Semiotics, Metaphors and Melissa Ferrick?

The topic of our discussion this week has been focused on semiotics and how the study of signs and relationships will exponentially impact Web design. So far we have covered the theoretical approach, the historical approach and now it's time to put our new-found knowledge into everyday use.

In an effort to further my learning of the practical application of semiotics in digital media, I have chosen to analyze liveplasma (formerly musicplasma) in terms of its architecture, navigation/usability and overall functionality (i.e. its "signs" and what they in turn communicate to the user).

I'm sorry, what?

I thought this assignment would be a lot of fun because, as a music nut, liveplasma would be the perfect Web site to hold my interest. I must admit that my initial reaction to the site was one of disappointment and confusion. I basically didn't know what hell the site was, much less how to adequately navigate myself around its pages.

Architecture

I was astonished to see how bland the color scheme was with its use of gray background and black text. I must note that the sporadic (and minimal) use of bright colors was quite intriguing, but it certainly wasn't enough to make me want to enter the site.

After typing an artist into the site's search engine, I was relieved to see how quickly the page loaded and developed into a map. My first selection was Melissa Ferrick and I was surprised to find that the site contained information about this particular artist.

A definite flaw I noticed about the site's architecture was that the page's title and the navigational bar to the left of the screen blocked out parts of the map.

As well, there wasn't a clear indication of who designed the maps or who made decisions about the relationships between the artists. This ultimately brought the site's credibility into question.

Navigation/Usability

The addition of the discography section was nice, but I wish the site would have provided more information about the artist in general. Clicking on an album simply prompted me to purchase the album on amazon.com and it was annoying to be directed away from the site.

The fact that I had to scroll both up and down and side to side in order to view the map made me lose interest. As well, there was no easy way to return to the previous page.

The whole time I was viewing the site, I felt as though I had very limited control over what direction I wanted to go. I also felt as though there wasn't much there for me to see.

Functions

Viewing the connection maps was interesting at first, but interesting doesn't always correlate to understanding what is being presented.

I soon became frustrated because, although I could understand why certain artists or movies were grouped together, I had no idea what the colors or the different sized circles signified.

It took a while ... but I'm with you now!

After taking a closer look at the site and finally learning how to properly use its functions and understand its key, I think liveplasma is extremely interesting.

As a search engine, it creates a wonderful mix of information and visual cues that allows the user to better understand different genres of movies and music, understand connections between artists and discover new favorites by following lines on the "map."

The user really needs to be invested in the information in order to take the time to learn how to use the site to its fullest potential. Here's the main point I took away from this exercise:

Even if a site contains a wealth of knowledge, it will remain virtually useless if it fails to communicate an understanding of how to properly utilize and interpret its functionality.

A Few Recommendations for liveplasma:

This Web site analysis was supposed to be based strictly on design and functionality, and was not supposed to focus on content. I do have to add that if the site's home page neglects to provide adequate information about what is offered or what to expect, then it's the site's own fault for losing potential users.

My first recommendation would be to modify the structure of the site:

• Provide more information, either through text or images, to signify what will be offered on the site
• The use of additional colors would only serve to benefit the site because it would provide more depth and a lot more detail to catch the user's interest
• Place the "help" option in a more dominant position on the screen so users will know to use this link to find out more information
• Outline what the benefits would be for users interested in registering and accessing the member's section of the site

My second recommendation would be to make the navigation more user-friendly:

• It was fairly easy to get lost on this site, the addition of a "back" button or "clear search engine results" button would ease a lot of confusion
• Emphasize the zoom in/zoom out function of the site so users will not be frustrated when having to scroll up and down and side to side

The most important recommendation I could make:

• Give the user a break and try to better communicate what some of the functions of the site signify