Week 13 Day 1: Progress Critique & Revamped Persona

This weekend I was in New York, so I didn't have my pages complete for the 50% progress critique.  However, I was able to get some helpful words from what I did have.  Layout variations and typefaces were overall well-received.  I got mixed reactions on the amount of blues that I used.  With that comment, I decided it may be better to keep the monochromatic theme I had going, to keep it clean, rather than trying to incorporate the rather wild colors from the Pier Hotel's website and building.  I also got useful reminders of what to put on the title page and how to denote subsequent pages.

Today I finally completed the revise for my persona.  Major changes include the more detailed graph of how Gina finds her perfect hotel, as well as her offline & online activities.  Other than that, some aspects were slightly resized or moved to accomodate the additions.

I also began to set up more pages within the case study.  Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me for Wednesday.

Title page for my case study document

Week 12 Day 2: Progress Critique and Further Exploration

Today in class I met with my professor to go over the progress of the case study elements so far.  I received plenty of useful input and even noticed some things I had previously overlooked.  To summarize...

• Even wireframes should be designed to match the personality of the site, through type, etc.
• Personal quote on the persona doesn't need to be so overtly connected to the business, rather a motto
• "Sample" search bars or drop downs for use in wireframes, instead of just boxes
• Be more specific on wireframes what the "featured content" or a specific image will be; a designer's got to know!
• Bottom navs have much of the same content as top navs, with maybe a few added elements; as compared to fat footers, which have columns of links
• Watch wording: "Guest Rooms" may be better understood as "Room Info," consult related sites
• Use content of landing pages to lead people to subsequent pages
• Don't forget page numbers, section names, & even publication title at the bottom/top of page
• Vary typography for title, headers, body, captions, etc.
• Charts can be made in Illustrator & that doc can be placed into InDesign

I've also been experimenting with more color schemes & researching more layouts for the full publication.

Week 12.0 Outside of Class: Beginning Case Study Layout

For the case study document I chose to keep it consistent with the color scheme I've maintained throughout most of the project.  I departed from the browns of the website as I felt it just didn't fit the feel of the Tampa Bay area.

The title page uses the light teal as the background and deep teal for text.  Pages with several images has a blurb on the side with the medium teal and caption for each picture.  "Full page" pictures have a primary caption underneath but also several call outs.

Week 12 Day 1: Beginning Thoughts on Case Study Documentation

Today the last part of this project was introduced--a "deliverable" of the entire case study, which include all the previous parts of the project, as well as a cover page, table of contents, overview, summary of findings & suggestions, & colophon, all consistently stylized.  I started to think a little bit about what I want to do, but definitely need to hash out some ideas.  

The second half of class I spent revising the persona portion of this project, per the critiques I got last week.

Week 11.5 Outside of Class: Pier Hotel Wire Frames

After studying patterns within my selected sites last week, I created wire frames for both the Pier Hotel's homepage & a vital sub page. (Vital meaning it has a decent amount of content.)  The most important things to note include...

• Emphasis on imagery/image slider
• Reservations & promotions, in particular, easily located at side
• Contact info appears both in header & in footer
• Sitemap moved to header, next to search bar
• Contents of bottom nav yet undetermined

After the fact it occurred to me that a subnav could very nicely fit in the left-hand sidebar, below the main nav & above reservations.  That is something I plan on fixing.

Week 11 Day 2: Persona Critique & Revisions

Today my row critiqued my persona, along with both design professors.  Overall, it went pretty well.  A lot of small things were picked out, like edge tension, alignment, & wording.  One of the comments I found most insightful was switching the colors on my graph, emphasizing lighter colors of the darker & creating better balance.  My professors commented on combining the biography & interactions section into just the bio, then creating a new section about how my persona interacted with the site specifically and maybe a few additional secondary aspects, such as what she does in her free time & her comfort with technology.  Also, on the graph, differentiating the online sources to break up the graph more.

During the remaining time in class I worked on applying these changes to my persona.

Week 11 Day 1: Content Studies of Similar Websites

Madox Apartments, modern condo-style apartments in Jersey City, NJ.

Postcard Inn, beach front hotel in St. Petersburg, FL.

Sagamore Hotel, boutique hotel in Miami Beach, FL.

W South Beach, high-end hotel in Miami Beach, FL

Distrikt Hotel, boutique hotel in New York City

From studying these five sites, I noticed they are all image heavy, focusing on large, well-shot imagery and image sliders.  Some even included music to help "transport" you to this location.  A booking/reservation portal was also a large portion of almost every site, as well as "highlights" and featured links. Social media was more so deemphasized on these sites, instead displayed by the footer of the page.

Another helpful find was in the Distrikt Hotels room page; policies are displayed underneath the rooms.  Deals and specials are also well displayed.