Charity websites continued-

For the first website there aren't many colours apart from the colour that is associated with the company itself (the green) and this indicates that the website is for older people and a more serious charity that isn't aimed towards children otherwise there would be lots of colours and bright flashy stuff. Another indication that the website is aimed towards the older market is the video on the home page as it is just this woman talking about the charity without using any fancy animations or anything that would excite the younger generation.

The second and third websites that I annotated also followed along these lines and were all aimed towards the older market and I believe this is because the charity was campaigning for something that would only affect the older generation (such as cancer) so aiming towards children who don't understand this would be pointless.

The fourth website had lots of pictures of animals and the colours indicated wildlife everything was bright and cheerful and I believe this is to try and get the audience to realise how pretty and precious the animals in the pictures and video were and that they are worth saving with their money and support of the charity.

The next website I researched was aimed at both markets I believe as it affected both markets. It had a mix of childish pictures (like the one of santa claus) for the children mixed in with information aimed towards adults. The main colour on the website is again the colour that is associated with the colour of the charity (the green again) and I believe this is to keep reminding you that that colour is associated with that website so whenever you see that colour again you will think of the website and hopefully go to it and donate so that you can help the charity and its cause.

The last website I analysed was the RSPCA website and this is again aimed towards both ends of the age spectrum as anybody, no matter what age, can love and care for animals. So by using a range of serious pictures and "cute" pictures the website manages to appeal to both age groups. I have also noticed that the main animal used on their website is a dog, now I believe that this is because dogs are the UK's no.1 pet so by using pictures of dogs they are most likely going to attract the audiences attention and interest in the website and its cause. Again the website only uses the colour that is associated with its logo, again for the same reasons mentioned above. But also by using only one colour it doesn't make the website looked cramped or over packed where everything is trying to fight for your attention.

