Good banner:

I received an invitation to a party by email, and when I went to the website, I found the ooVoo banner in the middle. I like this banner. I think it is very clean and attractive, and it actually made me click on it. When I clicked on it I was transferred to the company’s website. I have noticed that the banner is designed with the same concept of the website – clean, same colors, and fonts. It also made me download the program and try it. I think a good banner is a banner that conveys a message simply and makes you curious. This banner made me curious to see what ooVoo is all about and even click on it. I think this company did a good job attracting people to the banner and to download the program.  Also I think it fits the website where it is located. The website also has a pretty clean design, and the banner’s colors and website fit together. I also like the banner’s location; it separates the invitation from the RSVP form.

Bad banner:

In the USA Today website, there’s a small Sprint banner. The colors work, but I don’t think the banner works in general.  The cards with the text on are disappearing too fast, so it’s hard to read. Also I don’t like the fact that the banner is not in a loop, because if I go to another window that is open in my browser and get back all I see is the text, and it doesn’t attract me to read it and find out what it’s about. The good thing about it is that it is consistent with the Sprint website. Also it is located on the left side of the website and is pretty small, so it’s hard to notice it. I think a bad banner doesn’t necessarily have to be designed badly, but if it’s not attracting you, and make you click it, it loses its purpose.

       Kbears is a cool educational flash website for kids that teaches about different subjects such as, dinosaurs, science, animals, geography, and music. The website uses cute animated bear characters for each subject. Each character has its own sound and look. For example, the science bear resembles Einstein, talks like him, and his name is Albert. Each subject has an engaging interactive learning environment. The user can click on different things and learn more about them. For example, in the Science World environment, if you click on the microscope, you get different items you can click and you see an enlargement of them, as if they were under a microscope. You also get more information about each of them.

               The website seems to be designed perfectly for children. The san serif fonts, the bright colors, the spaceship shape, and the talking bears are all very attractive to kids. I think the website is designed nicely in a way that encourages learning. All the animation and the colors create a very friendly environment that encourages the child to click on different things. While doing so the child gains knowledge about different subjects – anything from animals to geography. For example, in the farm environment the child can click on different animals and get more information about them, hear their sound, and look at different photos. He/she can also print the information.

               But the website is not perfect. Some of the pages are still under constructions. Also, in different environments, it seems like the designer didn’t think it all the way through. Different options have a totally different design, as if you left the website. For example, when you go to the farm environment and click on the dog. In the dog screen you have different options; if you click on the pictures you get an ugly html page. Also, the navigation is a bit confusing. For example, in the farm, after one clicks on some animal and gets to the animal page, the user can to go to the home page, but it’s hard to see the tiny icon on the top left page.

               I think the differences between a sales oriented website and an educational one depend on the websites themselves. There could be many differences, for example, if I compare this website to the Pepsi one. The Pepsi site has just its product, and not much interaction. But if I compare this site to the Got Milk? website, both have lots of interactions like mini games, and information about the subjects that are being taught (i.e the importance of drinking milk, or subjects such as science in this website). The main difference though is that an educational website will have more objective information and fun ways to learn it, especially if it is for kids, while a sales website will have subjective information regarding a brand or product.

Got Milk? is an animated website that promotes the consumption of milk by small interactive games. I like the site’s design; it has a very clean look. I love the animation. It looks like 3D animated cartoons. The site is very interactive. The games are very nicely designed and are consistent with the website theme. It doesn’t feel like it is a game but rather like the user is still surfing the website. The thing that got my attention most is the nice combination of sketch, 3D cartoons, and animation. I think the design is really good.  It is sophisticated yet “young”.

However, I think the games should include more instructions, because the user has to guess what to do and what to press. The Recipe gallery is a little bit slow and a bit confusing; I think the next and previous buttons should be more noticeable.

Overall, I think it is a really good website, and it promote milk in a nice, interactive way. The message doesn’t get lost in the games.