Final Project

Click Here for Final Project!

Ideas for Future Class

The idea of pairing computer science and design students is a good opportunity and would give students a feel for what a "real job" in the industry would entail, to a degree. I think in doing this though, the project should be started a lot earlier in the semester because it will take more time and work than our individual design projects did.

As far as improvements for the class, I agree with Ivana's suggestion of giving more class time to do work. This would especially be necessary for the collaborative projects because otherwise it may be difficult to find convenient time outside of class for both students to work together. And more one on one student-professor interaction would be more helpful as well. A sequence of web design classes or at least a follow up class would be great too (Web Design I, Web Design II, etc).

Assignment 10

Final Design Proposal: Fox News

The Original Site: http://www.foxnews.com/

The Fox News website has so many problems that I don't even know where to begin. It's ugly, disorganized, excessive, and manages quite well to appear boring. The heading is bothersome right off the bat for a couple of reasons. The logo is too inconspicuous and subtle and left aligned while there is a bunch of other mumble jumble that follows it. This needs to be simplified and enlarged. And I think a simple color scheme would go a long way in benefitting the appearance. There is no consistent organizing principle. Instead, each section is laid out differently, which adds to the disorganization.

The placement of information is too random and needs to be categorized better. The information factor is good and Fox News is probably my favorite news website, it just happens to be the most misshapen in so many ways. The two main factors that I want to change are the appearance (which includes color and layout) and the organizing principle, which doesn't seem to exist right now.

My Proposal:

First off, I made the logo and heading more prominent but simple. The original had the logo aligned to the left side of the page and very small. I centered the logo against a red background and put a 'Search' bar to the left and space for an advertisement to the right. I have no problem with the original logo and don't think that it needs to be redesigned.

I simplifed the tabs that are right underneath the heading. I kept about seven of the main categories (ie. World News, U.S. News, Entertainment, Sports, etc.) and then created a 'More' tab to include less significant tabs (ie. SciTech, Health, Lifestyles, etc.). The original layout of the tabs was extremely excessive with two rows. The entire second row included television programs on the Fox News channel, which I incorportated into one section on the main homepage. I also added color, making the main page color a light gray and then utilizing mostly red and blue.

Website Content (Homepage):

To present the main headline stories, I created a large box that would be left aligned directly underneath the tabs. The box is divided down the middle with three main stories presented on the right and a photo on the left to coincide with the story that the user clicks on.

Then I created separate boxes underneath this section for each of the different categories listed in the tabs. I made the six main categories larger and more prominent (World News, U.S. News, Entertainment, Sports, Business, and Politics).

Underneath this section I created a 'Special Features' section where news and features can go that don't belong to a specific category or need to be easily noticed. And underneath this section, I included boxes for the tabs that are less prominent (ie. Opinion, Lifestyles, etc.)

Along the right side of the homepage, I created boxes/sections for Fox News shows (as previously mentioned) and Videos & Blogs. I don't feel that these categories need to be very pronounced as most visitors probably don't visit the site for these sections. However, they still need to be presented.

This layout simplifies the problem that I have with the original layout. Instead of trying to fit as much information as possible onto the homepage, the information is presented in a simpler manner. When the user clicks on a link or a specific section, they will be routed to a secondary page that will contain the bulk of the information for a specific category. And I have designated small sections of the homepage for advertisements, which are obviously necessary (though irritating) because they are being paid for.

I will probably create a template for the layout of a secondary page once the user navigates away from the homepage.