Created Website Ideas

Stentorian 'Enter' page.

This 'entry-page' was created using 'Serif PageplusX4'. The general structure of this 'entry' page was built on the foundation of the previous explored entry pages listed above. The key aspects of these entry pages are, simplicity, boldness and large images. The font on this page is from 'urbanfonts.com' and is larger than the other text on the page which works really well because it makes the name of the band stand out, making the band the medium of the page. The information on the page - the release date of the box set. Adds some professionalism and makes it look more popular.
The 'Pre-order' button was also created using 'urbanfonts.com' and although the typical button graphic isnt used on the website that this immitates, we felt it was a good addition.

The hyperlinks on this entry page include the 'Proceed to the stentorian website' (at the top of the page), the pre-order button and the image itself. The image takes you to the main homepage as well as the obvious entry line at the top of the page. While the button takes you to the band merchendise page.

Stentorian 'homepage'.

This is the 'homepage' and was created using 'Serif Drawplus' and was created as an attempt to follow the guidelines of other official websites - this one looks alot at the 'Led Zepplin' website that we analyised in our questionairre as the favourite.

There are two types of font used on this webpage. The first font is a sharp and slightly distorted which represents the band and its genre. The name of the Band 'Stentorian' is in this font aswell as the name of their new album and so the album font itself will help people recognise and assosiate the connection between the two fonts.

There is a small midi-player at the bottom right hand corner of the page. This was created by using auto-shapes and the fill-effects feature. To create the background image to the midi-player, we created an image and then dropped the shapes ontop of it to make the midi-player look complete.

The menu in the top right was created by drawing several lines in paint, and then putting them together to create a table. Once again we used a font from 'urbandfonts.com' to make it look more modern. This is the second font we used and it just helps distinguish the hyperlinks from the normal next.

Beneath the image are three smaller images which were created in paint to represent sponsors. We thought that including sponsors would make the whole page look more official, and since the page we used as a guide had them, we thought it would be a safe option to also include them.

Brainstorm

To help map out a direction of where we are going with our website homepage, we produced a brainstorm to help us keep all our ideas in one place. We looked for generic codes and conventions within the wbesite homepages we viewed.


From a technical point of view, most of the websites use the rule of thirds. This is when the webpage is split up into 3 sections, normally, one banner accross the top, one banner down the side, and a bulk section in the middle. This is a standard rule in web design, one which may say is boring and outdated in modern web design. The first thing which we noticed was the colour scheme. These are normally dark contrasting colours, which set the theme for rock music. Quite a lot of the time, band's had an enter here page

'Enter Pages'

An 'Enter' page, is a page generally used to give you a taste of the website before you visit it. These are often found on video game sites which ask for your date of birth to see if your old enough to view the content. These 'enter' pages are also found on many band websites often containing images of the band and several looped effects. (Although, some bands have swearing in them, they are not concidered to have an age restriction on them. However, they do have explicit content labels on them which help protect younger people from it. There are explicit versions of cd's and songs but there are also versions in which the swearing is blocked out, making it suitable for most ages.

This is 'Five Finger Death Punch's Enter page. As you can see its very simple with a few images of the bands gig images. Beneath the image in a tab reading 'Proceed to the five finger death punch website' in which you click to enter their main homepage.

This is 'Nightwish' and their enter page is even more simple. On the centre of the page is their logo which is enlarged with the bands name over the logo. This enter page doesnt have an 'enter' button as such, rather a select a language to view the site in which instantly links you to the homepage.

This is the kamelot enter page, once again its very simple with just one enlarged and streched image as the background and the band name in the same font as that of their website above that. Just like Nightwish, there is no enter button as such but a select a language button which re directs you to the site in which you seek.

Led Zeppelin web page analysis

This is an analysis of the website homepage of the rock band, Led Zeppelin. We chose to analyse this website homepage as our audience research suggested that our audience listen to and value classic rock music, in particular Led Zeppelin.

Our first initial thoughts of this website was that it was very good, and very effective at contacting the audience. One thing inparticular was that it was all on one page, we didnt have to scroll down to see all of the content on the page. This is something we both found good as some webspages we looked at were very long, and boxed all the information, which resulted in an extremely long webpage, which gets very boring. We liked the fade to black from the images, and the style of images which they are, I.E the 'gritty' style black and white photos, which show the band members when they were younger. The brick wall behind them was effective, we felt that it gave us a feeling that they came from working in london clubs, which had the classic brick walls, which are a symbol of london. The envelope which is placed on the wall shows they came from smaller things, which may be an inspirational thing for young artists to aspire to, and it shows how far they actually have come since they first started out. We felt the index was very good as it was small, out of the way, and did the job it was suppost to do very well, as well as looking good and fitting in with the rest of the webpage. The logos at the bottom are good as they are the icons which the band adopted, so immeadiately fans know they are the led zeppelin site. The media player and video galley at the bottom are effective, as the media player plays automatically, and the video gallery has links to some impressive video footage. All in all the web page works very well, with a mixture of images and good construction, delivering an impressive , dynamic and attractive web page for the bands fans to enjoy. Now we will analyse the web pages individual elements in isolation.

To the left is the official led zeppelin web page. As the above said, it delivers a very effective and dynamic web page, which really catches the element of the band, and projects this to the audience. The mix between dark colours, rendering towards to lighter colours in the middle, offers a fantastic contrast which really catches the audiences eye.








To the right is the Ledzeppelin.com banner. It is a lot smaller to banners we have seen on other web pages. It is made up of the famous 'Led Zeppelin' named logo. This is iconic to the fans of Led Zeppelin as they recognise this logo, therfore would know they are definately on the Led Zeppelin website. The font they used for the name is relevant to the band as they have folk based roots, so this font is a sort of ancient England font. This represents the bands nationality, and also their folk based roots, since the lead singer, Robert Plant was originally a folk singer before he joined the band, and they often ventured in the realms of folk music. This banner works well as it is white writing on a black background, which obviouslt makes it stand out as it is majorly contrasted, and it also represents the band.

This is the index for the webpage. This is the same type of thing used for the banner. It is much smaller than other banners we have seen in most webpages. This is done becuase the page isn't very big, so they have saved space for the rest of the page, as well as drawing attention to the main part of the page. The colours of the index draw attention to it as it is a white/grey colour, which stands out against the black background. This is done so the index sticks out. The font it used is very clever. Making the index look slightly old and rugged seems to have a nostalgic effect on the audience as it shows it is ageing, such as the band, so it ages with the band. It will effect different audiences in different ways. For the fans of Led Zepplein who maybe went to see them when they were younger would recognise the font as the same type of font used to advertise a gig on a bulletin board for a major event, such as Led Zeppelin doing a gig. This will be very nostalgic to this audience so they will recognise this and it will make them think back to their memories of Led Zeppelin. This makes this index effective as it will make the audience want to return to the website to look for updates of the band etc. A younger audience, will also recognise this as the font used for major events on billboards, but they will be more excited by it, as it would be every young and old Led Zeppelin fans dream to see them in concert, so this can give them hope that one day it may happen. This attracts this audience back to the website as they will also want to check for updates.

This is the main section of the Ledzeppelin.com hompage. When the page first loads up it is just the brick wall backgorund which loads up. This may represent the London clubs which they would have played in their career, this is representative of their audience as a lot of them would have been going to these London gigs, and supporting them, so they would recognise this image. This is important as they want to keep these loyal fans happy. Shortly after this The "Yardbirds goodbye", which you cannot see in this image is layered on top of the brick wall, this reminds the fans where the band, and gives younger a fan information about the band. This is important as a lot of people are interested in band histories, not just for Led Zeppelin, but for any band, so having this is a nice way of doing that. After this a "Yardbirds break in two" newspaper cutting appears, this is effective for the same reasons as before, the importance of a bands history. A short phase after this a picture of Jimmy Page on a motorboke of some kind is layered onto the page. He is wearing a leather jacket, riding a motor bike, has long dark hair and is looking very relaxed. This images iconography, such as the leather jacket and the relaxed look while riding the motorbike are iconic rock images, which effect the audience and visitor of this website as they feel a part of a culture, which they recognise as the rockers. This makes them, in turn feel relaxed and at home on this website. Shortly after this image appears an image of John Paul Jones appears on the screen playing a guitar of some kind. This is icononic as he is a well known, all rounded musician, so it shows that he is devoted to music, and is always playing an instrument. This is important to the audience as it shows them what talented musicians he, and the rest of the band where. After this the telegram, seen in the above picture appears. It reads "Priority Robert Plant, Three men in a boat, Beechsale Estate, Walsall Staffs. Tried phoning you several times please call me if interested in joining The Yardbirds, telephone Gerrad 6671 - Peter Grant RAK Music Managements LTD. " This seems to be a telegram sent by the bands manager Peter Grant, to Robert Plant asking him he's interested in joing The Yardbirds. It seems that he was trying to contact Robert Plant urgently. They have included this on the website as it shows how the band may have not formed, and it shows even more history of the band. This gives the audience more information about the band. Next up shows and image of Robet Plant. He is in his usual dress sense, which may have been fashionable back then. After this an image of John Bonham appears in the same way as Robert Plant. These images of the band members, newspaper cuttings and telegrams build up the audience's expectation of the website as they are reminded how great the band is therefore, they would expect a greate website to coincide with the great band.

