Website: Research

In yesterday's class, we were asked to research 3 websites that are connected to our continuation route and add commentary to it. I decided to start by researching a website about Walt Disney. It is a website I am really familiar with and visited it many times in my life. 

The website's URL is thankyouwaltdisney.org  and it is a website of a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-gram studio in Kansas City, Missouri in the United States. 

This is how the website looks like when it is first open. What brings my attention is definitely the logo I really like. I think it is a nice touch to the website itself. I like that the tabs in the top right corner have white background. I think the home page would not be as clear if there was no designated background for those tabs. Overall, I think the home page is very clear and easy to navigate. In my opinion, having the website be intuitive is very important, because if it is not, people tend to get frustrated and click out. 

I clicked on the history tab to explore what else there is to this website. 

I think this part of the website is arranged very well. On the right side, there is a text written in a sans-serif font, which makes it look modern and clear. The letters are not big, but they are readable. The right side is more interesting, there is a gallery of photos and it is possible to click on them to make the pictures bigger and underneath that there is a timeline. I think putting a timeline in a history section is a really good idea. It makes everything more clear, especially for visual learners. It is also easier to find basic information on the graph rather than in the text. 

Next I decided to look into the Future Plans tab. It must be a new tab, since I have visited this website many times and I have never seen it before. 

The tab turned out to be greatly done. In my opinion using graphs and videos is a great way to show information and it speaks more to people. Looking at a graph it is very easy for me to understand what are the organization's future plans and if that was all just written in a text, I probably would not read it all the way through. 

Lastly, I took a look at the contact page. 

I think the contact page is very clear and simple. It is not cluttered and that is important. I think in general this website is done very nicely. It is clear, not messy. All the tabs are easy to navigate and there is a search bar, which is important when looking for specific information. I also like how the website is still improving and adding more content. 

The next website I decided to take a look at is a website of an animator, who is my inspiration in terms of creating. That animator is Dermot O'Connor. His website URL is angryanimator.com. Most of my character drawings are inspired by his works and I have learned a whole lot by using his techniques. 

When I enter the website it looks like this. 

This website looks similar to a blog and I really do not like how it does not take the whole screen, but just the center part of it. The website looks old and when I looked at archives, the oldest I can see is 2010, which is 10 years ago. It makes sense why the website looks old if it was created 10 years ago, however I think it would be really good to update it so it is easier to navigate. The home page is not very clear. For me to find any information, I have to scroll all the way to the bottom, to see what is showcased there. The home page is pretty much used as a blog and there are a few different posts to click on. In my opinion, it would be better if there was a menu, which would show everything I can find on this page. 

I decided to take a look at the about me page.

What I like about it, is that there is a video showcasing this artist's work. I think it is a nice touch to the page, however the text does not seem really clear to me. I think this is a very cluttered tab, and it could be improved just by bolding main information, so it "jumps" at the viewer. 

Overall, I do not think this is a good example of a website. It does have interesting content worth checking out for the animators, however I wish it was displayed differently. 

The last website I decided to research is a website stephanieanimates.com and it is a website made by Stephanie Alexander who works professionally as an animator. 

This is the website's homepage and I really like how it looks like. Firstly, the font is very modern and easy to read, I like that there is a video, therefore it is clear what kind of website we are looking at and also I like the background color. I am not sure if it was chosen because of the video's thumbnail, but even if it was not, it works extremely well, because it is in the same color range. 

I decided to click on the About tab.

It is nicely done, however I would prefer for the text to be bigger, because it really is tiny and difficult to read. I like that there is a picture in black and white. A colorful picture could have ruined the coloristic balance of the website. At the bottom of the "about" page, there is a contact form, which is definitely nice to have, however I would like contact to be a separate tab. I think it would make it more clear. 

I also decided to take a look at the Art tab. 

It turned out that there is a drop down menu. 

I think it is really good to separate work into catalogues, so it is more clear for the viewer where to find the thing they are looking for. I clicked on "Illustration" to see in what way the works are showcased. There could have been many different options to create a gallery. 

I really like this way of creating a gallery, it is as if I was going through an actual gallery and looking at different works. I think it is good that works are quite big and it is easy to change the image I am looking at. 

Overall, I think this website is done very well. It is intuitive and easy to navigate and these two things are extremely important when it comes to create a website. I think this research is going to help me customize my own website, because now I know what mistakes to avoid, not to make it look cluttered and what I can do to have it look appealing.