Website evaluation

I have found, through research of charity websites, some conventions that all the websites follow and I have tried to follow these same conventions when planning and making my website. One of these conventions that I followed was the navigation bar at the top of my website on every page. I found that of all the websites I researched not one of them had a navigation bar anywhere else and they had it on every page so that you could access any other part of the website from the page they were already on via the navigation bar. I thought that this would be a good convention to follow as it was familiar to anyone who uses the internet so they would know where to look if they wanted to go anywhere else on the website and it allows easy access to anyone on my site to any part of my site.
Another convention that websites followed was the fact that their logo was always in the top left of their page, so again due to the fact that all the websites had their logo their I decided to place my logo in the top left of every page of my website. I decided to do this because I figured that if everyone had their logo in the top left then everyone else would know where to find their logo if they wanted to so I figured I don’t want people spending too much time looking for my logo if they wanted to find it so I placed it in the same place.
Also at the bottom of every website is their copyright © and trademark information and again I reckon it is in this position so you know where to look if you want to know this kind of information and also it is out-of-the-way and doesn't spoil the look of the website. Also I have noticed that this information is in a very small font and normally in a colour that doesn't stand out (like a faint grey) and again I think this is so that it doesn't affect the look of the website. So I decided to place my © copyright and ™ Trademark information at the bottom in a faded-out grey as not to draw attention to it.
I also found that most websites have a colour scheme that they stick to throughout their website. These colours are often next to each other on the colour wheel so that they blend together. So I decided to stick to this to keep with the semiotics of the web and chose to use black, red and orange in really vibrant shades to try and appeal to my audience.
I believe that my website represents a youthful and energetic social group who want to get out there and better themselves both physically and mentally whilst having fun and helping others. I aimed my site towards newcomers who are just starting to get interested in the sport. I am trying to discourage competitive people who don’t want to help others and also people who aren’t interested in getting healthier. I tried to do this by having lots of pictures and videos with the names of the moves under them to show newcomers what some of the moves in Parkour are and what their called. I also added lots of advice on how to get started.
I try to get people interested and involved in showing and explaining the best points about Parkour, these are the fact that you can do it with or without friends, it doesn’t cost anything to do as the place you need to do it is all around you all you have to do is look, and also it’s a great way to help you keep active and fit both mentally and physically. So by showing them exciting pictures and videos I hope to spark peoples enthusiasm and make them want to get involved and by doing this they will put a dent in the ever rising obesity levels in this country.
I believe my website would most likely be distributed by companies who are interested in health and fitness and this could even stretch out to the government who are doing all they can at the moment (with their “Live” campaign) It would be harder though for them to distribute my website as unlike on radio or T.V there would be no set slot for an advert to come on and its completely up to the viewer on the internet if they click on my advertisement or not whereas on the T.V or Radio they have no choice for it to be on or not (unless they turn it off) A web hosting service is a type of hosting done via the Internet that allows individuals and organizations to make the websites that they create, accessible to other people around the world via the internet. Web hosts are companies that provide the space on their server to individuals or companies to host their websites. It costs money for someone to host their website and the more the website has in terms of memory the more it costs to host as it take up space on the server of the company hosting the website.
Domain names are an identification label that defines the websites into catagories such as authority, administrative autonomy or control in the internet based on the DNS (Domain Name System) Domain names are used in many different networking contexts which are organized in sub-domains of the DNS rot domain which has no name. The first-level set of domain names are called the top level domains (TLD) including (gTLDs) generic TLDs such as .com/ .net/ .org/ .co.uk and the ccTLD (country code TLD)
My website is aimed towards working and middle-class people who live in an area with internet connection (preferably close to a town or city as that is the best environment for Parkour) I hope to get lots of people involved in Parkour by word of mouth mostly, hopefully the people who are interested and start up Parkour will tell their friends and get them involved and hopefully they will use my site for help on how to learn more and improve their skills. I hope to get more coverage by getting more and more people involved so that the media (e.g T.V, newspapers and radio) take notice and start covering Parkour more and more and then ask where they heard about it from and my site will be mentioned and more people will go there to find out more about Parkour.
I attracted my audience by using a range of exciting videos, pictures, colours and fonts. I found out, through research, that colours, pictures and fonts were very important for attracting an audience. So what I did to attract my audience was using pictures that would excite someone who was interested in an extreme sport. I used bold, bright colours to express the danger involved and the excitement that follows. On every page of my website I have either pictures or videos to show off what Parkour can offer the audience and also I have made it easy, via a navigation bar, to access every other page on the website via any page on the website, this enables flow and fluidity throughout the site which also links strongly with Parkour where flow and fluidity are the foundations of the sport.
I have learned how to use such programs as iWeb and Photoshop to create my website and through this I have learned their limitations and their abilities. One of the limitations of iWeb was the fact that if you created a new website it would delete the old website, now this wasn’t very helpful and the program should allow users to create multiple websites. Another limitation of the program was the fact that it was sometimes difficult to get the page length the same for every page and it would alter itself without asking you and this could get annoying when your trying to get your website to look consistent. But on the positive side it was very easy to create hyperlinks to the pages on the website and also if you copied something that was already linked to another page then when you pasted that item it would also maintain the hyperlink. The limitations of Photoshop was the fact that someone who is new to the software will find it very hard to do anything as all the tools are named oddly and don’t exactly do what they say on the box. But when you get to grips with the software it was stunning to find out the abilities that the software could do and this was very helpful in creating my logo for my website. Another program I used was Blogger, which is a free online blog. This program can be very difficult at times and I found it extremely annoying when I tried to upload my website evaluation as I did it in a Word document but they wouldn’t let me upload a word document so I had to printscreen each page and then put it into paint, save it as an image and then upload it to Blogger via their upload section, now this was a very round-about way of doing things and this annoyed me a lot. But as far as a online Blog it was alright to use (it had some more annoyances such as it was very difficult to get back to your own page (the dashboard) once you were on a blog even if it was your own) but it could do with improving its user-friendly-ness
Looking back on my preliminary task I have found out a lot more of the conventions of websites and also a lot more about how to design one. My school website has horrible, conflicting colours and it was very crammed and looked like everything was battling to get your attention, whereas on my main site I have learned that less is more in a way and tried to keep it looking cleaner and neater whilst still making it look exciting and also easy to use through the use of a navigation bar and a couple of extra pictures and videos places in convenient places. I think the skill that I have developed the most is learning how to use the iWeb software as whilst doing my school website I found it very difficult to do much on iWeb but at the end of completing my campaign website I found that I was much quicker and fluid at doing what I wanted to do on the website rather than being restricted by my knowledge of how to use iWeb.

