Unit 13 Assignment 3
In this assignment, I will be producing a website for my business enterprise that meets user requirements. I shall then describe how the design meets user needs and assess how the website design meets user requirements. Finally, I shall evaluate the extent to which the website design meets user requirements whilst making recommendations for improvements.
First, we can see images of the website I made below using Wix:
There are multiple ways my website meets user requirement. The first is that, in the 21st century, in a world where people crave efficiency, I have opted for a fluid, one-page design. This highlights convenience as the user will only need to wait for one page to load unless they navigate through one of the very few links that will take them to the bottom of the page where my contact details are displayed and even this action will result in zero wait time but will require a slight bit of effort from the users part.
I opted for high-contrasting colours to make it easy for users to read and understand what services I offer in a clear but comprehensive way. This allows customers to ensure my services are right for them without the need to pick up the phone or send an email to enquire.
I have used imagery to highlight the people-oriented business practices (even though there is very little in the way of face to face marketing) in the sense of how we collaborate with customers where appropriate to ensure their needs are being met. I also wanted to use imagery that highlighted our focused and targeted marketing approaches.
We understand that most of our customers will already know what we want but we have opted to list our Strategy Development service first to indicate to our customers that we care about them and their wallets, or rather, the contents thereof.
The website design meets user requirements by allowing the user to quickly and easily navigate the site. This will deter them from clicking off of the site due to the impatience of waiting for individual pages to load which is a problem many websites have in this era. It’s not that individual pages take too long to load, in fact, most connections allow a page to load within the space of half a second or less, no, instead it’s that the effort it takes to click on a link is just far too much effort in this day of convenience.
The website also meets user requirements by clearly displaying the services I offer and contact details to ensure that, if users get stuck, they can always get in contact with me a number of ways that suits them.
The use of a simple, clear, fluid design allows even the most intellectually challenged or time-poor users to easily navigate the gate which also meets user needs.
Overall, I feel the website design meets user requirements extremely well, it fits very well with the trends of other advertising companies such as Adam&EveDBB, who manage John Lewis Group’s motion picture advertising, with the fluid format however, I have went against the grain and opted for a text-dense website (in comparison to the amount of images I’ve used) as opposed to the gallery style that many advertising companies would use. With that being said, as my business is mostly visual advertising, the gallery approach may have been more effective.
A couple of suggestions I would make personally would be to include the logo as without it, there is very little credibility in my opinion. If I went to Google and typed in Amazon and clicked through a link that took me to a page that looked similar to that of one made in the ‘90’s. I mean, just imagine you happened upon a website like that of the example below;
Alarm bells would immediately sound as the above website for Ask Jeeves because it isn’t modern enough, it looks like it was thrown together by a five year old when in reality, when Netscape was the bees knees of technology, this was a state-of-the-art website. It’s like giving a child of today an original Nokia 100, there’d be absolutely no appreciation for the fine engineering wonder.
My final suggestion but be to include a site-map navigation link that enables users to quickly and easily identify where on my website they need to go however, this suggestion isn’t really a high-priority suggestion as site-maps work best for larger sites like Amazon who have a large number of departments and services outside of retail and ecommerce, however, overtime as my services grow, the priority of the need for a site-map will increase.
In conclusion, I think my website perfectly meets the needs of my customers and users as it currently stands and I should take my suggestions on board as my services grow. Especially the first suggestion regarding the inclusion of a logo on the home page, this is something I should implement before the launch of the website. My final comment on my website design is that it is really simple and easy to read and as a result, some people may feel that it lacks the required information but to mitigate this, I have included multiple different contact details so users can enquire if they need to without having to worry about waiting for a long time for a response to an email or letter because my mobile number is also present in the contact information.
Appendix A: Unit 13 Assignment 3 Presentation
