Research of Band Websites

In order to prepare myself to create a website for my fictional band, I first researched websites of pre-existing bands. I wanted to get ideas for design, features and layout. 

Metallica 
https://www.metallica.com/

When you first open this website, the first thing you will notice is the band's logo and an image of them performing at a gig. The colours are simple, but catch your eye. The page is not cluttered and the image can be clearly seen. The next thing you will notice is a semi-transparent sidebar, informing the visitor of a prerecorded concert that can be viewed on the band's YouTube. I found that this kind of cross-platform linking was common on the websites I viewed. The navigation bar is very simple, almost small and hard to notice. However, it features a menu option which opens up into a much larger, more in-depth navigation panel. In the bottom right hand corner there are various icon-links to the band's social media. This was also quite common in my research.

As well as the Home page, I also viewed the 'History' page. This page followed a similar theme, i.e. large photo, simple navigation. I took note of the change in colour scheme, as I thought this was a great way of distinguishing between different pages. It makes the website feel more diverse and thorough. I also took note of the frequent use of images, something else which I found was quite common. The font in the article is simple and easy to read, with bolded aspects to allow for skim-reading.



Fleetwood Mac - Official Site
https://www.fleetwoodmac.com/

Fleetwood Mac's home page, and the rest of their website, follows an extremely simplistic and minimalist style. As you arrive on the home page, you are met with a large logo on a big, block red background. I liked this feature very much, as I thought it was a good way of establishing the page's identity. There is one large text banner at the top, announcing the latest news: "FLEETWOOD MAC ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR". This is bold and eye-catching and is an effective way of alerting the page's visitor to the news. Unlike most band websites, Fleetwood Mac's did not feature a navigation bar. Instead, there was merely the usual social media links, a link to their store and the ability to scroll down on the homepage.

Scrolling down on the homepage allows the visitor to view the news that was mentioned at the top of the page. I think this link ties together the website quite nicely and keeps concise and well accessible. The news article does not feature any links to external websites and all the information remains contained within the homepage. One thing I did find odd about the website was the lack of any animations. Considering the site is all on one page, I think some transitions or animations would be beneficial to make the page more visually interesting. I would of liked the page to include some images for the same reason.


30 Seconds To Mars
https://thirtysecondstomars.com/

Similarly to Metallica's home page, the 30 Seconds to Mars home page features a large image as the centre piece. However, there are a few differences. Firstly, instead of the logo being large and central over the image, it is tucked away neatly in the top left corner. Secondly, the image appears to be more artistic/abstract, rather that a still image. And thirdly, the image hosts an advertisement for the band's upcoming concerts. There is a nice contrast between the bright colours of the image and the black navigation bar, which is surprisingly aesthetically pleasing.

Scrolling down the page, the next thing you see is a link to the band's most recent music video. Considering I also have to make a music video, I thought the idea of including it on the front page like this was very appealing as it would likely maximise traffic to the video and is a good example of the real world application of cross-media-synergy. The website makes use of an embedded YouTube link so the video can be played within the website. This is an effective way of gaining views on the video while also keeping visitors on your website. It is also a lot more time effective to keep the visitor on your page and it makes their viewing experience a lot more fluid when they are not linked off of the page to view a video.

This section of the page also features promotion for their upcoming performances and, just below the video, links to purchase their merchandise.