What clues do we
pick up on in order to tell what kind of Web site this is?
Is it academic? Or a major media group? Or a personal home
page? Or a political site? Or a technology corporation?
What about these sites?
[Take
me back look at Web sites from the past]
Fake
Web sites?
Corporate subversion relies on visual codes that we
associate with certain groups, like a corporation or a
political campaign.
When assessing Web aesthetics, it
is no longer useful to describe a good Web site as one
that is merely "visually appealing," although
good design is essential to a good Web site. It is important
to assess the "gestalt" properties of the page
layout. But think beyond how things "look" and
instead consider how well they use the Web to serve their
particular purpose.
Think about what kind of purpose the
following sites might serve, what should we consider when
analyzing the following sites:
A fashion site like Diesel
or Vera Wang or
Yigal
Azrouel
An online newspaper like Sunspot
or the Washington
Post online
A Web site associated with a broadcast
television show: TLC's Trading
Spaces or MTV's The
Osbourne's