To the left is the logo which automatically appears at the bottom of the screen. These are the symbols used by the band on their fourth album, commonly known as "4 sticks". These symbols are icons of great music to classic rock, and Led Zeppelin fans, hence the reason why they used these symbols on the page is to remind the audience of the greatness of Led Zeppelin, in many peoples views, and it also is a symbol of rock'n'roll. The contrasting colours offer an east to see, effective and dynamic part of the website, one which delivers a message that this is the website, of a great iconic band.

This is the tab, which appears in the tab section of the Internet browser when the user is on the website. This has an image used by Led Zeppelin, known as "The Angel". This image was used as the image for Led Zeppelins record label, Swan Song, a division of the record label, Atlantic Studios, which Led Zeppelin originally signed to. It is common belief that this angel is a representation of Lucifer. The reason for this being that, it was notably associated with Acarus, the God of music and light, Lucifer, the fallen angel is also associated with the light, hence the name, The Morning Star. Jimmy Page is well known for his interest in the occult, and has often been portrayed as a devil worshipper, hence the theory that this is a representation of Lucifer. This would represent the audience of Led Zeppelin as a common representation of rock music is that it's listeners worship the devil, and they are part of a cult.

This is the link to the video gallery on the Led Zeppelin website. It uses the same layout as the rest of the website, and black background with grey/white writing on it. The image is a screen with an image of Robert Plant singing. On the live website, it is actually video footage which changes. This is an effective way of catching the eye of the audience to try and attract them to the video galley. This is important on a modern website, and the audience may want to experience what seeing the band live is like.

This is the register for email updates button. It is short, sweet and effective, once again using the contrasting colours, and having a small envelope next to it, which you click, which takes you to a new window. This is important on a modern website as fans will want to be kept updated about any news about the band.

This is the media player used on the website. It is simple, having a play button, which when the media is being played, turns into a pause button. It has a volume control level which is very simple and easy to use. The contrasting colours used are very effective as they make the media player stand out, and this makes it very accessible to use.

Bullet For My Valentine Website Analysis

The first thing you notice on this webpage is the name of the band at the very top of the page. This font stands out because it’s the largest sized text on the page (even larger than the ‘youtube.com’ videos on the page) and is in block grey capitals (this dominates and over rules the rest of the page, forcing the band forward). Having a font this size is a good aspect, as fans will know that this is their bands website with just a glance, and to help towards this recognition of the font, it has been used on all of their albums. The font of the text is slightly distorted to appear sharp which captures attention and reflects the kind of music they play, which is metal and its sub- genre, shredding. Beneath the text is a large image used for the background, the image or sketch is the top half of a woman with black hair with a claw as a hand, presumably this has something to do with the name of their latest album which is labelled ‘Fever’. Behind the woman there looks to be eyes which can only be seen if studied close. An unusual feature lies at the top of the webpage, a feature called ‘Select skin’. This is a drop down menu with several options; BulletFever, ScreamAimFire, ThePoisonRed and HandOfBlood, which coincidently is the name of all the albums they have released. By clicking an option, for example, ScreamAimFire it changes the skin of the website which forces the page to reload and brings up a new background (that relevant to their album ScreamAimFire).

This building in the image (the cover of their album - Scream Aim and Fire) has been shot in a high angle position this makes its stature a lot more intimidated and more daunting or threatening. The building, which is a cathedral, can work as a semiotic and contains more than one meaning. - however known only to those who understand its genre. The building can represent strength and the unity of the band, or seen as it’s a rather dark and gothic building might be iconic of the bands genre. This adding to the appeal with the metal genre. Its all the small aspects that influence the homepage, to make it what it is.




The ScreamAimFire album. The Homepage with the ScreamAimFire skin.

Although you can change the skin, the pre-set for when you load the webpage is that of their latest album ‘Fever’.

