mine

what the hell. now that web design is over, I am just going to use this already set-up site to just update stuff.

Church today. 11 AM service:

It was exactly what I needed. Sense of purpose for my life. The scripture reading was from Job. Perhaps one of my favorite gospel (it is a gospel...right) in the entire bible.

I prayed that I could love greater than I can think. I also prayed for the capacity to believe, to have faith beyond my earthly desires and the full potential of my physical strength. Now that is something worth aspiring for. Going to lunch with mum now, but I shall update more.

hiddencityphila.org

I wanted to go out with a bang (ha....ha) so I searched for some of the most meaningful, interesting companies/groups that maintained a website (as opposed to just a coolest website). And this was my best find. Discover the city that you have never known.

navigation. At first there is only one major group of "navigation" that will take you to different places on the site. That is the main navigation shown above. Upon rollover, the look of the links change (blue, and then the cute little arrow to the left of the link) and secondary navigation links are shown whenever appropriate. Once these links are clicked on, the look of the link changes in a sense that the roll over state becomes permanent (that is until you click different links :P); this lets you know where you are in the site (of course the content is very predictable from the main links...so if you should also be able to tell where you are from deducing...). The hierarchy of the navigation system is denoted by the slight font size difference and the dotted line that connects the secondary navigation BELOW the main navigation. All the secondary navigation links are available no matter where you are as long as you hover over the main link they are attached to, and the main navigation remains stationary throughout the entire site. You can go back to the "homepage" which is the map page by either clicking on map or the hidden city logo.

architecture. The site appears to be relatively deep (more than 20), and I don't think the site is actually lacking pages or is in need of more pages. The architecture is flat in a sense that every page of the website is accessible from the homepage (main and then secondary nav).

content/typography. Throughout the site, there is an appropriate usage of font size, color, bolding variation to indicate the hierarchy. Because of the nature of the content varying so much from page to page, however, this variation is not applied consistently. I do not have the problem with this inconsistency, though. They make intuitive sense. Alignment, bolding, font sizes, colors were used to make the hierarchy. And the labels are crystal clear. Very predictable.

structure/grid. The grid remains consistent throughout the site (even in calendar, which is actually very impressive). The top navigation stays, and below that the body area changes. The consistency makes for easiness understanding the site, and gathering information really fast. Although my eyes often do get drawn to the hiddencity logo in the peripherals, the body area does a good job of being a focal point of the site.

imagery/symbols. A lot of imagery/symbols of "treking" is used on the site. From the footprints to dotted lines. Photos are stunning (very professional) for each sites, imagery, photos are very appropriate, and I personally don't think there needs to be any more. No symbols that need thoughtful understanding is present.

color palette. Blue, gray, and white. Clean. Treking doesn't have to be dirty, and they made a smart choice to make a cleaner site since the concept of a month long festival is not something easy to understand. The color is strategically used (and the shades of course) to seperate the content hierarchy as well as to provide the visual anchors throughout the site (it doesn't look like it's floating, lopsided, etc.).

site focus. The point of the site is to introduce this new program/festival to the surfers and engage them in finding the hidden city of Philadelphia via participating in the festival, playing the innovative game, and visually enticing them to the secrets to be reveiled about Philly. The site doesn't have search function, but I don't think it is necessary. The most interesting feature on the site for me was the home page where they had google map with places to visit as well as how to get to certain places using the google map directions (this feature is useful when you go to calendar-->click on a site). There is nothing particularly confusing about the site, especially if you read the "about" which is below the map (didn't know at first this part existed becasue the map takes the entirety of my screen). I would move up the about (maybe make a separate page for it) and also have "sites/artists" link in the main navigation so that people can see ALL the sites/artists participating in the festival in a single list. Overall though, a wonderfully innovative site about an innovative project that will certainly be delightful.

chloebyob.com

I've noticed that my website reviews are becoming more "local" as the days go by. Oh well, what can I say, I actually end up spending more times on these random local/small websites since I've been trying to go do more off-line things lately. :D I visited Chloe's website to check out the restaurant before my friend and I went to have a delicious dinner. I really think restaurants should take the website seriously--it really makes or breaks it for quite some people. I went to Chloe DESPITE the website only because my friend insisted that it's one of HIS fav. restaurant. The appetizer was to die for. Lamb? My friend loved it but I didn't think it was worth 24 dollars.

navigation. There is one navigation (so there is only one navigation grouping), and it makes sense. It's the bare basics about the restaurant, and in a sense that they don't clutter up the website with useless information that no one cares about (really no one really cares about how historic their building is...unless they do), I enjoy the simplicity of it. Although there is a rollover state, the look of the links do not change nor is there headline in the body area that tells you where you are. But given that there are only four choices, it will be actually difficult to get lost in the website. Furthermore, the navigation remains stationary (only the body changes), and you can always go back home by clicking on "home."

architecture. Even without the sitemap (but then again, why would you have a sitemap for such a simple site), I can easily tell that the website is not very deep. No more navigation appears as you go deeper into the site, and it goes with the simplicity of the site (in that sense, it is at least consistent).

content/typography. Although they can get away with it because of the simplicity of the site, there is virtually no clear hierarchy in the site. There is usage of different font styles, presumably, different sizes, and some are italicized while some are not, but none of these really relate to each other in a real hierarchical way. I would improve it by having a clear hierarchy through successive intensity of the color usage or the font size change (as opposed to using different font styles...there is not enough text in the website to justify this much variety in font styles, really). As there is no headlines, the prominence or subordination of one information over another is virtually absent from the site, but as mentioned above, the labels of the navigation is plenty clear.

grid/structure. As mentioned above, the grid of the site stays very consistent (basically the right side of the page is the only one that changes), and the website contains within its own scrolling bar to scroll through the text so that the navigation to the left is EXACTLY where it is at all times. I guess this makes for a very easy to navigate website (not that it would have been that much harder if they just had the browser scroll to scroll through their text parts). On any single page, the one item that gets the most attention is the chloe logo on the right hand corner.

iconography/imagery. Other than ONE picture per each page, ther eis the infamous chloe logo, and no other iconography/imagery. It does leave me wanting a little more, but I don't want the site to get overcomplicated for no reason either.

color palette. Red, whitish color (off-white of some kind), that earth color surrounding the logo, and black for the text. They were chosen for no apparent reason. I visited the restaurant, and these are not particularly the color that the restaurant was especially decorated with (these are actually pretty common palettes for an indoor decor).

site focus. The point of the site is to introduce the restaurant and impart the surfers with a basic business information. It does not let you search for soemthing, and the only thing I find useful about the site is the hours of the restaurant (they do keep pretty bizarre hours for a business opertion), but that is also not to say I leave the site totally perplexed and uninterested. It does the job, and I am glad that the resturant managed to put online a website--so many other great ones do not.

brewhaha.com

So related to the coffee shop I discovered below, I thought I would post a site for my favorite coffee shop in Philadelphia. They do have the hands down best espresso and espresso-related drinks even though they could have done a better job with the up-keep.

navigation. Yep, there is only one navigation. It's not even as sophisticated as Cafe Fanny (although fanny was by no means sophisticated compared to some of the other websites), and they have far more actual stores (and presumably more sales/revenue) than Cafe Fanny. It's funny how that works. Anyway, although I hate how clumped they look, the grouping, since there is only one of it, makes sense. It's everything they think you want to know about the coffee shop. Since there is only one, also, there is no hierarchy per se unless we go as far as to say that the order of the items presented indicate some kind of hierarchy. The main navigation is stationary, and appears in every page. Although there is a rollover state (the color of the links gets brighter), there is no after-click state. Because the website has only like 10 pages, it's easy to tell where you are in the site. Once you click on the main link, that is where you are, and there is a headline in the body text that tells you so. You can always go back home by clicking their logo.

architecture. As mentioned previously, the site only contains 10 or so pages; it is not deep. But since you can access every page of the website from home, the website is flat. I think the simplicity of its structure is a good thing for this specific coffee shop because more clutter doesn't seem to be necessary. I would actually make it even flatter and shallower (no pun intended...?).

content/typography. The headline for the page (which tells you where you are, conveniently enough), is in the same stayle (muted color) as the navigational links at the top. Below that, there are, for some pages, usage of headline2, and paragrpahs (css style). There is a weight difference (the top navigation is in all caps...that's super emphasis right there). The labels, although there are many, are pretty clear about the information they will share with you.

grid/structure. Grid is verrrry css/html, and it is, although blocky, consistent across the board. Only body area changes. The consistency makes for the predictable, stress-free surfing. The focal point is the body text not because there is anything particularly visually interesting about the body paragraphs, but becasue the website is information-driven (you are there to get information about the cafe...aren't you?), the fact that the body paragraph presents that is enough of an incentive to pay attention. But yes, there is an undeniable absence of cool graphic elements.

iconography/imagery. They have this drab sephia tone photos and graphic element below it on every page on the right hand corner. I am not amused. They should have more interesting pictures, probably with less sephia (I see enough brown on the website), and get rid of the graphic thing. There is no symbol/iconography used throughout the site, but I don't think the site particuarly needs any.

color palette. Brown, light brown, lighter brown, yellowish brown. BROWN. jesus, I know they are trying to say "coffee" but it really makes the entire site 1. amateure, 2. DRAB. Brown, in its myriad shades, are used to for different text elements (headline 1, 2 paragarphas, navigational links), and they are clearly, and consistently applied to give a cohesive sense of hierarchy. But really, I am not amused.

site focus. The objective of the site is to provide some information about the cool coffee shop they are. Cool the site is not. Not only that, the site feels nothing like the actual store which has high white ceilings, well designed menu boards, and awesome coffee and food. The site does not let you search for something, nor is there anything exciting about the site other than the address and the phone number of the philadealphia locatoin (NO HOURS! UGH.) Since they are not even selling anything, they really failed at making me want to go their coffee shop if it wasn't for the fact that 1. philadelphia somehow notoriously lacks coffee shops worth going to do some decent work 2. their coffee IS actually fantastic. There is nothing confusing about the site; if anything, it is too boring to be confusing.

cafefanny.com

Not to free associate--well, who am I kidding: I am free associating. So after the bear naked, I googled other cool granola sites to see if anything interesting came up. Not only was this site one of the few that came out toward the top, it also had this weird name that rhymes (does it?) Anyway before I start, I wanted to point out MY FAVORITE part about this site. It's most an introduction website for a cafe that actually has a shop in Berkeley, CA. Not only do coffee shops usually not have a cute little website for themselves, but it's often impossibly hard to find their HOURS (which is possibly the most important piece of information other than how delicious their coffee is). They have it NICE and CLEAR on the homepage.
Nice.

navigation. There is only one navigation on the home page (and throughout) and that is the main navigation. Once you click on the link, it changes (the font color changes to orange from beige and the box also comes (secondary navigation) attached to the link. The link also has the box surround it.
The hierachy comes through mostly because of the simplicity. The top navigation, which stays constant in all of their pages, is clearly the most important navigation (well the logo is the bigger, but it IS the logo). The secondary navigation (the links of the secondary navigation changes to match the orange of the top navigation when clicked on) whose color matches the clicked on link) is of a smaller size font, but the small caps make for a nice transition from all small case used for the top navigation. The transition is thoughtful without being slick and I think it comes their cafe vibe pretty well (although of course, I have never been there). And because of the simplicity of the website, the place within the site is pretty clear to tell. You can also go back to the home page any time you want by clicking on "home."

