Our next destination on our graphic design journey is web design. This is a huge field and contains a lot of different techniques, styles and knowledge. I studied html and css in high school, where we designed our own website. So it is not completely new territory to me, but I must honestly say I don’t remember that much. It is a daunting task for anyone without much coding experience to venture into the world of html, javascript and css stylesheets. But I am eager to learn, and will try my very best. Our first task was to write a little about the internet and html, and to expalin some important concepts and words when it comes to web design.
Explain the following terms in your own words:
– The Internet
– HTML
– Browser
– Search engine
Internet
What exactly is the internet? How can I write this in my room in Norway, and can show it to someone in New Zealand? It is in reality a series of interconnected networks that spans the globe. So it functions as a network of networks, where people with access to a computer that is connected to the network can get information from any other computer in the same network. It was created by the U.S military in the 60s as a way to communicate between computer networks. This developed into the ARPANET, which was the direct technological precursor to the modern internet we started using in the 90s.
Through routers and servers we can connect different devices to access information and communicate with each other over the internet. Amazing.
HTML
HTML is an abbreviation for «Hypertext Markup Language», which is a universal coding language for information found on the internet. HTML functions as way to write information which is then translated by a browser. It is used as a standard in programming websites for describing the visual appearance of information, and how it is supposed to be displayed by a internet browser. It is used to mark and describe different kinds of content, like text, hyperlinks, sound, video and so the browser can display them correctly.
Browser
A web browser is software you use to translate code to visual elements. So every site that are displayed in a browser like Chrome, FireFox or Internet Explorer has a HTML coding behind it. The browsers is what makes us able to read the code. In addition to HTML, we also use CSS and JavaScript. These are also code, but is used for other features like layout or interactive design.
Search engine
Search engines was created in the late 90s, when the internet started to expand. It became important to be able to find what you were looking for in an easy way. This was because the internet had become so massive, so combing through all the information was impossible. A search engine basically makes it possible for anyone to do an online search for a specific thing. The search engines makes it easier to find the information we are looking for. Google started out as a search engine, and it still has the best one. By use of indexing, algorithms and other techniques the search engine is able to scour the entire web for the keyword in an instant.
Please research and add another 10 questions to the briefing process. From this list of 20 questions (your 10 added to my 10), please create the ultimate list of 10 questions that you would use for clients.
- What kind of visitors are your expecting on your website? (Consider their income, interests, gender and age)
- Who are your competitors and how do you differ from them?
- What actions do you want visitors to take on the site?
- What is your deadline for completing the site?
- How big is the budget?
- What features should be used on your website? (This includes things like contact forms, pictures, videos etc.)
- Please list the names of three sites that you like and explain what you like about them.
- Do you have any color preferences?
- What should the look and feel for the website be?Who will be the contact person for this project?
- What do you NOT want on your site in terms of texts, content, color, and graphic elements?
- Who will be responsible for maintaining the website? Will the person have the time and skills to do so
My ultimate brief:
- What do you want to achieve with this website?
- Who is your target audience?
- What do you want the website to look like? Keywords.
- Who is your competitors and how do you differ from them?
- What is the most important features you want the website to provide?
- How will the people be using your website?
- What is the budget for the site?
- What is the deadline?
- How much traffic do you expect for the site?
- What is the lasting impression you want people to be left with after being on the website?
Surf the web and find 10 sites you would consider to be great websites. Simultaneously, make a list of 10 sites you consider bad web sites. Remember to describe why you would define them as such. Upload your lists on your blog.
https://www.spotify.com/no/
I like the fresh look of this site. It stays true to the trendy brand ideal that Spotify has built up.
https://gizmodo.com/
My go to site for random tech news. It is a bit cluttered, but I still think it works visually a lot better than many other similar content-heavy sites.
https://www.twitch.tv/
Not a site I frequent too often, but I love websites that use a dark color palette.
https://www.apple.com/
A great looking site. Awesome pictures, appealing arrangements, good typography. Just all around proffesionalism.
https://www.betabrand.com/
A clothing brand I have bought many products from. Clean design. But the great thing about the site is that they update it and improve it over time.
https://www.duolingo.com/
The popular language app also has a great looking website. Fun colorful illustrations and great interactive features.
https://digg.com/
Clean and simple. Easy to navigate and has a good organized overview of the content.
www.behance.com
This one is kinda obvious as it is the biggest site for professional artists to display their projects.
https://www.youtube.com/
Has gone through numerous visual updates but I like the current style a lot. Easy to navigate.
www.trakt.tv/
Great looking, organized, stylish. I actually changed from a similar site to this one, simply because of the design.
Here are some bad websites:
https://www.microsoft.com/nb-no/
Wireframe
I chose to make a simple lo-tech wireframe in illustrator. The reason I did this was because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted the website for MA05 to look like, so by making a rough wireframe I could still tweak it without losing all the time I spent on making it. If I made a high-tech wireframe, I feel I would be less inclined to make changes, even good changes. I haven’t decided to include multiple pages, other than the homepage, as it is not a requirement for the assignment. But I may do it for the actual design of the website.
Homepage
For my hosting, I chose Godaddy. They are a well known and popular brand, and had reasonable pricing. I chose ragelius.com as my domain name, as this is a nickname I have often used online and in various games.
My Reflective Journal 
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