Social Networking - Deviant Art

For the social networking project I decided that I wanted to design a site for students, where they can upload there work in order for companies to view. After having our lecture with Shaun and Simon I thought that it would be a conscious choice to look into different site that relate to what I intend to design. Having spoken to quite a few people in the class it came to my attention that deviant art is the type of site that I intend to design.


When I first opened this site it wasn't at all what I expected. In my mind I imagined a site full of bright and strong visual designs, generally a very eye catching layout but I was very much wrong. The colours used were neutral and bland however looking at it now I feel that it works to its advantage. Having done this has immediately drawn my eyes towards the art work within the site, the whole main aim to this site. From the second you enter the site you are greeted by a wide variety of art work from digital to poetry.

Even though there are alot of pages that the user can be redirected to I found it easy to navigate through the pages. They have set the main navigation bar to the left of the page, sub categorising the art work making it easier for the users to find the work that they are looking for. They also have some buttons at the top however these mainly consist of things that do not represent the art work; which I feel is a conscious idea because keeping them separated makes it less confusing for the users. This is something that I would like to take into consideration when designing my site.

What I liked the was how they continuously update the work i.e. 8 hours, 24 hours etc the work is always shown however, it does make me wonder what happens to the older pieces of work. I feel because deviant art is so popular there are so many users, with the amount of wokr being uploaded not everything is shown on the main page. For the users work to been viewed they would have to be well known or it would be by fluke that they come across the work.

What I intend to do for my site is have the categories stronger. For example if the site that I intend to design was to expand then I'd have universities as the open category followed by the art subjects, by doing this I have automatically narrowed down the choice or, area.

Deviant Art is a great example of what I would like to create, showing users work makes it a good way for companies to seek potential employers. Having seen this site though I now think that I want my site to be narrowed down to just students.