A

What is the main topic of the website?

Castanet Kamloops is a website focused on providing local news and information to the citizens of Kamloops. There is a wide range of variety in the information ranging from weather to entertainment. It sort of looks how a news website would with all of the information all coming at you at once.

How is the content organized? Is it easy to navigate?

To me the website was too much, it was an eyesore and required a lot of reading and pulled focus around the page. Although it is organized into certain topics I think that the main page needs some more organization. I think apart from the business that it was decently clear where to find things and overall it gets the job done.

Identify the key multimedia elements used (videos, infographics, images, etc.). Where are they placed?

On the website they used links, photos and even video attachments, as a news website would as well. The goal is to show as much information as possible in manors that will be appealing to the viewers eye or at least catch the eye. They pictures differ in size to give the reader a more appealing experience.

B 

How do multimedia elements enhance the storytelling?

Using multimedia is effective when you are trying to engage a wide audience as you don’t know what each of them will prefer. With multimedia it is a safer bet that someone will click on one of the options. As for the story telling it can enhance stories as people say a pictures worth 1000 words. And if you’re trying to get out a story about a forest fire a image of all the destruction could be impactful and enhance the story.

Do they complement the written content, or do they seem separate

They compliment the written content as they are paired and are used to enhance the series with visual or auditory elements. And the colour scheme was thought out and complimentary. That being said I don’t think it made enough of an impression to leave an impact at least on myself.

Are there any interactive features? How do they engage the reader?

Castanet Kamloops and many other modern day trending apps have a comment section where viewers have the option to discuss what they are seeing, the polls and survey options also allow the viewers to engage.

C

How does the layout guide your attention through the story?

The website is top heavy, with the bright yellow title encasing the Casta net logo written in a rainbow colour scheme. The screen then jumps to two imagines and a multitude of links, this method is more likely to engage the viewer due to it’s diverse array of genres

Is the design visually appealing? What works well, and what could be improved?

From a art perspective it is not due to its harsh colours and spatial imbalance. If they used a more visually appealing colour scheme and did some repositioning of the images/videos it would improve the overall appearance of the website and the likelyhood of people wanting to explore the website further due to initial attraction.

Are fonts, colors, and imagery used effectively to convey the mood of the story?

I would say that the imagery is displayed in a way that temporarily puts us into the story but the fonts and colours are commonly unoriginal.

D 

How is the user experience overall? Is the site mobile-friendly?

Once I had opened the website on my phone I realized that it is edited for that size of a screen which explains the odd formatting when open on a computer. On the phone it is organized in a more polished look, however the fonts and colours remain the same.

Does the website load quickly, or do some elements slow it down?

For me it loaded quite quickly even when I was being taken to a different site, I don’t think that due to the websites volume of information that it has increased the servers loading time.

Reflections

Based on your analysis, what techniques or design elements would you like to incorporate into your own multimedia story? 

I do like what they were going for with the eye catching colours and it drawing the viewer in, however I want them displayed in a more sparse and subtle manor. Aswell as its variety in multimedia displays, this website includes images, videos and even polls and surveys I think that raises the likelihood of engagement and I would use that in my own website.

What would you avoid, based on your experience with this site?

I think firstly just a calmer website as this one was hard on the eyes, I want a website that draws people in visually and in informational ways.