architecture. It doesn't appear to have a deep structure. There are total of about 20 pages, and they are not acessible at first (you do have to clikc on each main navigation link to access that secondary navigation for that category), so in a sense, they are also not flat (structurally).

content/typography. Other than the ones I talked about already, the site keeps a pretty simple css style, where they utilize headlines (bold, bigger font), paragraphs (same color as the headline), links (a little darker yellow than the paragraph/headline). So in a sense, color, font weight, font size were all used to organize the page. And the links are very straightforward; when I clikc on menu, I know I am getting the full menu avaiable at the cafe and that is precisely what I get.

grid/structure. Grid, as mentioned before is pretty consistent where the top navigation has a little secondary navigation box attached to the bottom of it, and the focus is given ot the pictures dedicated for each page and the body text (there is nothing special about the tests but because you clicking to get the information, your eye does seek out the information in the text).

iconography/imagery. Although there is no icon/symbols used anywhere on the site, I do like the cleanliness that comes from the lack of those, and I probably wouln't change it. The photos that changes for every page is nice. I don't think more pictures will be necessary.

color palette. Purple, maroon, red, yellow/beige are basically all the colors. Although I don't know why these are chosen (could be their decor color), these colors speak to each other and work well together. As mentioned before, orange-beige helps with segregating texts, and so do weights/font size.

site focus. As mentioned before the point of the site is introduced the cafe. They do sell some stuff on the side, but they do not appear to be the main point (they do too little marketing to sell the items for someone who has never had their products previously). There's no search button (seems it would be excessive), and there is nothing really confusing about the site. I really wish I was in Berkeley to go to this cafe.

bear naked

It was sitting on my desk, you know a bag of bear naked, and I thought: "why not? i like bears."

Navigation. Possibly as simple as the dog-walking site below, it's simple. There is basically two navigation system on the home page, one is which is primary and the other is secondary (this secondary one, however, disappears if you leave the homepage...forever!)

Considering there is not-always-functioning-well drop down menu (the flash gallery in the front sometimes goes over this), the hierarchy per se, is indicated by first what is ALWAYS present (and those three buttons--get, live, meet--are). The hierarchy is further denoted by the descending font-size. However, confusingly enough there is also a navigation group toward the bottom of the homepage.
These navigation disappears once you get away from the page, but they ARE somewhere in the midst of the main navigation (for instance, theDEN is accessible through live bear naked>join the den) . They sort of act like "news" items on other pages, except they appear (visually) to be far more important to the site than just "news" because other parts of the page is so bare. I don't think it was intentional. The links do not change looks during rollover or after it's clicked on. But with inconsistent headlines, it's also not that easy to tell where you are in the site. Thankfully, though, you can always get back to the site by click on "bear naked," their logo.

Architecture. The site seems to be pretty deep (there's no site map), but more than that, it just looks unorganized (aesthetically they look as if they would be extra organized). It looks flat because with drop-down, fly-out menus, you can presumably get to every page from the homepage...but then again, I started to lose trust in the web-designer.

Content/Typography. As mentioned above, mostly font size is used to indicate levels. They are one of the sites that actually seem to use html css, and they also use headlines and paragraph styles in their body to produce headache-free content. These headlines are highlighted by their color, font size, weight, and capitalization. Not sure if they are particularly bolded...Although I am not sure if it's well organized over all, it is not difficult to guess what is behind each links.

Grid/Structure. Since all the grid you need from homepage is the top navigation, the most important part of the homepage's grid stays. All other pages are laid-out in easy html style, with a focus on the body text (a banner above that is visually most "stricking" though). I think it was easy to build it this way, and of course, it's clean, which is more than what some other sites can say.

Iconography/Imagery. Images of outdoors and bear claws are, for all the downfalls of the site, is the saving grace that makes me want to look through. Really I FEEL HEALTHIER as I browse through. I want to see more and better integrated outdoor pictures, but I wouldn't add any more symbols. I like the simplicity of the claws and I think having more of those cutsie things would actually take away from the site.

Color Palette. Aside from the pictures, orange, black, gray, white, and green are used. Very nature friendly (going with their nature-focused theme and all). In a sense of giving emphasis, orange is used to sort of highlight throughout the site.

Site Focus. The point of the site is to introduce the surfers to the brand and connect them together in a healthier "community," which bear naked is all about. It's one of the few sites WITHOUT the search function, but I don't see myself using it necessarily. They have like 5 products to sell...Also because the website isn't really feature driven, I don't know what could be my favorite. I do like the idea of creating a community for people who enjoy bear naked prodcuts (The Den). The confusingness of the site is the general layout and how the information is organized. Trimming down the pages and making the organization as intuitive as the three navigational links on the top will be the way to go.

truereligionjeans.com

Okay, so this is one of the sites that I am not too excited about to review (really, I am just running out of ideas for website reviews), but it does fit the recently pioneered theme.

Navigation. There are three navigation systems on the homepage. There is the left bar (with the biggest fonts!) that gives you what you expect from a clothing-merchant website. In the same navigation bar, to the bottom in less big fonts are company-info links. The list expands to show the categories within each sex/age group. The top one is reserved for account/shopping bag related things. After you click buy, you will need to use this navigation. Lastly, to the bottom of the browser, there technical items most of which are related to legal thingies. This grouping, makes sense to say the least. It certainly isn't confusing. The hierarchy of the navigation is mainly displayed through font size (although the bottom bar is also in gray which meshies closely enough with the black to fade in the background (presumably, the least important of the three navigation groups. This hierarchy makes sense as the site such as these should have the priority as following: showing products, selling the products, and other company-relevant information, in that order. None of these three major groups of navigation disappears throughout the entirety of the website (well except the investor relations page, which makes sense). Once you get into specific clothing item pages, additional navigation bars appear which includes sorting tools (pants size 30, 32, 33, 34, etc.) and page buttons since they have a lot of products for sale throughout the site! You can tell these are navigations becuase 1) why else would they be there 2) because it is in white fonts just like the expanded navigation once you enter specific sex/age category. Although there is a roll over state, there's no after-link state that tells you that you clicked on a spefic button. There is a nice little breadcrumb, though, at toward the top of the body section. You can also always get back to the homepage by clicking on the bigass logo in the middle of the page>>> TRUE RELIGIONS JEANS.

Architecture. The site, compared to the other sites I've reviewed, have a decent depth. There are not only gazillion products for sale (it's a huge brand), but they multiple views with a lot of sorting functions. The look, because of that, looks cluttered, but of course clutter and chunkiness is the brand aesthetics. So it fits. You can access most of the pages from the home page, but you can't get to the size 30 sorted men's jeans page with a specific wash from home page. But then again, making it so DIRECT would defeat the purpose of "browsing" (which leads to more temptations and presumably more sales), and not serve the company well.

Content/Typography. Typographical hierachy, as mentioned before, is mostly done through font sizes. Category headings are also in all caps, different color, heavier weight, and bigger font size than each items belonging to any one of hte category. I really don't think the distinction could be any clearer. And the navigation is crystal clear. I know when I click on kids, I am getting kids' clothes.

Grid/Structure. As mentioned before, the three navigational groups stay stationary. Only part that changes is the body area (which I expect them to) as I navigate through different pages of the site. It looks consistent and when I want to buy something, there is no hassle in trying to find things that are shifted everywhere. Unfortunately, the site name is TOO prominent--making it the focal point of EVERY PAGE--and kind of distracts the surfers from paying attention to the clothes that they are trying to sell.

Iconography/Imagery. All kind so country-style iconographies/symbols are used throughout the site to match the western-theme which is the dominating aesthetics of the brand. I would personally want less iconographies so I can focus on the pictures, but it is their brand-recognition thing. I don't know if I would recommend reducing iconographies as a marketing person. The images used, because they fit easily into the western-theme, are easy to understand the purpose.

Color Palette. Wood color (brown), red, yellow, blinking signs, white, black, gray--basically all kinds of colors are used on top of colorful photographs to visually clutter--again this IS their design aesthetics--the site. Typographically, as mentioned before, the colors are used strategically to indicate the hierachy. These colors were probably chosen because when used to together, they do invoke some kind of western-bar feeling (not that I have been into any).

Site Focus. The objective of the site is CLEAR. SELL THE CLOTHES. It does allow me to search for something, but I have an easier time finding specific items through browsing because I often don't know the name or the codes assigned to specific pair of jeans. The most useful feature is probably the sorting function. I don't have to start liking some design only to find out that the pair is permantly discontinued in my size. I don't think there is anything particularly CONFUSING, per se, about the site.

OAKNYC.com

A great site; I have yet to buy anything from them because 1. they are prohibitively expensive, 2. when there is a crazy sale, I email them to ask about stuff and they never get back to me. Oh well. I am sure I will drop by their shop sometime once I relocate to New York.

Navigation. What matters are three groups of navigation. The first is the one to your left (still tiny fonts, but I like them like that). The first step in shopping is browsing. And although the font size is still tiny, after the logo (OAK NYC), it is given the biggest font-size treatment amongst the navigation bars. The second group is on the top LEFT, which is about the store and other store-related literature. to the top Right, right above where all the products show up in deeper levels, there is the shopping cart and check out things which are the second step (and hopefully last; returning things are a bit of a hassle) in shopping. The hierarchy that exists within the page also makes sense. For instance, on the left navigation, men is clearly the category bigger than "new items" which are underneath it. All of the above mentioned three navigation group stay stationary throughout the entire website. The only part that changes is the body (which you know you they would change from the very beginning). Also about knowing where you are, once you click on any navigational links, the link is highlighted, and you also find out where you are in the site with a nice little breadcrumb at the top (appears right below the top left navigation group). And whenever you are lost, there are multiple ways to get back, one of the easiest being clicking on the logo.

Architecture. The site, although has many pages (because they have A LOT of items on sale) are by no means deep (about 3 layers in, very techinical at that). This makes sense though, since pyschology dictates that you make shopping as minimally laborious, and ultimately, the site serves little purpose beyond selling items. The architecture, in other words, is pretty flat. Navigation is straightforward, and structurally, the website is designed to match the intutition pretty closely.

Content/Typography. The typography (for the hierachy) as mentioned before is clear. I would normally say make it a little bigger, but since the clientele for the site is young, hipsters, I doubt the size increase will benefit their target market (besides, helvetica/arial bigger doesn't look that nice). Headlines are highlighted by both larger size and bolding. And navigation, as said before, is very intutitive and you get what you expect.

Grid/Structure. As mentioned previously, the grid stays the same (well all three important navigational areas are stationary and predictably, the body area changes). This makes sense, as all the necessary tools are where they are expected to be, and as I navigate deeper or shallower through the website, what I want to see is shown in the middle of the window, commanding my attention. The site demand my attention by presenting interesting, super saturated pictures, colors, and most of all, being awesome.

Iconography/Imagery. Other than the photos (which are more fabulous than they should be...really, the color is not "true"...) there is zero pic/iconography. I really like the simplicity of it. Maybe there could have been arrows and simple little icons for the navigation items, but I don't mind it as it is now. No symbols either.

Color Palette. Black/gray words, white background, and highly saturated pictures. They know what they are doing, this understated chic boutique look. It is hard to say how colors are used to indicate separation in the page (them only being black/gray), but black obviously takes precedent over gray. That is why the category headings on the left column navigation bar is just about the only one with black words. The usage of colors, however, is super simple and straightforward.

