OUGD504: Design Production - Design for Web Final Crit

Today we had our final crit for web. It was done in the same format as the print crit which I think has positives and negatives. We had to leave the studio for one hour to allow the other group to crit our work. Last week I was very disappointed to receive only 2 forms of feedback but this week I had 5 different sheets. I presented my 5 design boards and left my laptop out for people to have a look and use my website.

 Design boards -

My Site so far:

Homepage

History page

Inspiration page

Submit page

Resources page

We were asked to leave some questions which we wanted feedback on for our site. I asked:

- How do you add a scroll bar?
- Do you think it would be better to use illustrations rather than photos?
- Do you think there is too much negative space?

The feedback I received:

1.

• Sorry, not sure how to add a scroll bar
• On the history page the photos fit nicely and create an easy way to view the content, however on the inspiration page they look out of place.
• As for negative space the only page I see being a problem is the inspiration page. This is because it doesn't fit the grid and creates inconsistency in the website. 

2.

• Sorry, same problem with the scroll bar.
• I think if it was prodomonently for children on the website then yes use illustrations. Because children will be on the history page then yes use them on there. It makes the page less serious and more playful for them. It is maybe a bit too formal. You could have information on the image when the mouse is moved over it. 
• I think the links and history page should have the same layout for consistency. Maybe use the images as the links?

3.

• Sorry, having the same problem
• Photos most effective for the history page as they add authenticity but illustrations would be better for the inspiration page as the photos look more randomly selected on this page.
• An alternative background could benefit the site or consider an illustration with low contrast/opacity - however don't loose sight of the target audience - keep it simple

4.

• Sorry I'm not sure about scroll bars try online tutorials
• For the history page I think the images and text work really well together. However, the first trains paragraph is too long for the page
• Depending on your skills and time I think photos would be best to keep consistency throughout you design. 
• Considering the target audience is for teachers to show to children I think it is a bit broad. Are they primary or secondary school children? I think once you identify this then your design will follow.
• I also think that when all your content is put in you can judge whether there is too much negative space. I think the homepage could do with some more images to make it engaging. 

5.

• The more content you have you will get a scroll bar - could add padding-bottom to text box so it doesnt reach end of page, mess around with container heights, margins etc, W3SCHOOLS is good for tutorials.
• Photos are good so keep them - would probably use just photos to keep it consistent
• Think history is the best page for use of space - maybe try make each side on rest of pages equal to each other in terms of space used.
• I would also make the nav links change colour/underlined when you're on that page so user know what page they're on.

Overall I think the crit was fine. There were some comments made within my feedback which were confusing and it was clear that the person had not read my design boards clearly. Other than that I found it very helpful and I have some changes to make which will improve my site before submission.