GRA2141: Web Page Design

Project 3: Music Web site

For project 3 you will be combining the design and development process into one project to create a web site for a musician or a band (not a record label). The choice for the type of musician or band is up to you. Ensure you select someone that has adequate information for you to work with (photos, text, etc.)

Research & Planning

Complete the research & planning portion of the project and turn in on the final project due date:

• Research: Research examples of good design - get inspired! A minimum of five examples of research must be turned in with the project on the specified due date. Design examples are not limited to Web design. Research MUST be provided in printed format (i.e. photocopy, magazines, for interactive work online take screenshot*). Make comments on the research examples you provide. Write what you feel about the design is strong. If color is the design strength, your print must be in color. All research must be good design examples, and not just examples of web sites similar to the project topic.
  
  *How to take a screenshot
  Mac Users - CMD + Shift + 3 will enable you to capture an image of your entire screen
  CMD + Shift + 4 will cause a crosshair will appear on your screen that will allow you to drag across a specified area of your screen you wish to capture an image of. Once complete a pdf will appear on your desktop.
  PC Users - A Print Window key on your keyboard may be used to copy an image of your screen to your clipboard. Once complete, simply open an image editing program, open a new file, paste the screenshot into the new file and save your file.
• Roughs: You must complete 5 rough drafts for the home/splash page, and 5 rough drafts of a subpage (10 total). Rough drafts should be approximately 4" x 6" in size. All rough drafts must be hand drawn, uniquely different, and not just changing the font or color. Rough drafts should indicate your overall organization of graphical elements. Include in your rough drafts design considerations such as typography, color, graphical elements, motion, etc. Your rough drafts should include consideration for navigational elements. Think about not only how the navigation is placed. Also think about functionality & usability.
• Site Map: Although the site we are designing is rather simple, please create a basic site map including all pages of the navigation as well as appropriate links. Each page will represent a rectangle in your site map, with links to other pages connected via lines. This site map can either be hand drawn or created on the computer. Additionally the site map should clearly outline the information and content that is planned for each page.

Comprehensive Designs

Once these initial steps have been completed, you are ready to mock up your site design. You may use Photoshop (or your design program of choice) to create your comprehensive designs. Your designs comps should closely resemble your plans for your final functional design. It should be work you'd be proud to show a client. For this project you are to propose a minimum of one concept for a home page and one concept for a sub page (2 pages total). You should design your comps for an 800 x 600 monitor. You may design your comps for a monitor that is up to 800 x 600. However, when designing your comps, this time you MUST increase your canvas size to 1000px x 1000px so we can visualize your intentions for the background of the web page AND so we can see how you intend to use additional content. In other words, we DON'T just want to see a paragraph on each page. The live area of your web page should still be at a width no larger than 800 pixels and be sure to keep in mind the top fold of your page. You must ftp your design comps by the project design comp due date.You must ftp your design comps by the due date specified in the course schedule.

Design Considerations

Although you should be focused on how to create a functional web site, you will be graded on the various aspects which are instrumental in creating a well designed web site such as:

• Color scheme
• Typography
• Style & Use of imagery/graphics
• Top fold - Ensure the important elements (logo, navigation, calls to action, etc.) are in the top 350-450px of the page
• Navigation - is it usable? Have you considered rollover effects?
• Content Organization. Group relevant topics together, use columns rather than having one huge body of text.
• Text. Text areas generally should never be longer than 365px wide. (Line length article: Web style guide) Use headings & subheadings to help emphasize areas of interest.
• Target audience
• Concept - the "idea" behind your design.

Technical Requirements

You must demonstrate your proficiency with Dreamweaver, XHTML & CSS during this project. Keep in mind the following guidelines prior to uploading your projects:

• Your site must contain a minimum of six pages.
• Name your HTML files and images descriptively.
• Your home page must be named "index.html".
• Use all lowercase letters for naming, and avoid special characters and spaces (except for hyphens and underscores, which are OK).
• File optimization. (appropriate file size, file format, & image quality)
• Put your images in an /images/ subfolder to keep your site organized.
• Check all your links and pages to ensure they work correctly before you are done.
• All pages should have descriptive page titles
• All images must have alt tags declared
• Implement anchor links on a minimum of one page.
• Navigational elements must have rollover effects (javascript or CSS)
• Proper use and set up of tables
• The site must demonstrate proper CSS formatting. Name all CSS rules (NO .style1, .style2, .style3)
• Create an email link with a predefined subject.
• Create 2 external links that open in a new window.
• Your host directory for this project is p3

Grading Criteria

Name:

Date:

Deadlines	(20 pts)
Rough drafts, research, sitemap Design comps due by specified date, quality, design and correct number of comps completed.
Design Considerations	(30 pts)
Design Improvements Color scheme Typography Style & Use of imagery/graphics Top fold Navigation Content Organization Target audience Concept - the "idea" behind your design.
File Organization	(5 pts)
Proper naming conventions	(2 pts)
File organization (separate directories for assets, images, css)	(3 pts)
File Optimization	(5 pts)
Appropriate file size, file format, image quality
Technical Considerations	(35 pts)
Site contains a minimum of six pages Functional links Rollover navigational elements (javascript or CSS) 2 external links (open in a new window) Links to pictures (all pictures appear - no ? marks) Anchor links Email link (with predefined subject) Proper use of tables CSS formatting. Name all CSS rules. Page titles Alt tags applied to all images
Presentation	(5 pts)
FTP site (Do NOT FTP source files (photoshop, illustrator, flash) Presented project in a professional manner Effectively communicated concepts Participated in class critique & assessment of projects
Total:	(100 pts)

Notes: