ASSIGNMENT 3 Essay Example

Assessing ‘Sound-Cloud’ Design Elements for Incorporation into ‘Your Music’ Website

1. Colour Schemes and Concepts

A distinctive part of website lies in the application of different colour variations to depict a different set of mood and appeal to the viewers. Colour plays a significant role in provoking a viewer’s mental reaction or even attitude that could possibly vary from one individual to another (Ivory & Megraw 465). The study of colour and other concepts in website design using colour theory a simple way of understanding the role of colour influences on people’s emotions either in form of a group or as individual. Colour theories are mostly focused on a great set of phases that include; colour wheel, harmony and context of how the different colours are utilised within a website (Ivory & Megraw 469). In essence, there are a set of different colour variations and opinions that continue to posit a significant level of debate on one format over another however; studies shows that a colour wheel that posits a logically –presented sequence portrays pure merit.

Most prominent websites have continued to apply colour schemes and especially wheel efficiently through adoption of the traditional primary colours of red, yellow and blue. Despite the fact that ‘Your Music’ has made efforts to incorporate the red and blue colours in its websites, it is important that it adopts them mostly for pictures as opposed to a narrative of words. This blog has focused solely on dull and specifically secondary colours for its images. Red colour is mostly associated with elements of violence and fire however; it can also be adopted successfully to portray aspects related to love and passion (Kondratova & Goldfarb 125). Colour red can really portray a physical mode of reaction towards individuals since it increases their level of heart rates or even blood pressures. It also has enough effects especially in enhancing the level of metabolism of human beings (Kondratova & Goldfarb 125). In other cases, it can be used extensively to postulate one’s immediate prestige.

The below is a snapshot of Sound-Cloud, one of the world’s most renowned music-focused website.

The above image has been used within the website as a major hue for what the website entails. It can be specifically note that the image has adopted extensively a great deal of colour red and orange not only within the image but also on notable and important tabs like; ‘Sign-up for free’ and ‘Create Account’. This application of colour seeks to portray the passion and love that people have with music content at any given moment in time. Certainly, the red colour can be adopted extensively in ‘Your Music’ blog to postulate a powerful accent in its design specifications to postulate a dominating or even conquering feeling for the viewer (Kondratova & Goldfarb 126). It should be used as a fundamental colour scheme with to postulate a sensory power or even feeling to a potential visitor of the blog. In fact, it should be clearly and efficiently mixed with the current purple colour or other darker shades to portray an element of charm and power. It should also adopt colour orange just like how it is used in ‘Sound-Cloud’. It is important to understand that this colour can be used in the website to portray an energetic and dynamic look (Kondratova & Goldfarb 127). Specifically so, orange colour can be adopted in the blog to denote the aspect related to movement and alterations perceived in real-life scenarios. It should be used within the website to ascertain the presumption that there is a need for people to shift their set preferences and tastes in music by way of adopting a new trend that can only be achieved by way of accessing ‘Your Music’ website platform.

On a positive note though, the blog has used cool/warm colours as can be seen in the image below;

Most of the large image and icons within the blog are however; presented in this colour while in real sense, they would have been used minimally given the nature of this website being pertaining to music content. The use of such purple colour has been used to elicit an element of relaxation and serenity given that they are mostly associated with the aspect of nature. In fact, purple colour is mostly associated with supremacy or even royalty as well as an element of fantasy and creativeness. All of these aspects are clearly presented in the blog given that it has solely been designed to attract rock and roll form of music enthusiasts that are mostly ascertained to be simply provoked by creativity and fantasy specifically due to the nature of dressing.

1. Consistency of Design

A point or mark misses from the blog; ‘Your Music’ while it can be used effectively to supplement the entire design process. For most cases, a point or mark within a website is presented in form of designer’s handwriting, which can either be natural or even learned in nature (Palmer 156). The blog should adopt marks just like the ones used in ‘Sound Cloud’ to formulate a value/ trend pattern and sometimes as a way of delineating the aspect of space. A given set of marks and dots can be effectively used for the purpose attracting the user’s attention. One way of achieving this is through the use of Gestalt that is noted as being a fundamental tool the designer can adopt to come up with a coherent composition that resonates with music content being availed within the blog.

In regards to the aspect of line, it can be seen that the blog has efficiently used both vertical and horizontal lines to create edges and outlines for the images relating to different artists (Palmer 160). While it is true that the blog has extensively adopted horizontal lines to portray an element of calmness and quietness as well as vertical ones to postulate significant potential for movements; there has been a lack of efficient use of diagonal lines. It is crucial to ascertain that diagonal lines can be efficiently adopted to elicit an element of movement while still ensuring to give a pertinent level of feeling of vitality to an image or rather picture.

Shape is an element of design that can be easily analysed using implied line and efficiently noted using the elements of colour and value alterations(Palmer 160). The design in website creation is fundamentally the already-planned arrangement of shapes within the blog or site. In the blog ‘Your Music’, the design of the shapes has not been effectively denoted given that within a picture setting, shapes that an artist has positioned are deemed to be far much positive shapes while the spaces around these shapes are negative spaces. It is important that the blog alter these negative spaces to match with what is required of a balanced positive set of shapes. The element of space has however; been achieved efficiently given that the pictures and icons have all adopted a three-dimensional volume; a factor that has really helped in filling the empty spaces. The pictures have been presented in a three-dimensional framework thereby evoking a feeling of actual depth.

In relation to design principles, first, it can be noted that the blog has attained a balanced framework. The pictures relating to different performing bands across the globe have all been presented in a visual that promotes aesthetic value hence very portraying a very pleasing arrangement of objects. Both symmetric and asymmetric forms of balance have been achieved thus far. The level of informal balance attained has played a significant part in bringing about dynamism and serves to sustain the viewers’ attention glued on the visual message posited by these set of artists. Notably clear, the site has effectively attained the element of perspective especially since some of the images have been arranged in a way that posits a two-dimensional framework space thereby looking like the way these artists look in real life. The blog has successfully used a set of square shapes within a rectangle to distinctively add the aspect of realism to visual image. To effectively sustain this element, it is important that the blog focus on adopting such different aspects as relative sizes of objects; overlapping as well as blurring some of the images. Another important aspect that the blog does not seem to have focused on lies in repetition. The sign-up and login buttons should be fairly distributed throughout the website to create the element of unity within the blog as a whole. It is important to note that the aspect of repetition serve to make the website look even more active to browse through. In addition to this, harmony serves to bring cohesion of images and provides a framework for which they can successfully complement each other. It further assists with the pulling of a visual image all-together. ‘Your Music’ is a blog that could enhance the design principle related to harmony by way of putting much focus on the aspect of repetition and rhythm. It is true that repetition reemphasizes on visual units, connecting significant parts and pertinent areas of attention; rhythm provides a flow that is portrayed in visuals and that it helps to redirect eye movements. Distinctively, the blog can also adopt both patterns and shapes even more in order to achieve harmony.

Works cited

Elements of Design, Principles of Design. Accessed from http://www.central-lee.k12.ia.us/FacultyHomePages/lheitz/design.htm

Ivory, Melody Y., & Rodrick Megraw. «Evolution of web site design patterns.» ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS) 23.4 (2005): 463-497.

Kondratova, Irina, & Ilia Goldfarb. «Color your website: Use of colors on the web.» International Conference on Usability and Internationalization. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2007: 123-130

Palmer, Jonathan W. «Web site usability, design, and performance metrics.» Information systems research 13.2 (2002): 151-167.

Sound Cloud. Accessed from https://soundcloud.com/

Your Music. Accessed from https://louishuangaus.wixsite.com/your-music