Website Homework

Search Box – Even though the search box is displayed as a small icon it is still shown in a stereotypical way as you would normally see a magnifying glass to represent ‘search’. It is displayed on top of the website this could connote the importance and necessity to have a search box on a music website, expanding from that it would also be so that people would find easy to access and if they needed to find something it would already be there. However the use of colour makes it stand out less compared to the adverts, videos etc.

Links to social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.) – This feature appeal to the audience as you can see the website is aimed at people who like Hip Hop/RnB and it is usually young adults who like these type o genres. Moreover stereotypically young adults like urban music so by using social media gives the company a bigger audience to target. It also uses the logo of each social media so that it is easy to recognise. The colours are plain and simple to show that it might not be as important as other features.

Adverts – Adverts are used a lot in this website as I can spot at least 3. The colours used are depending on the colour theme of the company which makes it stand out from the website as they have their own colour theme. This could be to grab people’s attention as soon as they enter the website – companies would want to do this as they get paid to advertise. Images and fonts are also used inform the audience what it is about.

Headlines –all of the headlines are in black and written in bold capital letters. This is to make the website more accessible so that it is easy to look for what you want. This makes the website more organised and audience liking the layout.

Tabs – The font used is big and bold, this feature appeals to the audience because they might be looking for a specific topic and by using the tabs it makes the search easier. It also gives it a professional feeling making the audience think that ‘this is a good website’. It is also easy to use; you don’t have keep scrolling on page whereas instead you could switch pages by clicking on the tabs.

Contact Us – If a person was interested and amazed by the website and wanted to find out information, the ‘contact Us’ feature would be useful. This advertises their website but also gains the company a new subscriber. However I think that it is a hard feature to find on this specific website as I didn’t know where it was until I used the search box.

Wow does the institution (the publisher) make money?

The institution makes money by advertising adverts and linking social media into their website so that more people can share and find out about the magazine therefore target audiences widen.

Who is the audience and what tells you this?

 I think that the audience is young adults and teenagers (14-25) this is because the type of music that is posted. This includes RnB, Hip hop, Pop, Rap etc. Stereotypically many people would like this type of music.

How you are intended to 'use' or 'interact with' the site?

 As you can see at the bottom of the website it says ‘Vibe Interactive’ this is a feature which updates you with the latest news or trends. There is also the links to social media so that you can share, comment like or talk about the magazine. There is also a ‘Contact Us’ feature if you wanted to communicate with the institution.

Identify the effect of ‘value-added content’ such as photos, videos, forum, etc. on the target audience (users of the website).

It gives the website a modern and professional look wanting the audience to explore the website even more. The fact it gives you latest new music would make the target audience use it more frequently. If it didn’t have pictures or videos it would not look as interesting as some people prefer to have a visual look to what an image might look like or how a video goes, whereas if everything was just written in plain words it wouldn’t be as entertaining. Overall the value added context is one of the basic features you need on a music website as you need to attract and entertain your target audience.

Roxanne de Asis