Website Design

Yesterday,  realised that to further promote the artist, a website is usually available to view information on news, band members, photos and tours. This is why I put forward to the rest of my group the idea of creating a website for our artist. This enhances the authenticity of the artist and may also give us some handy market research information from our audience.

I initially used "Moonfruit" to build our website. I created a "draft" account to test the different layouts and effects available, then I started to input some information. After I did this I soon realised that to use the website I had to pay a monthly fee. It was only because it had offered a "14 day trial" that I was able to start it up free of charge.

So I turned my attention to other alternatives and soon found "Weebly.com". This is a free website builder (but it only allows you at a more basic level - so unfortunately video and audio content are not available).  It is very simple to use: just 'drag and drop' the items you want and you can start looking at the design and then the content.

For example: These are the options it gives you under the 'basic' tab, you have more technical options under the multimedia tab.

I started to edit it yesterday - once I had notified and got the 'go-ahead' from my group. This is what I managed to accomplish:

• I edited the heading banner i.e. the name of the artist for the website using different fonts and colours. For the moment I chose a 'ready-made' background of headphones due to the obvious link to music (this may be changed to an image of our band or something similar in the near future if the right images can be obtained from our footage so far). Firstly, I chose a soft flowing font for the name "Said the Hatter" as I believe this represents the band and indie genre quite well; as the this style seems similar to the bands attitudes and characteristics (i.e. free, relaxed, artistic/creative). Underneath, I chose a second font, one which is strong and bold to illustrate the second side of the band - showing the strong characters within the band aswell as the solidarity and commitment they show and represent. For example:

• I added pages to the website under certain headings to give information on: band members, tour dates, photos of the band (in action/performing) and music (any songs they "produce", or even music and artists that inspire them). The creation of these pages should help gain further publicity after the artist's official album release, as fans will search for more information on the band. This should consolidate fan's interest in the band as they learn more and will allow the band to have a certain "fanbase", from this they can continue to grow.  This in turn will help to increase the sales revenue of the band's (debut) album and help give the band longevity - as information about tour dates is shown. For example:

•  I edited the 'band' tab and set this out so that it will contain the name of the band member and their role, a photo and further information (possibly something about their personality and individuality and messages to fans or visitors to the site). This same layout was used for all four band members. I 'dragged and dropped' different 'elements' within the website to create the initial framework for these pages. Grace then finished this process off today. For example: