Website Font and Colour Research

I have been researching different fonts and colours recommended for websites. www.buildyourwebsite.co.uk suggests that there are two main things to consider when deciding on a suitable website font:- Font Typeface, and the Font Family. There is also Font Size but the website explains that the font choice is up to you as there is no perfect font size. The website says that fonts fall into one of two typeface categories; these are either serif or sans-serif. The website says that the ‘serif’ typefaces are easier to read on paper, and are used in newspapers and books, but the ‘sans-serif’ typefaces are easier to read on a computer screen. The website also explains that when building a website I need to remember that the computer displaying my web page must have the fonts installed in order to display the page correctly. So I need to be using a popular font like Arial, Times Roman, Verdana or Georgia which is installed on all computers so that everyone can read the content on my website. This is very useful information that I didn’t know before using this website. I will take this into consideration when building my website.
Here is a screen shot of the website I used with the relevant information :)

I used another website called 'www.newbiewebsitedesign.com' which discusses the best text/background colour combinations to use in websites in order to improve the usability and the overall design of the website. It advises that a website shouldn't have white or light text on a black or dark background. It also warns that the use of 2 colours with little contrast between them, such as two tones of blue, would be difficult to read against a background of a similar colour. Another choice which this website advises against is having black text on a yellow background as this can cause eye-strain; there is a useful example of black text on a yellow background on the website which proves this.

This is a screen shot of the second website I used.

All the information I have found will affect the way that I design my own website as it suggests a limit in the combinations of colours that I can use in terms of font and background colour. I think that it will be a good idea to use the same or complimentary colours for the font/background to the logo of my website in order to increase the effect of the branding and brand recognition in the website. However I’ll have to take into consideration the overall effect that these colours will have. I have decided to use Arial font as it is bold and clear for good usability. I have also decided to use bright colours against a black background. I like this as it produces an effect which makes the colours look almost like lights, or like fireworks in the night sky which most people find exceptionally eye catching. I find bright colours like lime green and bright pink create a fantastic contrast with a black background, it produces a funky modern feel which is what i wanted for my website. I will use this colour scheme for my logo so everything will link. I will also use this theme when producing my magazine advertisements, I think that if people get used to this colour scheme they are more likely to remember my website and TV channel.

Research (Jakob Neilson)

To get the best and most usable website I have decided to get information from Website Creator Jakob Neilson. He has put together a website with info on making usable and easily accessable websites, I looked at one page called 'The Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design'.

Summary:
'The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.'

The top 10 mistake which I read and took into consideration before the creation of my website are: (These are the headings followed by long paragraphs)

1. Bad Search
2. PDF Files for Online Reading
3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
4. Non-Scannable Text
5. Fixed Font Size
6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility
7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement
8. Violating Design Conventions
9. Opening New Browser Windows
10. Not Answering Users' Questions

This is the link to where I found the information:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

Tv Listings Research

My second analysis of a double page spread of television program listings is found in the "TV Choice" Magazine. The main channels are structured into different columns and colours, for example, BBC One is blue, BBC Two is green, ITV is pink, Channel Four is light blue and Channel Five is orange. The TV listings magazine also uses different colours throughout the different days of the listings, for example, Monday is purple. This differentiates between the channels and days. This is similar to the listings I’ve analysed in ‘Film Choice’ magazine. Each column contains a time scale and the programme title, both in bold with a brief description below, this attracts readers to the programmes and helps create easy reading for the audience. Some programmes have a 'New' symbol on the left hand side, or a 'Film' symbol and a black box around the synopsis. I do like this, but I think it would be impractical to use on my double-page spread because as my idea is for a new teen music channel, all of the programming will be new. On the far left hand side is a small "Today's Choice" Column, containing the editor's choice for the top rated shows of that day. This promotes not only the programme, but the channel it's on; it also adds diversity to the page. It makes the page more visually appealing as it contains the only two images within the piece. The images are of the programmes being advertised, for example a picture of Jack Duckworth for Coronation Street, this is a good way of attracting readers as people are visually stimulated mainly by seeing images, which make them want to read about it. The logo of the magazine is also placed at the bottom of the double page spread, this is a good advertising technique as the audience is continuously reminded of the magazine they are reading, this follows the codes and conventions of the advertisement, this is a clever technique that I’d like to use this technique in my own listings page.

Double Page Listings Research

The 'Film Choice' pages of the listings magazine TV Choice are separated into days listing films on various channels on each day. The days are also separated by different colours; this allows the reader to easily distinguish between the days. I like how not all the sections are the same size but are placed carefully to fit to the pages.

The background to the double-page spread is bright blue and is a good contrast to the other colours on the page.There are images taken from some of the films featured, these are used to illustrate the page and provide a break from the text. The images are a fair size, they aren’t too big so they don’t take over from the writing but they are big enough to grab attention, they attract and interest the readers.

There is a small paragraph about each film featured including information such as the actors, the country where it was produced, the director, the year it was produced, and the film's certification. It has all the information a viewer could want about the film, obviously including the day and time it's on, it also provides a small synopsis/brief review of the film in a mainly informal style.

Also, there is a five-star rating of each film and a there is a tick placed next to the film's title if the film is suitable for family viewing. The key to this system is found at the bottom of the page. This is a clever system which is positively usable for families with younger children. The titles of the films themselves are in bold and white standing out from the colour block, making them clear and easily locatable for the reader.