Site Focus. The point of the site is sales. It allows you to search for stuff specifically, but since it is a boutique, not a department store, what you are SUPPOSED to be doing is exploring pages and discovering items that catches your eye. Hence, I've never used the search box before. It is in a very prominent location though. I guess if you are an in-the-know hipster, you could potential search for very specific items. The most useful feature? I don't think there is something that particularly stands out about the page that I found to be "most" useful. But that doesn't mean I am confused about the site. There's just nothing technically eye-catching or impressive about the site. What they are known for is having really cool, not-sold-at-many-places items.

GILT GROUP

Okay so I am sort of addicted to internet shopping. It's high time for me to come out and own up to it. And take advantage of it.

Navigation. Gilt.com works pretty strangely. At least for someone who is unfamiliar with what it's supposed to be, it's a bizarre idea. You have to be invited by someone who is already a member to be able to even ACCESS what the site is about. But once you are invited, you receive an email about how things work on the site, including how the sale opens at 12 PM almost everyday (different brands of course), last 2 days, and those sales are GONE FOREVER. So if you think you want something, you better just go with it. A great marketing strategy!
Once you login, the homepage is pretty straightforward in its navigation system.
At the very top is the what some sites have at the very bottom of their page. Support, my account, etc. They do have the bottom navigation as well, for about them, careers, sizing, etc. But what makes the top different from the bottom is that top is designated for technical stuff that is useful for me to actually BUY something on the site, whereas the bottom has a little to do with making purchases. The main navigation, however, as is evident from the gold coloring, is sales, womens, mens, children. After all, the point of the site is make the sales happen. Fold-out menues are usually no longer than 5 items as there are usually far less than 5 sales going on at any given time under each category. You see, the way it works is that very much like a sample sale, the site would have sales that lasts about 2 days. Luxury brands will be selected these sales, it will be available for purchases for 2 days (with limited quantity). You can also click on the pictures in the body part to enter the specific brand sale. And when you enter the second-deepest level (it's only 3 layers deep: home>specfic sale brand>specific sale item), you still see all the navigations. It's nice that way. Although their is no breadcrumbs to tell you where you are, because of the simplicity of the web-design structure, it's hard to get confused as to where you are in the site. And the nice gilt-groupe logo to the top-right acts as a homepage link.

Architecture. As noted above, the architecture is only 3 layers deep. I think the basic-ness of the architecture coupled with a very chic look is highly effective for the kind of thing they are doing. It's luxury brand sale that still makes you feel exclusive. If the site was complex, the idea of it being a "sample sale" where things come in with super limited quantity and people make impulse purchases under the pressure of someone else stealing the item they had their eyes on first would not work as well.

Content/Typography. The hierarchy of typography could not be more apparent without being a little bit obnoxious/paternalistic. Organized from the most important bars to the least, the most import navigation is gold and bolded, the second most not bolded but still of one size bigger font size the third most important, etc. In other words, color, bolding, and font size were skillfully used to distinguish the different navigation. I really don't foresee how I could improve the typography without going overboard. And of course, each label is very clear. Men button would lead to men's apparel sales, "Bamford & Sons" will lead to Bamford and Sons' sale INSIDE the male apparel page.

Grid/Structure. Structure, as we all know from Dreamweaver mess, needs to stay consistent for the sake of coherence AND for the sake of reducing the amount of hair one might lose from building a website. Strucuture on Gilt.com stays very consisten where top two three bars stay consisten in place, and the body changes from blocks of "ads" to items once you start navigating through the site. The consistency makes the focus of the site clear--for SALE--and when I do want to do something, I don't have to go looking for different parts of the page. That's nice. And of course, the focal point in any given page is the "ads" with pictures of the brand apparel items and their brand names. Beautiful pictures and bolded gold letters will make sure that your eye falls right there, and that is precisely the point--for you to get distracted and click on the brand to start SHOPPING.

Iconography/Imagery. Photos are possibly one of the most important aspects of the site; after all, you can't sell clothes by describing them to me. However, I do like the fact that photo/imagery is only used to show items they are selling as opposed to having all kinds of pictures everywhere on the site. It keeps it clean, but also I don't get distracted by things they are NOT selling. On the home page, I do also appreciate the calendar picture on the left bottom. It's consistent with how the information is displayed on that specific page, and definitely very intuitive. Also, other than super straightforward arrows here and there, ther are no icons/symbols used to confuse me.

Color Pallette. Black, gold, gray, and white are the colors used, and without the pictures, that's pretty much ALL the color there is (no shades) on the site. It makes for a very slick, clean website. Colors are mainly used to distinguish the typographic layers as mentioned before. To specifically categorize what the colors are designated for, gold takes precedents while white are pretty explanatory. Gray are secondary informations, while black is used exclusively for the background. Color choices are chose to match their "luxury" feel, and I do have to agree that they did a fantastic job making the site not look like an outlet site.

Site Focus. As mentioned previously, the point is make the sale happen fast. It doesn't have a search function within the site only because there are only a handful of sales going on at any given time, and since you can't buy anything that is not currently on sale, what is the point of having a gigantic catalogue of what has come before? The straightforwardness, if that can be a "feature" is the most impressive part of the site. I want to see awesome products, purchase, and NOT DWELL. There's nothing worse than buyer's remorse...And because of this straightforwardness, the site doesn't illicit much confusion. ESPECIALLY if you understand how this timed sale works (which they easily explain in their email).

GO SHOP!

lawschoolnumbers.com

Okay. I have to admit that I have been pretty obsessed with Law School related stuff recently. And by recently, I mean since about 10 months ago. How dd things like this happen to me?

I have been actually very interested in the way this website functions because it seems to operate upon a pretty bizarre concept. People post their statistics (gpa, lsat scores, etc.) and how did they do with schools. And it draws enough traffic through the year to attract pretty lucrative ads.



