INTRODUCTION:
This is an analysis of the New Zealand website seeya.co.nz.
Seeya is an independent website promoting cheap airfares (and other methods of
transport) efficiently and immediately from a variety of sources. The
low-priced flights are advertised from grabaseat (a New Zealand company) and
Jet Star (an international company). Additionally hotels, car rentals, cruises
and more are
In this brief, I will discuss the three major aspects which
contribute to the site’s overall image and effect, and whether they serve their
purpose. Firstly the display, including pictures, colours and text, and
secondly the navigation. This will involve analysing the position and order
links, as well as the reasoning behind it.
DISPLAY:
When we first arrive at this page, this is what we see:
What we first see is very important, because as Wysocki says,
”when you first look at a page or a screen, you initially understand its
functions and purpose because it follows the visual conventions of a genre”. Initially,
the first thing we notice here are the colours. The colours of a web page can
have a significant psychological effect on the viewers and express many
different ideologies. These colours represent the image the company is trying
to project for itself. For instance, Seeya uses very soft, light colours. Along
with a vivid white background, the colour palette for this website consists of
green, yellow, orange, cream and various shades of blue. The white helps to
make everything else stand out, and also adds a sense of professionalism. A
black bar along the top of the page helps maintain the site’s symmetry and
features the more business-like or purposeful links. We can see the colour blue
used for the majority of the font. The use of blue is very significant in this
case as it closely resembles the sky. It is also very calming and adds to the
laidback feel of the website. Orange is used for the prices to attract
attention, and is associated with cheapness. The overall shading of the first
page is fresh, beautiful and clean. Again, this has a significant effect on the
viewer. As Resnick (1997) says, the point of a website is "to inform,
influence, and persuade those who log onto them", which Seeya achieves
with its colours.
The logo, as shown
here, also adds to the website’s overall atmosphere. It consists of not one,
but three different shades of blue. This makes it much softer than just a
single solid colour, and more inviting in general. The font is very rounded and
comfortable looking. Upon seeing this, the viewer unconsciously decides the
site is both casual and friendly.
NAVIGATION:
Seeya displays all of its links on the home page,
allowing easy and immediate access to all of the websites features. They make
the choice to have the advertised flights shown here rather than on a separate
page. This way viewers who are on Seeya specifically for the airfare deals can
see them straight away, and if not, are intrigued by them regardless. The list
also has a scrolling motion, and goes through a number of flights rather than
featuring just a few. This movement also helps to attract the viewer’s
attention. Each flight links to the page where all flights are shown in full.
The list has two headers for both Grab a Seat and Jet Star, and can switch
between them without moving off the main page or opening a new tab.
Additionally, underneath the flights is a link to sign up to the website in
order to receive alerts by email.
As stated
previously, the bar at the top of the screen shows links such as “About Us”,
“Login” and “Sign Up”, as well as links to Twitter and Facebook. These are
placed in the top left corner of the home page, and use a smaller font than the
other headers. The reason these links are placed separately from the others and
in a less obvious manner is because these are for the more constant visitors of
the website, rather than someone just browsing it.
The next row down situated underneath the logo and an
advertisement are the main links, and frame the entire page. Each link has a
drop down selection of other relevant links, making it easy to find the
relevant information without clicking through a multiple of pages. “TODAYS
CHEAP FLIGHTS” is centred in the middle of the other links as the main aspect
of the website. Seeya ensures the website is user friendly by repeating its
links. The ease of navigation within a website can be crucial to maintaining
it. Warnick (2006) describes this briefly. “As the Web has become more of a
commercial platform, it has become more structured and more influenced by
commercial forces. Consumers expect to be able to find what they need quickly
and easily and to have their questions readily answered.” Seeya fulfils this by having all the home page
links are displayed in neat lists and in a smaller font at the bottom of the
screen. This adds more chance to the viewer seeing the link, and means they
don’t have to make an effort in an attempt to find it. The same goes for the
main links at the top of the page. No matter what page the viewer is on, they
can easily find their way back to the home page, or any of the other pages
featured on the site.
CONCLUSION:
Seeya’s use of bright colours, neat arrangement and
relevant font ensure the page appeals to the viewer’s eye immediately.
Psychologically, the choice of display gives the viewer the feeling that this
website is casual, friendly and more importantly, organised and genuine, before
reading a single thing. The website is efficient in its organisation of links
and the continuous layout for each page, so that the viewer can navigate their
way through the site with ease. Seeya successfully promotes its cheap airfares
with a combination of all these aspects.
Stacey Adeane
REFERENCES:
Wysocki, Anne Frances.
2003. The Multiple Media of Texts: How Onscreen and Paper Texts incorporate
Words, Images, and Other Media. In What
Writing Does and How It Does It: An Introduction to Analysis of Text and
Textual Practices. Edited by Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.
Warnick, B. 2006. Rhetoric Online. Persuasion
and Politics on the World Wide Web. Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York.
Resnick, 11. 1997. Politics on the Internet: The normalization of
cyberspace. New Political Science 41-42.
