Construction Post 6: Website post-production

I spent more time on the CRUZE website than on anything else during the post-production period, and I believe it has taught me the most skills. I used Wix.com to build the website and used Adobe Photoshop to create most of the images for the website.

Me editing the website.

I started off by creating background images for the main pages of our website, which was my first experience creating a complex image using photoshop, and although it took me a little while to get used to all of the tools, I eventually got the hang of it and managed to create the necessary images. The images used photos from our indoor photo session, and the layout and tabs of the website had been planned in the pre-production stages of our project. When I showed some members of our target audience these images they said they thought they fit well with the "vibe" of the band, and looked professional.

The main homepage image

The background image for the 'about' tab of our website

The background image for the 'contact' tab of our website.

The background image for the tour page.

For the 'Music' tab of the website I used another photo form the Brick Lane photo shoot for the background, as I thought it was appropriate to present the music with an image that presented the grittier, more urban side of CRUZE, which audiences said they had enjoyed from our music video. 

Apart from creating these backgrounds, I also created all of the product images in the CRUZE shop, primarily by using print-your-own-design websites that allow users to preview their custom designs over a variety of products, such as T-shirts, hats and backpacks, items of merch which we had seen on nearly every music website we looked at.

I also created a Facebook page for CRUZE, and linked it to the website, which required me to maintain a somewhat active social media presence.

I also had to use audio editing program audacity to create blank audio tracks to fill up the space on the 'Crocodile Tears' album section on the 'Music' tab of the website, which I had never done before.

An example of audacity in use

I also had to get to grips with using the website builder Wix, which wasn't too bad, as the interface was very clear. I also tried to include opportunities for audience interaction, through a competition I created, as I believed this would make the website more interesting for the user.

I am very happy with the finished website, which you can see here:

https://latymermedia2016.wixsite.com/latymergroup2

Our target audience said that the website was very strong for the most part, with images and layout that looked professional. They said that they also liked the attempt to interact with the user through competitions, although some said they "wouldn't actually enter the competition, because you had to have a twitter account", so perhaps I could have included some opportunities for users of other social networks to enter a competition.