Navigation. Despite the look of it, the main navigation for the site is not "welcome | about lsn | FAQ| announcements." Yes, they are bigger and they have bigger visual presence, but they are not the navigation that lead users to the pages that they are interested in. Instead, the main draws of the site is the "users" page where the users can sort the database by other users' names (every applicants and the schools they've applied to will be attached to their names) and "schools" page where the users can sort the database by each schools (every applicant who has submitted their applications to the given school will be pooled). Because there is a rather large amount of data uploaded onto the website, people might assume that there is a well-established hierarchy. That actually is not the case for this website. There are very a few pages (about 3 pages) that people usually go to. The one about school. The one about users (sorted by specific data point). That's it. The only thing that changes when you click on the link is the small underline under which section of the website you are in. Considering you are not dealing with that many pages, such a treatment is perfectly fine. You are very aware of where you are in the site. And of course, whenever you feel the need to hit the homestar, just click on the logo, and it will take you back to the homepage.

Architecture. As mentioned previously, the functional part of the web (the parts people utilize; the webpage is very much user-need driven. It is a pretty database, afterall.) is very flat. And really, the entirety of the website is pretty shallow. You use the school page or users page.

Content/Typography. Bolding is used throughout various parts of the site, so the only thing that distinguishes a level/hierarchy is the size of the font. Using Arial (I think), the site has the clean/serene look not found on many other database site; it does seem to be a bit more welcoming. And given that site is mainly for the two pages, navigation is clear. There's not many information to cluter the main message.

Grid/Structure. Structure remains very consistent. Top bar stays the same, the body content changes as you click one button, one account, after another. This consistency remains faithful to the mainpoint of the website--it is a database for obsessed law school applicants.

Iconography/Imagery. Imagery is something that is clearly lacking in the website, but because it is a database, having one might be merely superfluous. Every school has their school insigna presented in its own splash page (with all the relevant data), and there are "stack of books" and weird line icons that seem to have no clear meaning attached to them. Although I wouldn't mind seeing more well-placed, well-thought-out icons throughout the website, as it stands now, I don't have that much more to ask for.

Color Palette. Color usage is minimal. There are blues (in its standard shades), black/greys (in their standard shades, too) and splash of primary colors used sparingly. Although the color usage is nothign extraordinary, it does lend the site with a sense of cleanliness that ameliorates the fact that at the end of the day, it is merely a database. The separation of content is quite clear when it comes to data pages, with the most type-heavy body given the white background. The cleanliness while not compromising simplicity of the content organization seems to be the driving force behind the color choices.

Site Focus. As extensively mentioned, the site has one focus, and it fully embraces that focus. It lets users put their information about law school application online, and have each other share how they fared. Accumulated over years with people from all across the country (and a little bit of the world obsessed with US law schools), the site gives up-to-date information when the decisions are released, what kind of decisions are released, and what kind of decisions can be expected given a hopeful candidate's data points. Also, as it is a data-base website, search is something of an importance to the site. You can search by school, applicant name (and sort them by 8 categories) or do an advance search with data-point guidelines. Two features, as I have mentioned, I find useful: the data sorted by the schools and applicant names. Only complaint I have about the site is that for site with two useful pages, there seems to be a lot more going on when the homepage loads. Although this does add to the legitimacy of the website (you certainly don't want a website with just two functional pages), homepage that gives bigger emphasis on these pages could have been beneficial. As it stands now, about lsn and f.a.q. seems to be of greater importance.

Law school crap

I know, I am going to post on two law school related website. I couldn't help it since I am on these sites like my life depends on them. No really--I have to physically remove myself from my computer sometimes in order to stop hitting the refresh button.

First website: top-law-schools.com Yes there are hyphens between three words. I don't know why. But I still think it's cool sometimes.

Navigation. There are total of 17 navigation buttons on the home page. The site is based off of a horrible forum-style websites, and the navigation, despite the fact that every button has an obvious page that it leads to (I will get to them in a sec), they seem very disorganized. It's one of those "LET ME SHOW YOU ALL I HAVE NOW NOW NOW" kind of navigation. But because of the content-quality, the website traffic is great. I know I spend more time on that website than ANY other I know--including the horrible monster that is facebook 4.0.

Leftside bar, as shown here, is pretty weird for a leftside bar as they are random information that does NOT represent the sitemap. It's the kind of information that should belong under top bar information's "application" or "school information" of a typical website. But this weird navigation methodology makes sense in one particular way: the rest of the website is forum pages where all the information is distributed and shared by the users, whereas the pages that the leftside bar leads you to are what is written by the webmasters of the website.

This left side bar, when one enters the world of forum-style pages, disappears and only the top part remains as the stationary navigation. However, not to fear. The top bar has some columns designated, although not in order, for pages that are written by those overseeing the website as opposed to the forum-users.

So here on the right is the top navigation.

My problems with the navigation as shown here are numerous but let me flesh two of them in more detail. First is the look of the top navigation. Although it is the most important navigation for the rest of the website, it has the look of "disclaimers" in other typical websites because it utilizes blue highlighted category names and seemingly unclickable black words. These blacks words like "Law School Admissions" or "Latest Forum Posts" do change once your mouse hovers over (the default blue with underline), but has no after-click state (default would be purple) making it very difficult for people to remember that the top bar is your only guidance in purposefully navigating through the website. Second, the website is mainly driven by the forum. From the look of it, it appears as though the website is driven by the information that the webmaster put up. This is so because the first two columns as well as the fourth column (3/4...that's 75%) are designed for pages that lead to pages composed with information that the webmaster is putting out. There is only one column designated for the forum. The navigation does not do justice to the kind of website that top-law-schools.com is. I know from a personal experience that it took a very long time for me to find out how to navigate through the site for information I was desperately seeking. That said, once you know that there are basically two big parts to the website (one is webmaster-controlled content that directly deals with law school related stuff and the other is forum where users contribute anything and EVERYTHING related to law school stuff) it is difficult NOT to know where you are in the website (you are either reading grammatically incorrect statements that some dude wrote, or well polished prose). Understanding where to get to which specific topic within the forum gets a little used to, but navigation after the index page is not too much of a hassle. And lastly, you can always click on the top-law-school logo thing. You just have to remember to clikc on the words, not the rest of the top banner!
Architecture. The site has a lot of pages (because it's a forum, there just is a lot of information floating about), but to say that the website is "deep" might be misleading. Yes, you do have to click quite a bit from the "stanford law school" info page to get to 23rd page of "who would you rather do" page. But they are in no way hierarchical (which the word "deep" implies), and if anything, the number of clicks have to do with inherent problems of forum-driven website.

