The first step I'm deciding to take in planning my event is researching those that exist already. Seeing as my focus lies on a very key interest of mine, that makes the research very niche but also very easily refined. My key research at the moment is sites based around digital design events, such as talks, festivals, stalls etc and use what I find to hopefully help me plan out the look and feel of my own site, whilst also taking note of what is included on each site, enabling me to list key pages and links that should be included.
My first thought was to go to what I know, and having been to OFFF a few years ago I thought it only appropriate to turn to their site first. Not only having the experience of using their site before, but also having been to the event perhaps instills a little more confidence in what should be included when planning a fictitious event myself.
The OFFF homepage itself is rather basic with a very striking imagery to reinforce the theme of the event. With the drop down navigation on the right it makes it very easy to navigate as well as keeping a fluid scroll through the site.
The events are displayed in a 3 row column as above, shown primarily just through the use of images to display each event and basic titles with dates. This is to show the major events during the week, and below is the secondary events, still with titles but more focussed on the enticing imagery. Personally i love the way this looks and the way it really pushes the graphical side of the event. I think for my own event this would be a very strong way to push the event content.
With the navigation open the most important things are at the forefront; news, artists and tickets. The way the navigation is laid out fits with the site itself very well, sticking to the main colour scheme and the minimalistic style. In terms of my own event site i think something along these lines will work very well to reinforce the hierarchical structure i'll need to showcase.
The second event page i found of great interest is Nobrow festivals web page; this festival showcases digital artists all the way through to animators, for this reason coupled with the feel of the site itself i feel it lends itself very well to the type of event i wish to plan.
The simplistic colour scheme, much like OFFF accentuates the arts included on the page itself. With a revolving and frequently changing header lots of work can be showcased over a short period of time leading to perhaps more potential interest in the event itself. The navigation at the top is very simple, but chiselled out in such a way that helps the feel of the site. Although this site does not have a smaller responsive navigation for mobile use, i think the navigation itself is fluid enough to lend itself to both mobile and desktop.
Again, the important pieces are showcased first on the site alongside titles to really reinforce the hierarchical structure of the event, pushing the artists and creators that should be of most interest. In keeping with the events MO, the above picture depicts work in an actual typical photography environment, again pushing the nature of the work in the construction of the site.
The navigation itself again shows a very similar theme to that of OFFF; showcasing recent news as a blog, an about section, and a look at the artists.
Delving into the artists section i was greeted with something that in all honesty i found disgusting, but looking at it, it does for with the theme already established on the site. Using the blocks of artwork with links to designers work down the side leads to a unique look, but not necessarily one i feel works at best showing the designers in their full glory.
The layout itself does however lend itself to the type of artwork; block colours with overlaid textures. So should i plan to include any artists that are working in this style, it may be interesting to take a look and see how this would work.
The third festival site that caught my eye was Noise festival. This festival showcases not only artists, but video developers, game developers, and software developers working on may things such as phones and mobile apps.
The main thing that interested me about this site was the variation in things situated in the navigation, with these new things unseen in many other designer event sites it very much interested me.
The things included on this site that hasn't been seen on others are things like; portfolio (showcasing a creators entire body of work instead of just the events main angle) create (specifically focussing on how and when to meet people who can help during the event in terms of creation) and jobs (giving a path to those who are not only going to the event for enjoyment but also job opportunities).
These 3 new additions to the navigation could really give me a new direction to go with my site, for instance not only including at artists work, but a way to achieve a similar goal, or give information about the techniques these artists use. Also another interesting thing on this site as appose to others is the rainbow navigation colours, this in my opinion detracts from the sleek look of the site, but does make for a more engaging aesthetic whilst reinforcing the wide array of artists and speakers at the event.
Above is a screenshot of some of the work displayed on the page, as with the others it sticks to a rigid 3 column lay out although myself, i really don't feel the work picked here suits each other or complements each other well, very much detracting from the other very interesting things on this site.
Overall from this visual research 3 things have become very clear;
1. The navigation in many senses much compliment both the work on the site and the overall feel of the event itself, having contrasting looks on this gives a mixed message on what the event is actually about.
2. Showcasing work on both the artists and on the homepage needs to be refined until all the work situated within a certain screen size will compliment each other. Much like OFFF, the work used for event thumbnails needs to really push the size of the event or speaker home.
3. Including information about the artists is key, this allows those who do not know of the artists to learn a lot about them in a very short space of time with a very easy to use navigation and page system.
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