GRA2143: Advanced Web Page Design

Project 3: Tourism web site

For project 3 you will be designing a tourism web site for a location of your choosing. The web site should offer information about your chosen location, but it's primary purpose is to entice users to visit this location.

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 10 rough drafts for the home page, and 10 rough drafts of a subpage (20 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: 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 two concepts for the home page and two concepts for a sub page (4 pages total). You should design your comps for an 1024 x 768 monitor, however, you should design your comps at no less than a size of 1000 x 1000 so that you can show background imagery and content beyond the top fold. You must ftp your design comps by the date outlined 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.
Banner Ad designs and concepts. Are they a successful campaign? Are they consistent with the site design? Do they have an effective call to action?

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 or CSS Positioning.
Appropriate use of external CSS (only one CSS file is necessary - NO internal or inline styles!)
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.
Campaign of 3 Flash elements. Appropriate file size/load time. Each should link to a web page in your site.
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	(25 pts)
Design Improvements Color scheme Typography Style & Use of imagery/graphics Top fold Navigation Content Organization Target audience Concept - the "idea" behind your design. Banner Ad Campaign 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

Campaign of 3 Flash Elements	(15 pts)
Appropriate file size/load time. Links to a web page in your site.

Technical Considerations	(25 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 or CSS Positioning CSS formatting. Name all CSS rules. External CSS 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: