OUGD504 - Design for web Content workshop

Today, we furthered our ideas for our websites by deciding on the content for our sites. We started off by listing around 5 or 6 main page titles, and then categorising our ideas onto these pages:

HOME PAGE

• Menu bar for navigation to all other pages
• Whole page image slider in background
• Mini 

BIOGRAPHY / ABOUT PAGE

• Wikipedia style basic info on the Basilica including who what when where and why.
• From this page you can go to the interactive timeline
• And the artists biography

EXPLORE PAGE

• 360 degree walkthrough  inside the Basilica
• Gallery of images
• 3 tier/ storey interactive map
• Map of Vatican City

BOOK PAGE

• Booking drop-down boxes
• Prices, charts
• Opening times, entry requirements, directions to
• Links to the 'Whats on blog'
• Calendar

WHAT'S ON

• Recent Events
• Pope's Twitter account

GET INVOLVED PAGE

• Connect with Facebook and upload your own photos

***

Examples of appropriate features for a website:

Home

• contact
• introduction to the site

Contacts

• address
• email
• phone number
• social media sites

About

• relevant factual detail
• manifesto/ biography

Gallery/ portfolio

• images and info
• careful subdivision according to quantity of body of work

Other features that could be included:

• Forms
• Posts
• User posts/ submissions

Tips for useful website design:

• Be simple and straightforward when naming pages
• Careful not to subdivide down too far and make the categories too small
• Have contacts on the front page - prioritise information what people most highly seek.

We then went on to quickly sketch out what we were visualising for our Home page design:

The background will be a photo slider and the menu, logo and text will be overlay on top of this photograph in a translucent manner. There will also be a mini booking facility on the home page.

The Booking page will be an elaborate version of the mini booking facility found on the home page. It will include drop down boxes and a calendar to accommodate all information needed to book for groups of 1 to large numbers.

We then all switched tables and wrote feedback for the designs on the table. This is the (anonymous) feedback I received for my home page:

'Hectic looking? The menu bar at the bottom looks interesting, fresh!'

I admit that the sketch looks rather crowded, because I started to sketch the content of the photo but I think that the actual design is contemporary and simplistic.

'Unclear what the central scribbles are about. Apart from that everything is clearly labelled'

Not very constructive feedback on my design, but my sketching skills...

'The main info is on the left or right / maybe try more layouts to create a balanced design'

I disagree with this because the images will be the centre of the design on the home page but the information will be central on all other pages, as shown on the booking page.

'Isn't there already a similar website? What makes this different?'

It's about St Peter's Basilica?

'Allowing two languages makes it more diverse and applicable to a larger audience. Simple and functional layout'

Thanks!