Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wow I'm done




Success at last. Building this site was a struggle for me considering it was my first site ever. Although it was a struggle I thoroughly enjoyed the experience even with all the anxiety attacks brought on by Dreamweaver. I'm very proud of my end result, and intend to keep working on building websites.

Thanks to Professor Stockton for making this a truly rich experience.

I'm on to Interactive 2 next semester!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Another Attempt




So I went back to the drawing board... literally and come up with a simpler design. I think!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Design Inspiration


Th

This is a great site for a little design inspiration.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

LOGO idea

I'm still a little unsure if this one works. The desk lamp was introduced to the type to add an additional dimension of personality. The concept of "OFF THE SHELF" is to create a space where the audience can personalize their space and have a sense of privacy when reading online or buying books. The books are off the shelf and online in their very own virtual reading space.

Monday, February 16, 2009

UPDATED SITE MAP


After carefully reviewing the previous site map, I realized some elements were not working so well so I revised it to be a little more clear.

Web site wireframes





Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Website Name Survey

After looking at the Generation Y vocabulary, I decided on a few names for the bookstore website. They are as follows;
• Top Shelf
• Off the Shelf
• Well Booked
• Booktopia
•Booknook

I did a little survey around campus and the majority was draw to "Off the Shelf". So "Off the Shelf" it will be!

Monday, February 2, 2009

The site to redesign

So I thought about it, and decided to redesign the Bookstore website. After visiting a few of them I have realized that they are not appealing to Generation Y. I think it's important for this generation to read content other than blogs. 

I will however try to use language that appeals to the target. I researched new terms that the target audience associate with books to help. Listed below are a few.

Dead Tree Edition/ Treeware
The printed version of a newspaper, magazine or journal

Born Digital
Documents that are created and exists only in a digital format

Shnovel
A self help book disguised as a novel

Well Booked 
Having a wide variety of books

Outernet 
The traditional version of media (magazine, newspaper, books, television, radio)

Evernet
Always available internet from many different devices

Narrative Medicine
Stories that assist in helping the sick or troubled

Print Clone
Online version of magazine, newspaper or book

Words were compliments of www.wordspy.com

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Talking with the target!

I spoke with a few people people within the age range of 16-25 just to find out what their internet habits were and their interests online. Across the board, the majority checked their mail first, then the social networking sites. I found that a hand full had profiles on more than networking sites. Once that was done, they moved on to their sites of interest. 


Sterling Dennis, 17
Automotive High School in Brooklyn

Sterling wastes no time in signing into YouTube and AIM before he even checks his email accounts (Yahoo, Compuserv and Gmail). He actually uses Ask.com as his main search engine. He has profiles up on Facebook and MySpace but his main interest lies in 75th regt.org  and anime.com.







Nikesha Brown, 23
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering major at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Her internet ritual starts with checking her emails (school, yahoo and hotmail account). She then signs in to MSN Messenger, AIM, Facebook and YouTube. Nikesha also uses the web to do research, play Yahoo games, check her banking statements and of course shop. The shopping sites are but not limited to Wet Seal, Bath and Body Works, Old Navy, Forever 21, Victoria Secret, Aeropostale and ebay. Oh, she's also very attached to her Blackberry.



Three possible sites to redesign to attract the target audience






I specifically choose these sites because they contain information that is relevant the target's lifestyle, such as health, travel and reading.




Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The "Look at Me" Generation

They are referred to as Generation Next or Y, Millennials, Echo Boomers, iGeneration and even The Net Generation. What ever you want to call them it all boils down to them being young energetic adults who like to and want to be seen.

They are an internet-savvy group, spending more time online and on mobile phones than they do watching television. The majority of them are on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook where they post profiles with their photos and personal information. They quickly become friends with people they have never met or even had a voice conversation.

They basically grew up with the Internet that has altered the way they look at the world.

Their Characteristics
Sociable, confident, technically fluent, open-minded, creative, gets bored easily, hates manual work, prefers things to be easy, likes to multitask, problem solvers, very informal, likes flexibility, don’t like to conform, not brand loyal, big on individuality, likes blogging, and are environmentally aware.

Experts believe that the brains of Generation Y have been actually rewired by technology. This rewiring is enabling Generation Y to become exceptional at handling high levels of diversity and vast quantities of information as well as facilitating astounding levels of creativity. They are fast thinking and are able to work on multiple activities without losing concentration.

To design for them I need to remember that
• They need constant stimulation and feedback to be happy
• They can't concentrate on single tasks for long periods of time
• They want things to be different, more diverse
• The respond to humor, irony, and the unvarnished truth
• They like to share information and ideas