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Catalyst

Lesson 2 Project Web Site Planning Document

Define website goals

1. Provide information about the company – to allow users to understand who they are and what they do. It is also important to know what styles of music they promote.
2. Provide information about the bands – providing this information allows users to know more about the bands and what their music is like.
3. Provide ways to order products – this is important in case users cannot find the company's products in stores.
4. Provide tour information – this is important so fans can see their favorite bands live.
5. Provide optional email newsletters – so users can keep up as the company evolves or new bands are promoted, etc.

Identify target audience

The target audience will most likely consist of English-speaking teenagers and those in their 20s, both male and female. They will most likely be from all economic backgrounds and located primarily in the United States. For marketing and promoting, these listeners can most likely be found in high schools or colleges.

Target audience demographics

A report found at http://www.marketresearch.com/map/prod/261605.html states some facts about college student spending habits. It states that “Music Sites Depend on College Students to Promote Web Sites,” so it is important to make the Catalyst web site appealing. The survey also shows most students' discretionary monthly income is under $200. Another important statistic that relates to product availability on the Catalyst web site is that E-Commerce will have growing impact on college market.

Music web site competitors

www.mtv.com has a lot of animation on their site with many different features to check out. There is information about other things than music such as movies and television, appealing to a variety of users. Web sites usually change visually according to the style of music. A site promoting alternative music may be more relaxed and vibrant than a site promoting classical or jazz music, which may have a more mature look to it. www.rlabels.com provides a database of music labels that can be sorted by state and/or genre. An example of this can be seen when looking at http://www.arsisaudio.com/ which promotes classical music. It is not as animated and energetic a web site as http://www.fearlessrecords.com/ which promotes rock, punk, and ska music.

Target audience scenarios

1. David, a 17 year old high school student living in Dallas , TX . He enjoys listening to alternative music and likes seeing live, local bands. He has found this web site to discover new local bands. He likes that it loads fast since he has a dial-up connection.
2. Anne, a 21 year old college student visiting Dallas , TX . She is looking for local music to experience while on her visit. She would be looking for tour date information on the Catalyst web site. She would like to see current and updated tour date information.
3. Michelle, a 25 year old woman living in California , visited friends while in Texas and heard one of the band's music that Catalyst promotes. She visits the web site to purchase music. She usually visits the site from her office, so she would like the option to turn sound on/off if it is used on a web site.

Website Architecture

Navigation structure:

I. Home page

a. Bands

 i. Dizzied Connections

 ii. Sloth Child

iii. Life in Minor Chords

 iv. Surface Suction

b. Products

i. CDs

ii. Cassettes

iii. Records

c.  Tour Dates

 i. Schedules

 ii. Venue information

 iii. Ticket booth

d. News

i. Music news

 ii. Local music news

 iii. Band news and information

e. Contact Information

 i. Company information

ii. Directions

 iii. Email information

Flowchart:

Style Guide:

Fonts that will be used will be clear and bold, easy to read. Colors to use are black text, reds and oranges may be kept from the original web site to evoke emotions related to fire and heat as a metaphor that the bands are “hot”. The graphics and logo will be fun and modern, funky. For the layout, the navigation buttons will be on the left side of the page going down. The logo will appear at the top left corner of every page, as a link to the home page.