Research

Heart of the city is a site that aims to promote culture around Auckland. They cover a range of topics including food and drink, activities, music events, art and shopping.

To access the menu you press a button on the right hand side, and the menu options appear. I like this aspect as it gives users time to focus on the homepage before they search through the site.

This site has a lot more options than I would need in mine, as mine only focuses on music, but I would consider using this aspect in my site as it is a clear and effective way to navigate around pages.

 

In reviewing their music section, I found a number of aspects of the design that I liked.

The font used is Open Sans, which is a basic, easy to read font. The font size is easy to read, and they use a good combination of bold and normal words to make certain things stand out. I also like how the font is all black, and put on different coloured backgrounds to make it stand out.

The layout of the separate music events is informative, but still brief enough to be able to easily understand the event in only a few lines. It’s interesting how they have places events and venues with each other. If I were to do this, I’d put the venues on a different page to avoid confusion, however I do like how they have put the date on the events to differentiate them from the venues with a striking yellow box.

I like that the background colours are light and toned down, which makes it easy to look at and read. This also doesn’t take away from the coloured photographs, which are a main point of interest for users of the site.

I like how users can interact with this site and enter the date, type of event, and how much money they want to spend to find the perfect option for them. This enhances the user experience and gives the user a more personal relationship with the site.