Final Website Design

Final Website Design

My Website: https://nataliachmedia.wixsite.com/lucashart

In order to create my website I used Wix, as I do not have the ability to code one myself. I took inspiration from my website research of Shawn Mendes' web page. I used pale, almost pastel, colours throughout the whole website. In my statement of intent I said I'd use bright colours and although pastel blue and pink aren't vibrant colours they are still light and create brightness, as opposed to dark blue. I chose pastel blue as it symbolises peace, faith and confidence. I then chose pastel pink as it is seen as a feminine colour, which represents romance and sweetness. The two colours create a juxtoposition, the blue is more masculine and radiates confidence, whereas the pink is more feminine and shows sweetness. In my statement of intent I said how I wanted to go against male stereotypes and I think this does it as it shows how my artist, although being a male, who is confident, still has a sweet and more vulnerable side to him. It goes against gender norms as pink is seen as a girls only colour. It's also a direct reference to the music video, representing the girls and boys relationship. 
My home page features my artist logo which I had previously created, it matches to the web design as it has the same colours as the background and font as the writing. The logo in the top left corner is a gif, which changes from pink to blue, also matching the websites background. 

I had also created an extended version of the logo, which I placed on the home screen with the mini logo under it.

I feel like this will grab peoples attention as it will be one of the first things they see as they enter the website. I decided to create this extended version of the logo as most artists do this and it would also help others recognise my artist. I didn't really change much from my draft here, I kept the san serif font (Lulo Clean) for the first name to draw attention, I also made the letter spacing bigger so that it covered a larger area. Then I used a serif font (Lobster) for the surname as I wanted it to look more fancy. I changed the colour from black to an off-black/dark grey, as the black was too overpowering compared to the pale background. I made both fonts bold in order for them to stand out more as its the first thing the audience will see when entering the home page. I also like the contrast between the black and white font. I really like how this turned out, I think it suits my young target audience. I added the reveal transition onto the logo so that it would reveal itself just as the person clicked onto the website, making it more interesting. The logos also appear in my music video, creating synergy by linking the two products together.

On the home page you will also see the navigation bar. I stuck to the same colour scheme in order to make it match the background. I chose to alternate the colours depending on what part of the page you were on. For example, if you are on the home page, the font will turn pink and the border turns blue. In my statement of intent I said I wanted the page to be easily navigated, so I did this to make it more clear what page you were on so that I didn't confuse my audience. The navigation bar is also pinned to the top of the page so as you scroll down it follows you, I did this as I think it is much easier to press the home button and appear back at the top, rather than to scroll the whole way up. 

In my statement of intent I said I wanted to link my artists social media, so I chose to add a social media pannel. I did this as I think it's very important to have one, as most of my target audience would have at least 2/3 of these platforms, meaning they'd be able to follow my artist and support his career, as Jenkins theory states, audeinces create fandoms, which help the artist become more recognisable, therefore social media platforms are important in boosting a artist. As my artist is fictional I didn't create loads of social media platforms for him to link them into my website, I did however link the original song to spotify and I linked the Youtube video, just so that there would be something to click on. If this were a real page I would also create my artist an Instagram, Twitter and Apple music account.  

I made my artist an album cover. I am really happy with how this turned out. I think it's really effective and looks real. I created this in photoshop, using a photo of my artist, his logo and the name of the song. I also kept to the colour scheme, so that it would match the vibe of the web design. After I had created it I used a Wix music box and inserted my album cover into it. Then I edited the song name and artist on it and linked the original song, so that when anyone clicks the play button the song will automatically start playing. I also added a price in the top left corner to make it more relaistic looking. I placed it on my home page, as I think it's something everyone should see, as it is a newly released single and the artist would want to promote it.

As you scroll down the first thing that appears is the text 'Latest Video', it also has the reveal animation, so it'll slowly come onto the screen. Then I've placed a white text box in which I put the music video (linking the two products together), I was originally going to replace the box with the video as I was just using it for guide lines, however I really liked the way the video looked inside the box as it frames it and makes it look like you're watching it through a mini TV.In my statement of intent I said I wanted the music video to be on the website, so I included it as eing able to view the video straight from the website makes it more fun.I then added a big letter V in the same off-black colour and placed it just over the corner of the box as a little accent piece. I really like how this looks, I think it justs adds something to the page, it would look too empty without it.

The next thing down is an 'About' page for my artist. I chose to include this section in order to make my artist appear more real, I think it's important for the audience to know something about the artist, it also gives the chance to show how successful my artist is, which is why I included awards he has won. I used the same san serif font as for my logo (Lulo Clean) in order to create consistency throughout the website and once again the font is the same off-black/dark grey colour. In my statement of intent I said I wanted to use images of my artist to make him more recognisable, I didn't end up doing this, as this is the only image of my artist in the whole website. If I were to do this again I'd consider adding a page for images of my artist. 

The next thing you see is a tour dates section. I added this as almost every single musician has this on their website, so to make it look more realistic I added some for mine. I once again incorporated a big letter to act as an accent on the page so that it didn't look empty, it's also just become part of the theme for my website. Instead of using the same off-black colour I decided to use the white instead, to tie in the white colour from the logo. However, just white looked to plain so I added a black stroke around it. I still used the same san serif font (Lulo Clean). I created the ticket buttons in a way so that whenever you hover over it, it the font turns black, this just helps the audience know what they are clicking on. I used the same pink colour as the back ground and navigation bar, to create consistancy within my colour scheme. I'm not sure how much I like this section of my website, it seems a bit plain/empty, I think that if I had more time I would've experimented more and added maybe some coloured boxes, or I would've organised it differently.

The last thing at the bottom of my page is a newsletter section. Through my website research I found that most musicians offer these newsletters so that dedicated fans can get first hand updates on new music, tour and any other information about the artist. I think this is important as it lets fans engage with the artist.To create this I chose an already existing design and modified it to fit my website. I changed the 'Get Updates' title to the same Lulo Clean font for consistency, however I did make the 'full name' and 'email' font slightly different so that the audience knew it was meant to be replaced with their details. I gave each text box a pink shadow to match the previous pages of my website. I then changed the angle of it to 45 degrees in order for the text box's original black border to overlap the shadow and text box making it look 3D. I really like how this turned out as I think it's very eyecatching. I also kept that same off-black colour for consistancy, as well as the big letter N as an accent.

I added a footer to the bottom of the page and I put my production logo onto it as well as the Sony logo as the brief says the artist is signed to a Sony recording label. 

In the brief it also said we had to create an additional page, so I chose to create a merchandise page. I created all these pieces of merchandise by myself in photoshop. I used my album cover and two logos as the main focus of my merch, placing them on hats, tops and hoodies. For the hats I chose pastel colours as it reflects the websites theme and I just made the tops and hoodies white in order for the logo and album cover to stand out more. I am extremely proud of this section of the website as I think it looks like a professional merch store. I also did my research on typical merchandise prices, therefore making my prices realistic. I think this part of the website is very important as it allows the audience to join the fandom and support the artist by buying his products, it will also help promote the artist as people who buy his merch and wear it act as free advertisment. I also think it fits my target audience as its fun, fresh and young looking. 

Overall, I feel like my website looks pretty good and meets the briefs requirements as it is suitable for my young 16-25 audience and it promotes not only the artist but the music video, linking the two products together.