Monday 18 January 2010

Competitive Analysis

The site under analysis is a portfolio site of student who graduated last year (www.robertladkani.com). I found this site while looking at the D&AD students awards of 2009. The maker of this site won an D&AD award for web design.

I chose this flash site because I wanted to write about something inspirational instead of finding something with plenty of negatives and ripping it to pieces. What attracted me to this site was the its simplicity and quality of work which is complimented by its clean, minimal, clinical layout.

When looking at Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Contrast (PARC), I would say the demonstrates these principles quite well. Elements are grouped and aligned. There is repetition of a minimal colour scheme and good use of typography which demonstrates contrast.

In terms of navigation, the site works fine, and is easy to use. The internal links work, are labelled clearly, all the externals are distinguishable, and active.

Another positive is the portfolio which is varied in style and medium. It appears the designer is quite versatile and demonstrates good use of print and interactive media. The minimalist flash animations that occur when one rolls over over the links at the bottom of the page also compliment this site.

In terms of information the site also has a biography, a blog, contact page and an online CV which can be downloaded which is useful.

The only negative aspect of the site is the blog which unfortunately has not recently been updated. When taking in to consideration accessibility maybe the navigation on the top right could be a more prominent, but then again am a fan of minimal layout. The site seems fairly fast when loading however I am on a high speed connection. it would be interesting to view it on a slower one as the file size is quite large.

Overall I feel the site does its job. its well designed, interesting, contemporary and legible.The folio is of a high standard, and is easy to navigate unlike some other flash design sites I have come across which seem to have lost their purpose and the value of navigation.

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