Graphical Identity Support Tool (GIST)
Examples
Sheffield Hallam University
The main output from a GIST analysis is a map showing the pages analysed, positioned so that similar pages are grouped together and dissimilar pages are further apart. A small analysis of the Sheffield Hallam University main website (www.shu.ac.uk) produced the map shown below:
This map can be viewed interactively as SVG (see www.adobe.com for an SVG plugin)
Although the map represents a small sample of the site as a whole the pages analysed do go beyond those of the initial domain. The map can be filtered to only show pages that are not in the initial domain. One page is Google's front page and the others belong to another university domain www2.shu.ac.uk. None of these should be of concern: Google has a strong visual brand in itself and www2.shu.ac.uk pages do not appear to adopt a different design to many of the pages on www.shu.ac.uk.
Various areas of potential interest are apparent from looking at how the pages are spread out. (These can be identified by hiding the colour cues and links, and scaling the thumbnails.)
The map can be examined further by attempting to coherently characterise the pages in each of these areas, in terms of their role and their visual design.
Pages in A appear to be concerned with services and marketing. Filtering on the services/marketing directory shows that there is a 'what's on' page that is grouped with these pages that is not in the same directory. In addition, other pages in most of the other areas also are in the same directory. Within this directory pages seem to either use a distinctive light-blue block on the left half of the page, a design consisting of a plain horizontal banner. It is not possible to see the separate roles that these differing designs serve.
Pages in B have a wide variety of URLs and roles with no obvious conformity, other than appearing to share the design consisting of a plain horizontal banner. Pages in C appear to be more tightly grouped than those of B because they involve less supplimentary graphics.
Pages in D appear to be top-level pages for new visitors, e.g. about the university, about Sheffield, contact the university, etc. These pages have another strong and distinctive visual design.
The two pages in E concern the university's web design service (the webclinic). The visual design followed is that of light-blue block mentioned in earlier. The one other webclinic page is in the second style (plain horizontal banner) and is in fact in the B cluster. This suggests poorly synchronised branding for the webclinic pages.
The pages in F appear to consist of two visually distinct styles involving either a strong red block or light-blue block
- The red blocked pages are accommodation services pages and appear consistent. However there is one other accommodation page that is the outlier (G). G has a more predominant use of red, but it does not appear inconsistent.
- The light-blue blocked pages in F appear to correspond to a virtual tour facility on the university site. The blue block is clearly conformant with a style used in A and E. There is one tour related page outside the cluster F and in cluster A, this page is the introduction to the virtual tour section.
Summary of recommendations
- The two predominant designs appear to either use the blue block or the horizontal banner, however these do not appear to being used consistently (see the comments in bold above)
- The design evident in cluster D is also distinct from others with no immediately recognisable role
- Other distinctive designs appear to be used consistently in the sample of pages examined
- Further analyses using GIST could focus upon re-analyses within cluster B, so as to clarify more design characteristics within those pages
About the analysis
The analysis was conducted on 11 January 2005 - training was based on the first 35 pages encountered. The run excluded forms, scripts and pdfs and analysed 53 pages in total. The map resulting from the analysis has positioned page images in terms of range of intensities on a page for the horizontal positioning and average amount of blue for the vertical positioning. At the time of this analysis, the website was in a state of transition, moving from one set of corporate templates to another. Another overhaul of the design is being planned during 2005.
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Please view our frequently asked questions section or, for more information about the Graphical Identity Support Tool (GIST), contact: Dr Chris Roast on 0114 225 2907, Robert Evans, Commercialisation Manager on 0114 225 5000, or email gist@shu.ac.uk.
Sheffield Hallam University is not responsible for the content of external websites
