Website Research: Ark Shelter and Archi Graphi

 Since we are creating our own websites, today i am going to be researching two architecture website and compare them. Studying these will help me further in my process of creating my own website, and look for well working links, typography, design layout, navigation, mobile view and usability.  

I will be looking at Ark Shelter website and Archi Graphi website , i am going to be looking at their work presentation .

First i will begin by looking at Ark Shelter website.

This is a really impressive home page , although the colours and text are pretty simple, there is live animation videos presenting each design with sounds that represent each work . For example for this specific work there was nature sounds in the background. The buttons of the menu are easy to find since they are at the top of the screen with white text on top of dark colours. As i mention before colours and text are simple but effective enough, bold fonts for slogans and noticeable white texts. Now about the white colour background parts, personally it is ruining the design for me a little bit but as a general idea it can work because otherwise it could become too busy and the extra background music gives the viewer a pleasing satisfaction of looking each work and giving an understanding of the aesthetic, landscape and surroundings of each design. 

The work that is included inside the website is presented with big images and smooth transition where you can drag each picture like a slideshow which adds to the viewer's experience.I can see now that the pictures are really vibrant so a simpler background is more appropriate and it works for the whole website design. 

Now for the 'about' part , you can press on that button and learn more about the website.Here it explains how this website was created and why, it also talks about the people who are a part of this and what their goal is and what they want to show across to people who are interested in minimalists spaces that connect to nature.You can also find a small piece of writing from the architect and the founders talking  about the story of Ark Shelter. 

Next you can find information about durability, materials, flexibility and technology .

There is also a contact button at the top right to get in touch with the people of the website .

As for mobile view, the website design works but it's not working as smoothly as in a computer screen or laptop and the music on phone view is not available while watching the works. The menu buttons are located somewhere else than in the actual computer screen,they are in the top right corner by clicking at the three lines , the live animations video at the home page don't work, in its place it is just the actual image.

Now i am going to be looking at the second website Archi Graphi.

Now this homepage is a darker looking design, the picture uses a distortion mechanic animation so it moves while moving your mouse. I do prefer darker looking backgrounds but in this case a completely dark one make the whole page look a little heavy because of the picture colours being on the darker scale as well, maybe an ash black could work better. The fonds are pretty bold and noticeable except of the button texts  that can be a little harder to notice since they are side turned upwards. The conduct button is on the top right corner underneath the circle button which turns white once you drag across it like the rest of the menu buttons. The website design though runs smoothly as well as the transitions.

The work part is separated in categories like stills. animations etc. The pictures are well presented with tittles and the images are eye catching because of the scenery and colours, but the size is not as big as it could've been ,it would made the work look more impactful if the images were slightly bigger.

 

In the 'about' part of this website the information is pretty well organized, there are small parts of texts that can make reading a lot of information easier for some viewers.There are also included images of all the people who are part of this such as architects, designers and software developers.The text used for the information is easy to the eye to read and more important information for example numbers or title/names are highlighted in bigger and bolder fonts.

 

The mobile view for this website was surprisingly better in my opinion, everything according to functioning worked great on the computer but in the 'phone use' version the function of it seems smoother.The design is different as well, we don't get the whole black background at first instead you get a different picture for the whole screen ,when you scroll down though, it is there but very minim since the majority of the screen are some of the works images,which is another difference instead of clicking a button to find it ,it is located in the home screen.Now the menu buttons are elsewhere too, they are in the bottom right with the three lines where you can find the choices as well as conduct information.

Now that I've looked at both websites,they are a few differences in case of navigation, design, usability and mobile view.The designs are both quite exceptional but more function-able would the first website 'Ark Shelter' for me, the usability and navigation were easier. As for the second website was a bit more complicated.The works were in both well organised and impressive.I have to say i prefer the first website because it wins all the boxes that we were looking for throughout the research except the mobile use part, i prefer the second website Archie Graphi mobile use since it was really well made and really different than the computer version, the work was easily found the design was better and worked smoother.