. They are both easy to navigate, even though there is more to the Chapters Indigo site. Overall, both sites work for what they have tried to accomplish and succeed in making the visit enjoyable.

Michael Ciuffini

posted by Ciuffini @ 10:20 AM 0 comments

Monday, September 12, 2005

Blog Time!

If you ever have any newspaper writing classes you learn not to lead with a question. Doing so will only frustrate the reader. They want to read the news and want it straight to the point. Luckily this is blogging, so conventions can be thrown out of the window. If you ask me a question, I might just answer you. So go on and ask those questions!

Now on to the good stuff...

So what is blogging all about anyway?

Wait a minute. Did you want me to answer that? I was hoping you could tell me. Whatever. I'll give it a shot.

Blogging is all about communication. Being able to address your individual or collective concerns in a simple online-journal kind of way. Sure everyone can read it, but it's really there to keep the writer satisfied more than anyone else.

Can other people find the writer's thoughts interesting, informal or downright amusing? Sure. But I bet you all the money in my account that the writer will have more people disagree with them than agree. It doesn't matter, the writer is writing it for him or herself and no one else.

In my case, I am being marked on this very post (thankfully not the content, just the fact that it is here). Before I can sign off I need to refer to one other Blog that spiked my interest. Even though I am not one to judge (because I am a journalist and need to be objective) I took a few minutes of my busy *cough* schedule to skim through a bunch of blogs set up on Blogger.com. I was quite bored during this process, paying attention more to the music in the background while I clicked away. Countless clicks later, passing by various pages of useless information, broken links, pornography and journals of high school girls bitching about their boyfriends, I came across The Hoss Report.

The Hoss Report is a small and simple blog. Sure it isn't updated every day, but that’s what I like about it. The journals come far enough between, so if someone stumbles onto it (like I) then they can read it and get some humour out of it. It’s a perfect example of the personal satisfaction I was leaning on before. The writer(s) update it when they see fit and write about what they want. Now that's effective blogging. The "no one cares but me" attitude is what it's all about. The latest entry speaks about how there is always that one co-worker that smells like fish. Well I have worked with many people and many have smelled like fish, so I can relate. So can many others. But, like I said, there are probably more people that have no idea what this writer is talking about.

Just like this very entry on ciuffinicrap. If you don't get it, forget it.

posted by Ciuffini @ 3:20 PM 0 comments