Video and Photography evaluation

The photos I took for my website were meant to be exciting and informative at the same time. I took the photos with my phone camera and now realise that I should have used a higher quality camera to really capture the action and draw in the audience more. I also had this problem with my videos so I replaced them with higher quality videos so that the audience get a feel for the excitement and can also see in better detail how the moves are done.

My biggest problem were my promotional videos as the quality and sound quality were atrocious as the sound was tinny and because I had to stretch them the quality was even worse than before. So I had to re-film my videos and use a different program to edit it and add sound. This time around the video and sound quality were much better and do the website some justice.

Website design

this was my original design for my website but after showing it to people and looking over their feedback i found out that my website didn't flow and was difficult to navigate around and looked messy and clumped up. so i then went back and re-designed my website to make it look neater and easier to navigate around. and this is what i came up with :

as you can see the navigation bar is at the top like in most websites and there are more pictures and videos on the home page to attract the audience quicker. By spacing stuff out I found that it made it look neater and less cramped.

Questionnaire findings

From my questionnaire I have found out that of the people I quizzed barley anyone had heard of Parkour or Free Running. So my first task is to explain to the people who go on my website what exactly Parkour and Free Running are. Also form my questionnaire results I found out that most the people who were interested in the sport were aged between 16-25 years old and male. So another goal for my website it to get a broader audience and show that Parkour and Free Running can be done by anyone from any background no matter how rich or poor you are or what gender you may be.
I found out that most people were interested in keeping fit and wanted to be healthy but either lived too far away from a gym or couldn’t afford to pay to go to the gym, so again a goal for my website is to show that Parkour can be done anywhere and with no cost to anyone!

Website Research

Storyboard/script/sound research

I didnt need a script in my films as the focus was not on speech more on what was happening in the video. I researched some vidoes of Parkour on the internet and found that most the videos used energetic music to kind of get the veiwer more hyped up about the video so I decided to use a very fast and loud song in my promotion video's. I didnt really have a storyboard either as in the videos I just did what the description said (e.g kong vault) except in the promotion video where I strung together various clips to create a long video showing of some of the aspects that Parkour has to offer

Feedback

After I showed my website to the class I found out that I needed a navgation bar at the top to follow the conventions of nearly all websites, so I added one to every page. I also found that they didnt like the amount of colours on the page so I limited it to a couple (2-3 per page) Another thing that the class disliked about the page was the fact that it felt broken and fractured, so I tried to re-arrange my front page and a couple of others so that they had more of a flow to them by removing the side bars and taking out the spacing boxes on the home page. I also made the pictures on my site better by using a better camera

Target Audience

My target audience will be people betwee the ages of 13-25 who are interested in keeping fit and healthy but want to find a new and exciting sport that will push them both physically and mentally. I am also aiming for people who don't want to spend loads of money on the latest kit just to keep up with the fashion as Parkour isn't about what you look like its just about getting better and helping others do the same. I am aiming towards people who arn't compettitive and who just want to go out and have fun by themselves or with friends. That it what is so amazing about Parkour is that it can be social when you want it to be but (unlike football, rugby) you don't NEED others to be able to do everything you could if they were there, so basically what I'm saying I am aiming towards self-motivated people but also people who will encourage others

Website Report

After researching 6 charity websites I have found that there are certain aspects of a website that is contained within all conventional websites. I believe these conventions are followed because they are easy to use and look aesthetically pleasing to the customer, and if it looks good and works well then the user is more likely to come back and use the website again and recommend it to their family and friends.

Some of the conventions that all the websites followed were the fact that there was a navigation bar at the top of all the websites, this allows the user to get to any part of the website from any page of the website.

