Spend sometime browsing the websites of IDEO, Sony, Apple and our own NOW online workspace

What does it look like?

IDEO:
Looks like a site that displays other websites at first glance, as the home page is filled with images of lots of webpages. They use 3 colours, purple white and black, but once the buttons are rolled over some of the images come up in full colour.




SONY:
Hi-teck. It is organised to be very user friendly. There are menu bars on the top left and right therefore it’s easy to navigate products.




APPLE:
Clean and simple design. Similar to the Sony webpage but its more appealing. There is less use of colour, mainly white, grey and blue which gets you to focus primarily on the more colourful products.




NOW:Minimal colours, the site consists on blues and white.










How easy is it to use?

IDEO:
Most complex out of all 4 webpage’s, as there is no simple menu bars that display all the webpage’s options. You have to scroll over the 3 text boxes to get more options. But once you go to a new page, there is a simple layout diplaying thumbnils of all the companies’ works.

SONY:
Menu bar on the left isn’t very practical, as the products just look like text, and not buttons to a new page
But the menu bar on the top is simple and easy to use, as there are only 3 buttons its simple to pick out what you are looking for.

APPLE:
Very there are lots of large images of of all the main apple products eg, laptops, desktops, ipods. The search bar is very useful as it shows thumbs of all the content as you begin to type in what you are looking for, therefore its easier and faster to navigate what you are looking for.

NOW:
Its simple to use, all the content is broken down into menu boxes and its simple to locate what you are looking for. However I found it would be easier to have the Timetable and Email sections on the left hand side, or in larger text as when I first logged in it took a while to locate these 2 menus.

How relevant is the content of the site?
IDEO:
Its displays the firms design work, which is its primary use.

SONY:
The sites main purpose it to sell its Sony products. That’s all you basically get on the site. Also useful other aspects are the support sections.

APPLE:
Very it’s a site that is used to sell apple products and that’s primarily all they have on the homepage, and other aspects of apple is easily navigated using the search bar, such as product support.

NOW:
Very, it has all the necessary aspects needed for students, and there no space wasted on needless information.
How clearly is the content organised?
IDEO:
The buttons are placed randomly on top of a purple background, which makes it easy to navigate them.
SONY:
Similar to the apple webpage it’s very easy to use. There are menu bars on the top left and middle, and information about the new products in the middle. Its very easy to navigate products as the are broken down into simple to use menus.

APPLE:
Very. The main section of the site displays apples latest products, such as macbooks and ipods. And the top left and right menus allow you to find the products you are looking for.

NOW:
Its well organised, the latest news takes up most of the page in the middle, with profile settings on the left. Its basic to edit and use the webpage, however as I said befor I would prefer the Email and Timetable sections easier to locate. I found having emails on the right side like on the previous VLP was much easier to use.