Project title: Developing and designing a more
effective Native Funk & Flash
online presence and performing market research for an expanded Native Funk & Flash.
Purpose: Native Funk &
Flash's (NF&F) original
beauty, spirit, and personality were incorporated into the website design
through an adherence to simplicity and inclusivity. The website design strives
to imitate the NF&F book design
and provides an area for fans of the book to contribute to the website.
Website architecture
The NF&F website is organized by
Features, Pages, and Social Media. Features consist of individuals highlighted
from NF&F. Pages consist of information about the book and functions to
contact and search the NF&F website. The social media section consists of
Facebook, Twitter, and a RSS feed.
Design principles and screen shots
To develop and
design the NF&F website, I was
guided by four interaction design principles. The principles were selected
based on conversations with fans of NF&F,
the author of NF&F, and other
research. Here are the principles, accompanied with an example goal for which
the principle corresponds, and how I met that goal with a design solution.
Principle #1: Understand Native Funk & Flash website Users and Support Their Goals
User goal: Find
information about Native Funk & Flash.
Solution: Provide
a Features section highlighting interesting individuals from the book.
Principle #2: Make the Native Funk & Flash website Easy to Learn and Enjoyable to Use
User goal:
Enlarge a website image.
Solution: Click on the image to enlarge. Click
on the image again to exit the enlarged state.
Principle #3: Make the Native Funk & Flash website Collaborative and Inclusive
User goal: Contribute to the NF&F website.
Solution: Provide the NF&F fans a blog to which they can contribute.
Principle #4: Strive for Simplicity
User goal: Navigate
the website easily without clutter.
Solution: Allow for adequate white space
Please note: the
screenshots above were chosen to communicate design principles. The following
screenshots are not included in the discussion on design principles, but are
for the class website:
Social media
To assemble a NF&F online audience, I have built a
social media platform using Facebook and Twitter that could grow in time. An
online audience is an asset to any author who wants to sell books. In addition,
I have created a blog where the NF&F
author Alexandra Hart can discuss her recent work and have scheduled NF&F tweets through the Hootsuite
application to be published throughout the summer.
Matthew Hicks
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