Research

I particularly like this website:

I also really like this website :

This website in my opinion is the sleekest and functions the best:

I like how the images on the main page is on a slide show, so inconstantly keeps the website user interested. I also like the drop down menus that appear when you hover over them on the navigation bar. Its easy and fast to use and still looks sleek - thats why I love it. Here you can see the drop down menu

Here is a video of how it works:

Website

T.C.P. - packets of data,
            number of packets - go to address destination
            Checksum
            (Binary) 01010010
            T.T.L. - time to live - how many hops
            Packets - 0-64kb over ethernet

I.P. -  (internet protocol) e.g 195.25.8.121
          websites are stateless
          www (world wide web)
          browser
          TCP/IP

Audience for website

As the website is about antiques and collectables, I have determined these different audience demographics for the website.

Age: 40-65
Gender: Male
Country: All countries, in particular USA, UK/ Europe
Job/Income: Good income - well above minimum wage e.g. £40,000 + a year e.g. property investor, land owner
Ethnicity: British/American/European
Race: White British/American/European

The reason I have chosen this age range is that the website "Target Marketing" did research into antique demographics and said that most of the people looking at collecting and buying antiques are 40 and above. In terms of the gender the website said that its evenly split between males and females.

The reason why I picked these countries is because the website "Target Marketing" went on about how big antique collecting was in America and also know thats its big in the UK and Europe, as I frequently travel around these areas and I know how big it is in European countries like France.

The website "Target Marketing" went on about how people that collected antique in America in particular had a great deal of wealth. Many of the have net worths in the million pounds and dollars range. They went on to say that many readers of the popular "Arts and antique"magazine said they had median incomes of $164,000 - so its clear that many antique collectors have considerable wealth.

In terms of ethnicity and race I chose America as a target audience as, the report I found on the 'Target Marketing' website was American report and shot how popular it is so therefore America is a large target audience. British and European antique collection is also popular from the amount of antique shops you see in these countries. Furthermore many Americans love British history and therefore in many cases British antiques.

What does the customer want?

The customers for my website want high-end antique products and other vintage/collectables, and to find out where they can buy these products. They want to know more about my clients business (my business) and where they source their high-end antique products.

How do they found this information?

When I am building the website for my client I will ensure there is an easy to use navigation bar that will take the users of the websites to different parts of the website so they can find out more about the antiques on offer and more about the business.

Learning how to use photoshop
     

Here I created a layer and called it fb button blue.

Here I duplicated the first layer and called the new layer fb button grey.

Fo the grey fb button I used the saturation slider and greyed the button out.

You click image, adjustments and then click hue/saturation and use the saturation slider to grey the logo out. Here is a video showing how you do it:

Here I created a banner. I did this using the rectangular marquee tool, and the gradient tool to create a multicoloured banner. I also created two layers, once called background and the other called banner.

Here I added some text:

Here you can see in the video me playing a photoshop button in adobe muse. You do this by click file, then place photoshop button. You can also add hyperlinks from the top of the page.

Inspiration ideas:


I studied and did lots of research into a few different sites that me and the client both liked. We then worked closely together to find the different elements of the sites that we liked the best and which we thought would work for her antique and collectables website.

I really like the slide show of the different products on the Gucci website, as it clearly shows to the website users what your company is about and the products you offer. I showed this to my client and she really liked it and thought it would be a great way to show of the different antiques she sells. I am going to ensure I incorporate a slide show on the homepage of my clients website so I can show the different products they offer (antiques and collectables). I also like the black backdrop behind the  white Gucci logo (and the colour and font of the logo as in my opinion makes the website look more premium, so I am also going to do this for my website. I am also going to ensure my font is white just like the Gucci's o ensure my clients website looks premium just like this site. I also like the logo of the text in the menu bar, as it reinforces the premium look for my clients website.

The white background of the drop down menu, from the Selfridges website will really contrast with the black backdrop of the top menu bar, like the one seen in the Gucci website-this will achieve the premium finish I am aiming for, for my clients website. Therefore I am going to combine these two elements from both websites and put them on my own website.

Although it is only a minor detail I like the footer of the Bonhams website, especially the copyright mark on the name, as this will also provide legal protection for the name of my clients website, but at the same time I like the style of it. Furthermore its discreet but displays important information - I am going to ensure I incorporate a footer like this for my clients website.


Planning my design

User Flow - prototypical user on site - this means how do they complete a task?

• The user starts on the homepage
• From the homepage they click on the category button

• The user starts on the homepage
• From the homepage they can click on the different category buttons. For example they can click or hover with the cursor on the 'about' button, 'our antiques' button, 'contact' button or 'find us' button. 
• If they click on the 'about' button, a drop-down menu will appear offering two other sub-categories. The sub-categories offered are 'Our Story' or 'Our Values'.
• If they click on the 'Our Story' button, the user will be directed to the 'Our Story' section of the 'about' page.
• If they click on the 'Our Values' button, the user will be directed to the 'Our Values' part of the 'about' page.

• If the user hovers their cursor over the 'Our Antiques' button, a drop-down menu will appear offering two sub-categories. These sub-categories are 'style' or 'photos'
• If they click on the 'style' button , the user will be directed to the 'style' part of the 'our antiques' page.
• If they click on the 'photo' button, the user will be directed to the 'photo' part of the 'our antiques' page.

• If the user hovers their cursor over the 'Contact' button, a drop-down menu will appear offering two sub-categories. These sub-categories are 'social media' 'email and phone'.
• If they click on the 'social media' button, the user will be directed to the 'social media' section of the 'contact page'.
• If they click on the 'email and phone' button the user will be directed to the 'email and phone' part of the 'contact page'.

• If the user clicks on the 'Find Us' button they will be directed to the 'find us' page.

• If the user wants to get back to where they started (the homepage) they can click on the 'Oak House Antiques' loo to get back to the homepage.

Page designs

Creating my user flow and finalising my page designs has really helped be to begin creating my website. I now have a clear guide to work from, so I can effectively create my clients website. At times it was difficult to know how I wanted my website to look, but I kept referring back to my research, and the sites I previously looked at to ensure I am putting across the style I intended.