Pages I designed & constructed:

Women’s
• Scarves
• Hats

Men
• Scarves
• Hats

My Account
• Track a Package
• Manage Payment Options
• Manage Address Book

I don’t have much process for this project, but here are my Website Design Comps.

Here is ideation for my print element: Arktos Holiday Gift Card

Annie is involved with legislature and is less knowledgeable about the internet. Amy is a marketing student, and is internet, design, and marketing savvy. The following questions were asked to each participant. The questions mostly measure the user’s ability to find something they’re looking for to determine how intuitive the site’s layout, hierarchy and terminology is.

1. What is this website for?
2. Find an article to read.
3. When reading an article, navigate to another article.
4. Where would you go to read articles from past editions?
5. You are looking for images of student design work.
6. If you needed to inquire about something something regarding the site, what page would you go to?
7. Where would you go to see who currently works on the site/publication.
8. If you wanted to write an article for Device, where would you go?
9. Navigate to where there’d be more information about Device
10. You’re free Friday night. Where on the site would you go to find something to do?

Answers/Observations

1. ANNIE had difficulty articulating the purpose of the website. She spent approximately half of her three-minute test looking for this information, even though she glanced at the “Device” section of the home page several times. She skimmed the content in that location almost immediately, but didn’t gather that the paragraph was describing the site’s content. She then proceeded to click on “Dig it a Hole” on the home page, navigate back to the home page by using the back button, before figuring it out.

AMY found the paragraph on the home page fairly quickly. It took her several moments to read the text, decipher its meaning, and recognize it as the correct answer. The fact that one user had difficulty finding the information, and both took time to read and understand the information indicates that the text should be relabeled, shortened and simplified.

2. ANNIE (who was not on the home page when this question was asked), used the navigation at the top of the page. Although she ran her mouse to the bottom of the menu, reading each option, she then moved to the top article to read that one first. AMY, who was on the home page when the question was asked, clicked on the “Dig it a Hole” link under the “Current Articles” section. Its worth noting that in either location, both users chose to read the first article on the list.

3. When asked to find another article while looking at an article ANNIE immediately used the “Current Articles” menu on the bottom left of each article to read the next article on the list. AMY went back to the Current Articles menu by clicking the “Back to Current Articles” link at the top of the page. After selecting her second article, she verbally acknowledged that she could have also chosen the “Current Articles” menu on the article itself to navigate between articles.

4. ANNIE and AMY both immediately navigated to the Archives page via the page’s main navigation bar.

5. ANNIE and AMY both immediately navigated to the Gallery page via the page’s main navigation bar.

6. The wording of this question threw ANNIE off. She missed the word “inquire” and focused on the phrase “about the site,” so traveled to the About page. She eventually figured she could also go to the Contact page. AMY immediately navigated to the Contact page via the page’s main navigation bar. I believe the confusion on Annie’s part was due to a poorly worded test question, and not the content of the site itself.

7. ANNIE and AMY both immediately navigated to the Staff page via the page’s main navigation bar.

8. ANNIE and AMY both immediately navigated to the Submit page via the page’s main navigation bar.

9. When asked where she’d go to get more information about Device, ANNIE traveled to the contact page and indicated she’d send an email for more information. She never acknowledged the About page. AMY immediately navigated to the About page via the page’s main navigation bar.

10. When asked to find information on “something to do,” Annie first traveled to the home page before quickly turning to the Events page. AMY immediately navigated to the Events page via the page’s main navigation bar.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Neither user had any problem locating the links that were black vs white, or reading/finding content despite the pin stripe background.

User Suggestions/Comments

Annie said that the hardest part of the site was trying to figure out what it is. She read the description twice, but it still took her time to figure out that’s what the content was saying. She said the placement of the text was good, but it would be better to make the text more concise, or to put a one-line subheadline below the title that sums up the site quickly. She liked the vibrant colors and the logo.

Although it didn’t impede her ability to quickly find the desired content on the site, Amy suggested changing the “Submit” link to something more immediately understandable. She wasn’t sure what she would be ‘submitting’ on this page. She recommended changing to “contribute” or something similar. Amy also liked the contact form. She said it felt less daunting because it was more informal than sending a note through an email client.

Solutions

Taking these results into consideration, I made several changes on the site. I renamed the “Device” section on the home page to say “About,” and added a one-line summary of the site, followed by the original paragraph. Even though first-time visitors to the site will almost always have some concept of the site and its purpose, I decided to make this change in case someone were to stumble on the site.

I also changed the “Submit” link to “Contribute” so the content of this page would be more clear.

The website construction is complete, as well as the writing of the content. Still need to get images for the placeholders. Have almost finished editing the music for the motion graphics at the beginning, and will start the storyboarding soon.

I’ll be continuously updating the process book online as I add content to it throughout the project.