AS Media Evaluation
Harry Aquilina
Using the results from my website research I found that in many of the websites that offered similar services or had a similar issues had many common conventions, after seeing these working conventions and the popularity of these websites I decided to incorporate them into to my own website. These conventions were the logo being in the top left corner, navigation bars being on the top and also being placed on the left hand side and the use of large pictures was a way that many of the websites managed to interest a variety of audiences.
My website follows typical conventions because it uses a conventional layout for the navigation bar, side bar and so on however the main focus of the site is slightly different. I have decided to have more white space to make navigation even simpler. I would argue that many sites have far too much information and links and it’s hard to get to the point. It is a simple campaign with a simple message and doesn’t need lots and lots of text. The use of large pictures of animals is a convention that I found in websites with a similar campaign. Another convention I used was user-friendly hyperlinks, such as clear hyperlinks and making pictures hyperlinks. The placement of my logo was in a typical position (the top left corner), and from sites with a similar campaign (RSPCA) I have put the contact details in the top right corner.
A campaign site should always represent a cause or issue and a group of people who would be involved in solving that issue. The issue represented on my site is welfare of dogs and the lack of awareness of their needs and safety. I have represented the dogs by using pictures of dogs looking happy and vulnerable. By using these pictures I was able to show the dogs from different viewpoints, i.e. happy or sad. By having a mixture of happy and sad pictures of dogs I can engross both people who care about dogs and those who like dogs. My site has pictures of friendly dogs that are hyperlinks, this will make it easily accessible and appealing to young people that are interested in such causes. Orange is a unisex colour that would interest males and females. By using an orange colour scheme I do not make any gender feel uncomfortable or seem bias. The people who would help solve the issue are the target audience and mine are dog lovers most likely of a younger demographic, aged between 15-25. I have represented them through the mode of address and the language used in the text through out my site. An example of the language I use is seen on all pages by not covering the whole page in text, also I have a poem on one of the pages. I decided to have a poem because I preferred it to trying to explain my point through an “essay”. I have also represented my audience by having the main feature of my campaign video was someone who was relatively in the middle of my demographic. In my video I used someone who was 17 to be a representative for “Canine Alliance”, I did this so that he would show the audience that someone his age has got involved in the campaign and that it would be possible for some other people like him could get involved with the campaign as well.
Websites are a digital product, distributed digitally through the WWW. When the website is ready, a domain name needs to be registered. A domain name can be registered by using a service provided by a variety of companies on the internet, cost for this will range between £1-10 a year depending on the desired domain. To exist on a server and be accessible by the target audience, the site would need to be hosted on a server. This is a service provided by people such as “JustHost.com”, these companies host sites and make them available to audiences.
Quite often the whole process from idea through to assessing the success of a campaign is managed by an advertising agency. Advertising companies such as BBH are associated with the advertising of charitable campaigns.
The core target audience for my campaign is young males and females approximately 15-25 who are animal lovers. I carried out a survey, and from this survey I found out that the majority of people using the internet that filled in my survey were white 13-29 year old males, however I went ahead and decided to use orange as a colour scheme because with further research I found out that orange was considered a unisex colours, this was so I could cater for a larger demographic. The feedback from the target audience on viewing my first draft of the site was it would be easier to navigate round the website with the navigation bar at the top rather than the left hand side. Furthermore I was commended for my use of white space to ease the navigation. The target audience can also be categorized by psychographics and I have identified mine as believers this is because my sites attempts to bring the family together and protect dogs as a united community.
The main ways in which I attract/ appeal to my target audiences is through the uses of pictures. This is based on the theory of an Early Emperor of Xia Dynasty “a picture speaks a thousand words”. My pictures are strategically placed with a mixture of happy and sad dogs. I chose to have happy ones on the homepage and put some sadder ones on other pages, I also put sad pictures in my video. Navigation of my site is easy because of white space and easy to see navigation bars. I address my audience with a friendly and kind tone without losing the important parts e.g. asking for support. I attracted my audience using various techniques so that I was appealing to them, e.g. my website/ charity has a “Facebook” representative and group which appeals to the younger audiences.
By using iWeb I have learnt how to create a website and use this program to it’s full advantages. iWeb is WYSIWYG technology which means What You See Is What You Get. It means that you can design a site without knowing HTML code. It is purely design based. There are templates available but we couldn’t use these so I started from a blank page then put the structure in place. I started by laying out the basic structure I had initially sketched up, these eventually changed after feedback from my first draft. It was easy to create a website using the shape tools and text boxes. The only difficulty I had was using the hyperlink functions, however I eventually got the hang of it. I used other programmes for things I could not do in iWeb. I used Adobe InDesign to create a logo of the RSPCA and to edit images to fit the webpage and not become pixelated.
To create a slideshow I used iPhoto, this program was simple to use and required me to add my pictures and select create slideshow, quite simple. To make sure my pictures only had what I needed in them I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my photos and to delete the backgrounds. I also changes things such as imperfections on the dogs. These imperfections were unattractive colour of the dogs teeth and the weird lighting on the eyes, I also did work on the angle of lighting in the reflections of the dogs eyes to create different emotional looks. I used layers, the magic wand tool and the paint brush, along with a variety of other tools, to create the effects I needed. For my slideshow part of my video I had to have a soundtrack, I got this by making a soundtrack on Garage Band, by using the loops and the keyboard on Garage Band I made a soundtrack that was suitable for the mood I was trying to set in the video.
Looking Back At My Preliminary task, This Is What I Feel I Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product…
After creating my preliminary project I had knowledge of the basics when it came to the use of programmes. The demands from a school website are different from the ones needed for a campaign website. The school one needed different conventions and tone, a school needed a more sophisticated tone and is mainly going to be visited by parents. In comparison, my campaign site would be visited by a different demographic. I did a larger amount of research into my campaign site and felt this was necessary because it was for a larger demographic. I found out more information about what was needed for a campaign site to be successful, through market research into sites like RSPCA etc.
