Evaluation

• Idea
• Research
• Planning
• Production

Each Page:

• What was the idea?
• So what happened with the ideas? What did I do with it?
• Now what did I do next?

At the start of this project, I had a few ideas as to what/who I wanted to make my website for. I originally thought about doing it for my sister who is an aspiring artist and though that it would be a good way for her to get her art out there and to get some potential clients. I could've made a page with her older work and maybe even who inspires her etc. I also thought about doing a page for another student who is into animation, and though that, again, it would be a good place to advertise his work and get some jobs from people. This would allow him to get his work out there in the world and possibly catch the eye of people who are interested in animation. He has some social media pages that I could have linked to the site so that people can keep up to date with what he's doing, as well as seeing some of his previous work. 

I then thought about doing it for my dad as he makes complex wooden machines called antikythera mechanisms, and I decided to make a site for him as it would allow people to see his work and people would be able to purchase a machine, as well as seeing the process of him making it and the history behind it. It would allow people who are interested in the subject to learn more about it and see the machine fully built, which has never been done before. He's made something that no one else has which would interest many people, especially those who already know a bit about the work he does, and possibly even people that know nothing about it at all as it's a very interesting piece of work that is very historic.

My idea pretty much stayed the same throughout as I had a set plan of what pages to include as well as what to put in each page. I spoke to the client a lot about what he wanted and made sure to include that as well, and to ensure that he was happy with the way things were going. He was happy with the pages and only asked if I could add in a page to let people know the pricing of the machines. 

When looking at similar sites, I noticed that a lot of them were quite boring to look at as they didn’t include many colours, and they were also very difficult to navigate around. There was no easy way to work round the site, so I knew that mine needed to be easily accessible to allow my target audience to easily see what’s on the site. There are clear pages at the top of every page which tells people exactly what to expect on each page, which helps them identify what part of the site they want to look at without any confusion. 

My research helped me to identify what I needed to include to ensure that my site did what it’s intended to do; advertise my client's machines as well as being a place where people are able to purchases them and see the history behind it. As well as being informative, it also persuades people to buy a machine as they’re make to look very appealing and rare; he’s the only person that currently makes these machines, and therefore people that are interested in the subject already are more likely to purchase one as they’re so uncommon and rare. The site itself tells the audience the process of the machines which makes them appreciate them even more, as well as the fact that, as stated before, they are the only ones to be made in the world. 

To plan this site, I though back to my research and thought about my target audience and what appeals to them. My target audience is aged between 30-70 and are predominately male, which means that this site must be easy to navigate around as well as being visually appealing. It needs to be user appropriate which will help my target audience to appreciate the site more. 

Overall, I’m happy with the way my site looks. It does what it’s meant to do and, even though there are a few empty pages, it’s a useable site which works and allows people to clearly see what the sites about. I think that the colours used could’ve been better, and the site itself maybe could have had a wooden like background to make it look more exciting for the audience and visually appealing. It would’ve been more fitting for the page and although I tried to use colours that were fitting with the theme of wood, it would’ve been better to have a more wooden like background.  

When I started my website, I made all the pages that I needed so that I could first put in all the headings and sub headings. It took a while for me to figure out how to make the subheadings viewable as there was no clear way of doing it, but after asking a few people I managed to figure it out and successfully included a subheading. I wanted to do this os the menu didn't look to busy, and the subheading related well to what the heading was, so thought that it would be a good idea to put them both together.

Most of my pages are finished, apart from the home page, contact page and previous work page. This was due to me not having quite enough time and I didn't get everything that I needed from my client due to him being busy and unable to find everything that I needed from him. As well as this, there are a few other bits that I could've included on the other pages but it is mostly finished and I'm pleased that I got as much done as I did in the time we were given. If I gave myself some more time I would've been able to fully finish it all as well as maybe adding in a few extra things to make the site more visually appealing, as well as more interesting for the audience.

I'm happy with the way it all turned out, despite the few things I'd change, and my client is happy with it too which I'm glad about as it was, of course, made for him. It successfully advertises his machines and is suitable for his target audience.