Content/Typography. Everytime I visit, I want to rip at the "top" of "top-law-schools.com" logo. But either than that, typographically speaking, there is nothing exceptionally bad or good about the website. The hierarchy, of what there is, makes sense (sizes help). And tabs/directories reveal the kind of information they seem to promise. For instance, when the website says Law School Admissions, they mean information that directly deal with admissions. They also have a very default-oriented approach to headlines. The index page's body basically has the newest posts. They are blue and underlined, and they are very clickable. Are they my favorite things? No. Do they make sense? It certainly doesn't make you go "Wait..."

Grid/Structure. The top portion of the website stays consistent. Although I have posted my problem with it in the above sections, what it does right is how it perfectly embodies the feeling of a true forum. It's simplicity (almost default-like) is suitable for the kind of website it is. The focus is on the body part of the pages (regardless of whether the page has information that webmaster put on or that users posted). There is nothing ostensible or fancy about the body, however. It's light blue and very forum like (for the user part) and white with heavy text and a few pictures. Since the website is very heavily content driven, however, the lack of pretty things and cool imagery somehow gives the weight to the actual content of website as opposed to its design.

Iconography/Imagery. Photos, a few are used, are there for informational purposes and not much more. Although I wouldn't particularly mind more pictures on the website for specific schools, the kind of information that the website is distributing (mostly about LSAT and Admissions) doesn't really call for any photos. What it has is sufficient, and the amount it has makes sense. As stated above, the seeming dryness of the website actually works to its advantage.

Color Palette. Even including the color palette, the website doesn't seem to have more than 3 major colors used. Blue in its myriad shades. Color-choice, again, seems to be a default choice and while there is no deliberateness in selection, it makes sense for the simplistic design that forum-style websites typically utilize.

Site Focus. Purpose of the site is pretty clear. It is for people to share information about the law school admissions process in its full picture. From prep to choosing law school to information about exams once you are in law school. Although there are few pages dedicated to information that webmaster wishes to distribute such as interviews with the dean, the main focus is the user contribution and what the information users share with each other. You can search for a specific topic or a user (with greater difficulty for some reason), and the way it brings information that is usually not officially available on school or LSAC website is very useful for the self-selected group of people who frequent the site. One particular improvement is greater navigational clarity and increasing accessibility to personal account page from any page of the website. Depending on where you are on the site, it might be a few clicks before you can check your mailbox through which you can communicate with other users via private messages.

Change of Theme

To be posted soon, but I couldn't deal with the hate-on-kitties theme. So I am going to change the theme up a bit. Bye kittie.

Cats and Dogs

Review of www.delcodogwalkers.com

So it's already getting a little bit kitschy, but I am so attached to the idea I am going to commence on with this "things related to kitties" blog. At least it's cohesive in a sense, right? So the website, as can be suspected, is about dogwalking services provided around Daleware Valley (I actually don't know where that is; what I am referring to is actually "somewhere around Philly.") This should be as much fun as watching a dog. 

Navigation This site is simpler than the site reviewed below. It's hierarchically flat (no page is given higher visual priority as opposed to any other, that is unless we consider the placement in the left is "hierarchically more prominent than" the right), and there are less pages to be navigated since there are only 8 pages that users can navigate to and all of them are self-contained (there are no sub-pages that these pages lead to). Simply enough, users are aware of the entire structure of the website in a few click since the site appearance remains exactly the same except the body of the website where the desired content (users click on one tab or the other) shows. All the tabs are very specific and intuitive. They are also goal driven (what kind of services it offers, how much it is, and how to obtain those services). However, the said simplicity also implies that navigation comes with less dazzle. As the mouse hovers over, the tabs are highlighted with a slightly darker shade box. 

Architecture As stated above, the architecture is relatively flat, and because of the simplicity adds to the credibility of the business (dogwalking is not a rocket science = why should the website providing information about the service be?), it IS a good thing. 

Content/Typography Typographically speaking, although they are not the most beautifully set types, it's direct (when I click on "about us" I get about us), unburdened with unnecessary implications (say with a "joker" typeface, or worse yet type faces that are named after typeface makers' kitties or doggies). Particularly, the almost linear increase in font weight with increasing information hierarchy (A head v. B head). This linear relationship does come with a pit-fall. Because the site title cannot be more than certain size without appearing overbearingly large, the body text was instead composed with small fonts that create vibrations even for someone with a good sight (do dogs have good sight?). One way the website could circumvent this shortcoming is by choosing different type-styles (perhaps san-sarif for text and sarif for titles, headlines, etc.) 

Grid/Structure As stated in the navigation, grid does stay the consistent across the website. But what is fascinating is the focal point. My eyes are consistently drawn to the cute pictures of dogs on the top-right corner. There is nothing that special about these pictures, but on various pages, we see pictures of adorable dogs. The pictures on this site, is meant to draw attention with their cuteness. In this sense, the top-right side act as a consistent, reliable source of expected amusement; hence, the attention is easily drawn here. 