Below the skin feature there are several hyperlinks in white that are backed upon a darker background making them stand out. There is also a ‘Fan count’ just below them informing you how many fans are currently online and an option that allows you to become a fan. There is also a feature that allows you to sign up for a ‘Newsletter’. These features are good because they allow fans to become 'closer' with the band and feel part of something.
To create a background for the menu, they have used the clouded night sky to add mystery and several black birds, which are presumably ravens or crows, which in Celtic beliefs are the 'harbingers of death'. This entwines with the metal genre (Considering the side genre, death-metal) and ads to this homepage scene. According to sources, if a crow lands on your house it is an omen that death is near.




Further down the webpage there is a ‘youtube.com’ video which is pre-set to play the first song from their latest album ‘Fever’ (There is a reason why websites import 'YouTube' videos, and this is because its one of the largest online streaming video sites on the internet and because of this a lot of people already know how to use/play a video from 'YouTube' and this ads to the simplicity in which was a preferred answer in our questionnaire). This video comes with a dropdown menu that has other songs of theirs in which you can choose. On the same section of the homepage is a small midi-player with the common cassette buttons making it easy to use, just below it are two options ‘More Music’ and ‘Play Videos’ which direct you to another area of the site.




Just like the majority of music websites they have a news section on the homepage, which is positioned on the left hand side in its own black box. The text inside the box is in a dark red colour which stands out well as its positioned on black. Other sections include ‘Official Photos’, ‘Latest Activity’ and ‘Tour Dates’. The news section doesn't look exactly big and informing at first glance, but what it gives you is several hyperlinks which are categorised linking you to the news your after such as interviews, commercials and new music videos, this makes the website more compact and it doesn't clutter the homepage.



At the bottom of the homepage there is a small photo album of the band, in which fans are able to comment on. This option seems pretty popular as there are over 178 comments. This comment section is rather a good idea, because fans can also talk to each other, and talk about something that they all share an interest in. In some sense this brings the website together making it both user friendly and entertaining.

You also get another menu at the bottom of the page, which is possibly unnecessary as the page isn't very long, nevertheless it adds room for more sections on the homepage. Beneath this are the sponsors for the band including the popular 'Monster - energy drinks'. Sponsors are a great addition to any website as they promote and show professionalism.




The midi-player that they use is rather simplistic, three control: skip, play and back. They dont back the player into a frame, instead let it free float on top of their background using colours that merge the two. The name of the track your listening too scrolls along the top of the player in a rich white fonts, clearly visible on the blue/grey background. There are two links below the player, these are 'More-music' which takes you to a sepperate site with more of their songs and 'play-videos' which gives you the same song choices. However, are music videos.



This is the top banner to the webpage allowing fans to sign in and/or join the site. By doing this you are able to post on their website and comment on their news and videos. On the left hand side, there are two logo's, one of 'T-Twitter' and 'F-Facebook' by clicking on one of these your able to follow them on your social site accounts. The colours of the banner match that of the rest of the website aswell as the style of the text.



This is a newer section located at the top left of the page near the menu column. It advertises a new application for android phones. This is a good idea because its keeping up with technology and allows the fans to feel even closer - owning an app by their favourite band. The app itsself keeps you upto date with their latest news, new songs, new tours and latest pictures.



These are the sponsors for BFMV's website. Monster, Facebook, Myspace and iLike, which are all well-known/used which will add the the publicity of the band. Sponsors also show success, they will only give money to bands that they feel are good. Once they give the money, the band is now assossiated with their logo which gives the sponsor advertising. The more succesful the band becomes the more advertising these companies will get.

Kamelot Website Analysis

Kamelot Website Analysis



The band’s name really stands out on this website; this is because it works in contrast to its background – using the colours white and grey. This font is positioned on the top left hand side of the website (which is a perfect position because its where you would start to read a book, so instantly grabs your attention). The background that the font is sat on is composed of some concept art from their latest album ‘poetry for the poisoned’ and this gives the feel of the website being really up to date and consistent.
Beneath their name is the common menu bar which has been made slightly transparent so we can still see the background beneath it, which is rather stylish. There is then a flash advert in which most websites use to make money from other companies adverts. Although, this isn’t strictly true on this website because they are advertising their own merchandise by using the flash method. This goes to show how successful the band is, as they don’t need extra income to finance their website.
Before reaching the news section there is a small strip which has been used to divide up the page which contains the name of the section as well as several social website links which include Facebook, twitter etc. These are present in the form of small icons in which people who use these sites are aware of and understand. By giving the public/fans different ways to follow the band it helps create a small society between fans, which can interact with the main website by posting views and comments on their videos or latest news etc. This also gives the band the potential to increase its fan base, as it reaches out further by owning pages on these different sites.





