Heirachy of Needs

For my Hierarchy of Needs I will focus on my  Martin the Monkey Website.

Functionality

Does my Martin the Monkey website perform its basic function? The brief stated that the website had to be a promotional tool for the toy as well instructional guide as to how to use the toy. In my opinion the website did this very well. In collaboration with my other group members the website had information on how the toy worked, had an example of a child using the toy as well as promotional materials such as posters and box designs.

Reliability

With the high level of interactivity needed for this site I had to build it entirely in Flash. This gave me the ability to merge moving backgrounds and video animations within the same page. This was because external shockwaves were loaded into the site. This method meant that once the site had loaded there is no need to load any more pages, which helped the user (child ) immerse themselves in the experience.
With multiple testing and the use of robust actionscript code I did not come up against any reliability issues regarding this site

Usability

Usability was focused around the fact that the toy was aimed at children from ages 5 to 12. It was assumed that both the children and their parents would be the primary users of the site.
 With this audience in mind we kept the navigation structure very shallow. We also extended the background on the left and right side. The background moved with the position of the mouse and it was automatic, this gave a clue to the user that their was extra content available.
Video content was displayed through clicking a link. It was designed to play automatically with no controls available to the user.
Buttons were large and animated so the user could d recognise them, as well as appearing in a constant position at the top of the page.

Proficiency

Would a child be able to use the toy that we created better after experiencing our website than before? In my opinion, yes. Instructions on how the toy worked and its purpose was also combined with an animation of how a child could use the toy.

Creativity

With all of the other needs fulfilled it leaves the creativity of the design. The sliding background wasn't in my original concept design for this site, but it was introduced after i realised that there wasn't enough space on one page to fit all of the interactive hotspots.
The use of external shockwaves was introduce to compartmentalise the content of the site. this meant that each group member could work on their individual parts of the project without relying on  others.

Overall I thought that my group produced a very creative toy that was reflected in the website.