Another convention that all the websites followed was the fact that they had their logo on display in the top left of the home page, I suppose the reason for all the websites for having their logo in that place is that if all the websites have their logo in the same place then if you go to any websites and want to find their logo then you know exactly where to look because it will be in the same place as all the other websites.

Also at the bottom of every website is their copyright © and trademark information and again I reckon it is in this position so you know where to look if you want to know this kind of information and also it is out-of-the-way and doesn't spoil the look of the website. Also I have noticed that this information is in a very small font and normally in a colour that doesn't stand out (like a faint grey) and again I think this is so that it doesn't affect the look of the website.

Questionair

Questionnaire for campaign website.



­­How old are you?

10-15 [ ]
16-20 [ ]
21-25 [ ]
26-30 [ ]
30+ [ ]

Gender

Male [ ]
Female [ ]

Do you do any sports?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

If no would you want to start doing sport?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

If yes how often a week?

Once a week [ ]
Twice a week [ ]
3 times a week [ ]
4 times a week [ ]
5 times a week [ ]
6 times a week [ ]
Every day [ ]

What sport do you do?

Football [ ]
Tennis [ ]
Running [ ]
Athletics [ ]
Gym [ ]
Other [ ]

What sport would you like to start?

Football [ ]
Tennis [ ]
Running [ ]
Athletics [ ]
Gym [ ]
Other [ ]
None [ ]

Would you consider yourself as a active person?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Would you say you ate a balanced diet?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Have you heard of Parkour or Free Running?

Parkour [ ]
Free Running [ ]
Neither [ ]
Both [ ]

If yes to any then would you be interested in beginning the sport?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

If you haven’t heard of Parkour or Free Running do these picture look like something you would be interested in starting?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Would you consider yourself someone who enjoys thrills?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]


Do you live close to a gym?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Do you go to a gym?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Do you pay to go to your gym?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

Advertising agencies for Charity websites

I have found a Graphic Design company called Vault49 who have worked for companies such as the BBC, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Harrods, Nintendo........... but the work I am most interested in is the work Vault49 have done for Greenpeace (being as Greenpeace is a charity) .

This is some information on Vault 49 from their website :

"Vault49 is an internationally award-winning design studio with a worldwide practice and reputation for creating world-class illustration, photography, and motion graphics. We work in a wide variety of materials and media to provide a full complement of design services; from initial concepts through to design implementation and production. Our extensive portfolio is characterised by a focus on craftsmanship, digital collage and photo-collage and an expressive use of colour which, when combined, rewards repeat visits with new discoveries and an appreciation for our attention to detail.

Vault49’s heritage is in traditional crafts and production processes. We are storytellers in the classic fashion. A typical mixed-media design might originate with a photo-shoot (produced and art directed by Vault49’s award winning photographic team) which is then collaged together with intricately detailed hand-drawn elements, scanned and combined with digital illustration and silk screened textures to create a layered artwork full of depth. Design for Vault49 is more than a profession, more than just ‘work’... it is a lifetime dedication to beauty and fine living.

Vault49’s broad range of styles and talent has led to our becoming a design team of choice for many discerning clients around the world who want to enjoy the benefits of a highly developed creative relationship but who do not wish to be tied down to a particular style or look."

And here is some of the work they have done for Greenpeace:

As you can see this company is a hugely world-know company who have worked for many super-companies so to have them working for Greenpeace brings the charity a very high profile along with some very high quality pieces of advertising work which is very important.

Web hosting and domain name

A web hosting service is a type of hosting done via the Internet that allows individuals and organizations to make the websites that they create, accessible to other people around the world via the internet. Web hosts are companies that provide the space on their server to individuals or companies to host their websites. It costs money for someone to host their website and the more the website has in terms of memory the more it costs to host as it take up space on the server of the company hosting the website.

Domain names are an identification label that defines the websites into catagories such as authority, administrative autonomy or control in the internet based on the DNS (Domain Name System) Domain names are used in many different networking contexts which are organized in sub-domains of the DNS rot domain which has no name. The first-level set of domain names are called the top level domains (TLD) including (gTLDs) generic TLDs such as .com/ .net/ .org/ .co.uk and the ccTLD (country code TLD)