Competitive analysis

A Website Design Business
http://www.vibegraphics.co.uk/

This is a website design company in Liversedge, West Yorkshire. They offer a range of products from websites, to any kind of graphic design. The website at first glance looks very polished and professional. But on closer inspection the sites white font blurs with the dark grey background and the rounded edges create a lot of background noise.

The site uses quite a lot of flash and things often sparkle and change colour even if you don’t move the mouse. This is off putting and could distract a user. I can see why the developer has done this because they are trying to show what they can do but it is a little to much especially on every link. I would say this company is aiming for people who would want a mainly Flash website rather than a static XHTML one.

The portfolio of work is well presented but the links on the right aren’t really links in the way I expected. I expected the links to open up external website, not show up in the main window for you to click on again. It is only because I am investigating this site that I actually clicked on this image, I user may over look this and not get to see any of the work. Most of the websites the company says it has created is just an image or screenshot of the website. This means there is no real way to check to see if it is actually being used. This is the major let down of the site, as I think a potential client would want to have a good look at the sites they have produced in full working order.

The site is quite interactive and does invite you to click around the page. I think the colour scheme is a little dull and doesn’t suit what the website offers. It would remind me more of a funeral colour scheme if it wasn’t for the ocean image right in the centre of the page.

This website dose not validate XHTML 1.0 Transitional, it has 30 errors. This is not a good thing for a web design company to do because it is very bad practice. If a client paid for a site that wasn’t valid the next major web browser to come out may not display the code as it should which would mean a redesign, and more money, which would have an adverse effect on the company.

Overall I like the way the website is structured; the layout and how things work give it a real modern feel which gives the impression that they know what they are doing. I would improve the site by changing the colour scheme to something more inviting that would appeal to a wider audience. I would also add real links to the work I had produced especially if they were on the companies profesional web hosting as it advertises on the homepage.


A Website Design Student’s Portfolio
http://www.matt-gibson.co.uk/

This is a website of a student who has just achieved a first class BA (Hons) Degree in 'Interactive Media Design'. He has got a range of work on his portfolio in the categories of Web, Print, Photography, 3D and Games.

The first impression you get from this site is that it was made by someone young who is trying to give his portfolio a cool/street look. I think he has done this well and the blue really works with the black textured background. I like this style but I know a lot of people may not because it is quite dark.

I think the about me page contains a little too much information. I think someone viewing the site would pay more attention to the portfolio of work rather than read a full page of text. Although having read the text it is quite interesting and relevant I think because of the quantity a client may just skim over it. This is not helped by a solid black background with white text which makes if hard to read for any length of time.

The work section of the portfolio is very clear and all the links are clearly marked with a healthy amount of room separating each of them. I like how all the images change to black and white on roll over because it lets you know that it is actually a link to another page. Again however this links the other page that is dark and will not be everyone’s style.

With every website there is a separate page with a description of the work you have clicked on. This is a good feature and lets people read the text if they are interested but also enlarges the image to a full page and gives you a launch site button if you want to see the site working.

Again as with the other site this website is not validate XHTML 1.0 Transitional even though he states in his “about me” section that he uses valid XHTML and CSS. An external client is not likely to validate the site like I have but it just shows that some people say one thing, but do another.

Overall this person obviously knows what he is doing and has got a good personal style in my opinion. I think his website is a little dark and wouldn’t suit everyone but even a novice could navigate through and see all the work with ease. I like this no nonsense approach to a portfolio.