Iconography/Imagery As previously mentioned, photos do "awww it's cute" thing on this website. I do feel as though the website can take a fuller advantage of the pictures in a more subtly integrated way. Furthermore, although it does not use any icons, I don't think the site necessarily needs any. 

Color Palette One color seems to be used. They are light green and a gradient version of that color. The gradient version highlights the textbox that contains the important information. The green does not seem to serve any purpose that is strictly related to the website however. 

Site Focus The objective of the site is to sell the service that Dog Walkers LLC provide in its namesake. Although it allows you to search for something, the flatness of its architecture almost makes the search box superfluous. The most useful part of the site is probably the rates for which these things go for, and the site could improve on general sophistication of the look of the site. But really, it does the job as it is. 

I do like doggies a lot. Personally I do not have a dog, but the site kind of convinced me that maybe I could afford to get one before I am 65 and retired. 

How's your fishie

Review of www.fishland.com

In an attempt to stay with my hello kitty theme, I found a website for pet fishes. The idea is to create a virtual fish and supposedly take care of its six areas of "wellbeing" much like those virtual pet things which were o-so-fashionable back in the elementary school days. Needlessly to say, the website did make me feel like I was back in elementary school. Not in a good way.

Navigation I don't actually know how the navigation would work for someone who the website is clearly trying to target (um, refer to iconography/imagery), but the navigation is rather confusing for a website-for-younger-generation. On the left-hand side, there are what appears to be useful tabs such as "world," "games," "help," etc. on a blue panel but really, they don't really help raising my fishie Mr. Pinxo. This looks-good-but-quite-useless blue panel shows up on every page as you explore the website (the consistency of their appearance makes it an easily identifiable navigation panel), so in a sense, they are given some sort of priority by the webmasters. (This links on this panel changes into a different shape when the mouse "hovers" over the link, making the panel look even more like a main navigation tool.) Home page also has another light-bluish panel on the rightish side that leads to pages with more "information" about getting, raising, (and presumably, killing) your fishie. In regards to the grouping of items on the left panel, although the grouping looks harmless (they don't necessary scream "I don't belong here"), I did find it a little unintuitive. For instance, I found it funny that the panel given a priority (left side) showed things your fishie should do (world tap) and things YOU should do as his/her owner (chat with other young--really--owners). All in all, even if you don't know why you are going somewhere or what that page is about, the left panel makes sure that you know where you are, and how to get back to the home page, if you so desire. (But why would you? Raising your fishie is so much fun!)

Architecture The site, as complicated as it is to actually raise your fishie (oh, btw, you can raise "fish" that is not a fish at all; for instance, you can raise a beaver.), does not seem to have deep architecture. The panel on the left is basically the entire site (with few sub-pages linked to the ones that the links on the panel leads to). But by no means is the site completely flat. There does exist a rough hierarchy of information, and it adds to the excitement of "raising" your fish. In the real world, you wouldn't get a manual that explains everything and anything about the fish when you buy one at a pet store. You learn as you go. Same logic applies here, and in that sense, the fishie you "raise" is s more "virtual" than "digital."

Content/Typography Typography here is a true

 art. Well, for the audience. First, there is the large "fishland" typeface on the very top of the page, very festive. And clean, sansarif throughout. Depending on the hierarchy, different weights and font sizes are assigned. The leading is large enough to avoid vibration. There are variety of ways one could improve the site (typographically speaking), and perhaps make it more "sophisticated." One of those ways is to have a better designed san-sarifs. Another way is to make a narrower columns of text so that the site doesn't look so sparse. Furthermore, as it was referenced in the "navigation" section, the site content could use more intuitive labeling that leads to predictable content material.

Grid/Structure The way the site is structured is pretty basic. The top portion contaning membership sign-in information and the left panel remains in its place and only the lower right side changes according to the place toward where the users directed themselves. The consistency does lend some cohesiveness to the website. For me, the focal point is the part of the page that changes. There is nothing specific about the page that changes that is consistently interesting, but the element of change and interesting graphic items that occupies these changing pages do draw attention. 

Iconography/Imagery There are a lot of "pictures" and "icons" spread around webpage as well as poppy ads. I do feel as the website could benefit from less graphics, and more serious contents. The website could, on the other hand, use more meaningful graphics. 

For instance, as evident in the blue panel presented to the right, it is not clear why games are represented by a tropical fish (one stretch could be that the tropical fish is more fun than the ones in colder water?) 

Color Palette Baby blue, light baby blue, turquoise are the main colors used throughout the website that are not graphic images. Whereas baby blues are related to panels and membership-related services, turquoise is a panel that belongs specifically to each page that changes. Colors do correspond to the "water" that fishies live in, but something tells me that the panel colors were chosen not so much because of its reference to water, but because they represent the cleaner, modern look that younger-audience might find attractive. I stand to be corrected however. 

Site Focus The object of the site is for people to come to the site, and spend time, and get attached to virtual pet, and spend more time. It is directed toward building a sense of community between people with similar pet-raising interest. They achieve this "community-building" idea through chatrooms, fish-fights, shops, and forums. To tell the truth, I am utterly fascinated by the users who seem to spend so much time talking about teen heart-throbs on the chatroom. Community, it has built, albeit small and biased. And because of the its relative small user-base, the search option that would allow specific users to be discovered or information about raising your fishie is not streamlined. The site could greatly benefit from making the informational structure more intuitive, cohesive, and simple. 

As I said, I don't like kitties. But I don't know if I like fishies that fishland has to offer. The site has a room for much improvement, but it does seem to have a stable user-base that could attract more traffic once the site is revamped. Particularly, simpler services and greater attention to your fishie as opposed to things you can do for fun as a member of web 2.0 generation will be helpful. Nonetheless, it was entertaining to review the site. 

Introduction

I do not like kitties. That's for sure.