To the right of the news section there is a small advertising section which is hosted by the website but sponsored by two other sites ‘Amazon and iTunes’. The advert is for their latest album and allows you to purchase it through the two sponsors which are hyperlinked.
Halfway down the page there is a competition which gives you the chance to win a guitar signed by the band. The requirements to enter are that you post them a picture of yourself holding or wearing any of their merchandise and you will be entered into their prize draw to win one of these signed guitars. Competitions like this are healthy for keeping a website running as it keeps interest in the site itself. Competitions might also help the band gain popularity as people will see these competitions (who are interested in the band or guitars) advertised in magazines, online etc. and they may be inclined to listen to the band to check them out.
Beneath the competition is another small page separator and then another section on tours. This tour section is all written in a small white font in a font very similar to ‘Times New Roman’ – on word. Even though it’s very simplistic it works because of the contrast which makes it very easy to read. The tour articles are presented in a way where they show you the highlight of the information and then leave you with a ‘…’ and a ‘continue reading’ option which help to keep the page uncluttered.






At the very bottom of the webpage are their supporters and sponsors in which they have a lot of. Again, these show prestige and success. All these sponsors are hyperlinked to jump to their main page, supposing that people who are into the band are more likely (if looking for a guitar or equipment) to purchase something that the band uses.
Another page breaker and we finally reach the bottom where there is a large menu bar which is more in depth and allows you to access sub-pages faster.




This is a closer look at the top transparent menu bar. As you can see this website is a lot larger than it first seems. This helps to understand the large menu bar at the very bottom of the website – there are a lot of sub-pages linked to each menu hyperlink. Another useful addition to the bar is the fact that once you hover over one of the options with your mouse, it backs the grey/white text in a red/range rustic colour making it clearly visible and easy to read.

Five Finger Death Punch Website Analysis

The first thing that strikes you on this homepage is the name of the band, this is because it’s in a white capital font backed upon flames, this forces the white to contrast with the red/yellow flames, forcing their name to stand out. The pros of having your band name stand out are, it shows that the band is the most important thing on the page, its also iconic of the band and so people easily recognise what page they are on.

You instantly get the feel that this Is a very simple website, following ‘the rule of 3’. The idea of the ‘rule of 3’ is how a webpage is laid out, and this is the most common layout you will find. This has some positive aspects as well as some bad, as for the good points, most of you will have used a website similar to this one, and so it’s very easy and simple to use. A problem with this is that it looks very common and boring as its just plain scipt, that in which you would find on alot of social sites. Behind the bands name is an image which streches along the top of the page containing every one of the band members in a medium shot, which shows them all as equal. The way they are positioned (on the top of the page) gives the effect of them looking down on the page, giving them more importance. They are wearing dark, torn clothes and have tatoos which is iconic of the idea of rock/metal. To add to this, on a lower section of the homepage is a small box which reads "



The colours used are reds, yellows and blacks. These colours could be assossiated with danger (the colour red - naturally a danger colour) and black being the colour of darkness. The yellow and red features are backed upon a black background which makes them stand out and appear sharper. These colours are also used within their album which is framed, centre of the page. The fonts used are identical to that of which is used on the ‘old western wanted posters’ – this would give across the impression of ‘law breakers’ which is stereotyped into the whole metal genre.






On the left hand side of the webpage is a well presented midi player, preset to play 6 of their new songs from their latest album, illustrated above the player. Its in a simple format, so that anyone can use it (using the standard, play (triangle etc..)). Beneath the midi player there are several hyperlinked options in a yellow underlined colour, which give you the opportunity to purchase the CD above. So this midi-player is used as a taster of their music to attract people to purchase their CD.





This webpage then breaches off into a news section which trails all the way down to the bottom of the page. The news section gives information on, gig dates, merchandise, funny videos and competitions. This is pretty standard of most band websites, the whole news section on the homepage which is generally very long. If this is the expectation of a music website then it would be a good idea to implement it into our site as it gives us some solid guidelines in which we can change to suit our needs.

At the very bottom of the page ‘the footer’ are the sponsors of 5FDP these include, Gibson, Ibanez, Godin and Zoom which are very well known sponsors and show how successful the band is. This also adds professionalism to the webpage which is good as it allows people to trust the site.