WK13 Contrast

No contrast whatsoever (YT as of 12/1/11)

YouTube currently is a blob of gray, without anything that will effectively organize the viewing experience of the audience. The YouTube logo has a red accent, yet everything is a single color. Besides the main video to be watched, the next thing that would catch your eye would be the Ads; perhaps that is the point of this design. This layout is uninteresting, boring, and monotonous. There is no opposition in color. There is only a single main value: gray. There are small red accents in the video player itself, but it is not enough contrast to balance the website.

Poor contrast (GameStop as of 12/1/11)

This site has too much color. Because it is a retail website, it contains alot of dynamic Ads within itself; however, these Ads contain too many different colors, too many bits and pieces, and too many sections making the contrast ineffective and crowded. It is unbalanced--perhaps if all the Ads adhered to the theme of the site it would look more organized. Or maybe it is the way the site is meant to be, such that all Ads are distracting and GameStop would want the consumer to be distracted by these Ads?

Good contrast (PLNDR.com as of 12/1/11)

PLNDR is also a retail website, but contains a good amount of contrast to balance the website. The logo has a mustard yellow accent, which is also used throughout the rest of the site via links, buttons, and titles. The background is a simple dark gray with minor floral design; a lighter gray is used to box the main part of the website. It is then sectioned into a smaller dark gray rectangle to separate Ads from the products. These simple uses of different values of gray actually balance it from the brighter hue and value of the yellow. There are many Ads, but unlike GameStop they are organized neatly in a very cohesive and structured rectangle, allowing the viewer to leisurely look through the website (rather than being frantic and being bombarded with too many colors).