WebsiteAnalysis:SPCAAuckland

TheSocietyforthePreventionofCrueltytoAnimalsAucklandIncorporated(SPCA)hasbeenrescuinganimalssince1883.Theirwebsite,http://www.spcaauckland.org.nz,allowsuserstofindinformationabouttheirorganisation,adoptanimalsanddonatetotheircause.Websitesarespecificallydesignedtoinfluencebehaviour.Theyareconstructedusingmanydifferentelements, such as textual structure, images and colour in order to induce users tomakedecisionsthatbenefittheorganisation.ThisanalysislooksintohowSPCA’swebsiteutilisestheseaspectsaswellastheeffectivenessofthedesign.

TextualStructure

SPCA's website welcomesvisitors with images, featuring aslideshow. The words "Adopt" and"Donate" are capitalised, highlightedand enlarged at the top of the pageacross the company logo, which isplacedat thetop-leftcorner.Phrasessuchas,"Helpsaveinnocentlives"are

positionedatthetop-leftcorneroftheslides,thentextcontinuesverticallybelow.Thislayoutispopularlyusedintext-heavysites,accordingtoNielsen(2006),because"usersfirstreadinahorizontalmovement,usuallyacrosstheupperpartofthecontentarea…thenreadacrossinasecondhorizontalmovement…andfinally,usersscanthecontent'sleftsideinaverticalmovement”,followingan‘F’shapedpattern(pg.1).The‘F’referstohowscreensareusuallyscannedbyusers,asthemajorityofpeoplereadfromlefttoright.AlthoughSPCA’swebsiteisnottext-heavy,thislayoutissuitablefordrawinguserstofocusoncertainsectionsofthewebpagethatareconsideredmostimportantbytheorganisation.

More images are introduced when scrollingdown,aswellasseveralhyperlinks.Overall,SPCAappears to have employed ‘scannable text’, adesign that uses features such as highlightedwords (including hypertext links, typefacevariationsandcolour),meaningfulsub-headingsandminimal text.ThiscorrespondstoNielson’sobservation that web users tend to scan webpagesratherthanreadwordforword(1997).Thepositioning of the logo, images andhighlightedwords,suchas“Adopt”and“Donate”,appeartobe deliberately placed towards the top of thefold, where crucial information is more easilynoticed. Less important content is positionedtowards the bottom as readers are probablyunlikely to scroll down unless initially intrigued(Warnick,2006).

Images

SPCA's webpage is heavily image-based and uses minimal text. It incorporates manyphotographs, and a slideshow, giving center stage to animalswho appear to be in need.Researchsuggeststhathumanbrainsarewiredtomirrorbehavior(Jeffers,2009)andthat“mirrorneurons”helpusempathisewiththeworldaroundus.Thisrelatesnotonlytoreal-life, but to images as well. Blewitt (2013) mentions that animal welfare organisations“commonly use imagery… to elicit a reaction, leading to anger and indignation, or guilt,sorrowandempathy”(pg.80).Thevieweristhenmotivatedtoactinresponse.SPCA’suseofhelplessanimalsmaybetoelicitempathy.Presumably,thisismeanttoinfluencethereadertoclickonbuttonsstrategicallyplacedwithintheimagesandcloselyaroundthem,suchas“Adopt”and“Donate”.

Eyecontactisoneofthemostimportantandprimitivemeansofcommunication(Furnham,2014).Theimagesusedintheslideshowallutiliseeye-contacttoestablisha personal connection with the viewer through non-verbalcommunication. Astudyonempathywithdogssuggests that humans have a special concern forinnocentanddefenselesscreatures.Therefore,theuseof animals that are supposedly in need of protectioncreatesanemotionalrelationshipwithviewers.(Herzog,2015). A parody of this approach was used in anAmericanhumourmagazine,NationalLampoon.

Eachaspectofaphotograph involveschoicesmadebydesignersforachievingpersuasiveends(Wysocki,2004).This poster depicts the underlyingmessage of relatedimages,suchastheonesshownontheSPCAwebpage,to urge people to help helpless animals by ‘donating’,‘adopting’, or in National Lampoon’s case, buying amagazine.

Colour

SPCAuseswhatistraditionallyknownasatriadiccolor scheme (Chapman, 2010). This is a designthat uses colours that are evenly spaced on thecolour wheel that naturally complementeachother. The colours SPCA uses are light blue,berry-redandyellow-orange.Colourspresumablyhave underlying implications and are meant toevokecertainemotionswithintheviewer.

Bluesaremeanttoconveytrustandloyalty.Therefore,SPCA’suseofthecolourblueintheirlogoisappropriate,asvisitorsmaytendtoassociatetheorganisationwithtrustandloyalty.Redisacolourthatcapturesattention.Itissaidtobethesecondmostvisiblecolourandwillgrasptheattentionofreadersbeforeanyothercolour,apartfromyellow.Highlightingthebutton“Donate” inaberry-red isasuitablewayto inconspicuouslymakeuseofastrikingcolour,duetothebluehuesinberry-reds.Notonlywillthereadernotice“Donate”early,butwillalsosensethetrustand loyaltythatbluecoloursconvey.Lastly,orange isbelievedtosymbolise energy, excitement and adventure. Considering that yellow is themost visiblecolour to theeye,usingayelloworangewilldrawattentionaswellasexpressasenseofenergyandexcitementandmayappeal to thosewhodonotparticularlyenjoythecolourorange.Thishelps“Adopt”tostandoutaswellasinduceexcitementandasenseofadventurewithinthereader (Morton,2016).

Inconclusion,SPCA’swebsitehasmanyaspectsthatattempttoinfluencewebuserbehavior.Thesehelptoconnectwithreaders,inducecertainemotionsandelicitadesiredresponse.Every effective website should employ elements, including textual structure, images andcolour,appropriatelyandstrategicallyinordertomaximisesuccess.References:Blewitt,J.(2011).Themedia,animalconservationandenvironmental

education.EnvironmentalEducationResearch,17(6),711-718.Chapman,C.(2010,February8).Colortheoryfordesigners:Creatingyourowncolor

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Furnham,A.(2014,December10).Thesecretsofeyecontact,revealed.RetrievedOctober

17,2016,fromhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201412/the-secrets-eye-contact-revealed

Herzog,H.(2015,April13).WhyPeopleCareMoreAboutPetsThanOtherHumans.

RetrievedOctober17,2016,fromWIRED,https://www.wired.com/2015/04/people-care-pets-humans/

Jeffers,C.S.(2009).Onempathy:Themirrorneuronsystemandarteducation.International

journalofeducation&thearts,10(15),1-17.Morton,J.(2016).Colormatters.RetrievedOctober17,2016,from

https://www.colormatters.com/

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Warnick,B.(2006).Rhetoricontheweb.InP.Messaris&L.Humphreys(Eds.),DIGITAL

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Wysocki,A.(2004).Themultiplemediaoftexts:Howonscreenandpapertextsincorporate

words,images,andothermedia.Whatwritingdoesandhowitdoesit:Anintroductiontoanalyzingtextsandtextualpractices,123-163.