How my website will be different to my main competitors?

In my last blog, I researched about my main competitors and their overall design concepts and what games they have to offer. To ensure my websites overall look and design is more functional than my competitors

1. I will provide my users with a responsive web design that two out of three competitors do not provide.
2. I will provide a consistent layout with navigation design that will remain consistent throughout.
3.  I plan to develop a breadcrumb trail for my application to ensure my users will be able to return to the home page or the previous page they have viewed. Again, two out of three of my competitors fail to do so. 
4. I will also provide a sitemap. It will be displayed in a hierarchy form.  
5. I will ensure my forms suggest to the user what are required fields and ensure they are filled out before moving forward. 

Each of my competitors focus on various unique areas of brain training.

1. Fitbrains focuses on all types of training
2. BrainMetrix focuses IQ training
3. NeuroNation focuses on Logical training 

With this research I hope to make my website fully functional for hosting my web application while also providing a specific area of training: Visual and problem solving. 

Main Competitors of Brain Training

To ensure the design concepts for my website meet the user requirements, my plan is to evaluate each of my web applications main competitors. By evaluating my main competitors, I will understand the main key players in order to develop strategies that will allow my web application to stand out and become a more preferred choice of service. There are four main area's of design: visual, navigation, interface and information design. 

Case Study 1: http://www.fitbrains.com 

Visual Design 

Overall, the visual design of Fitbrains is aesthetically appealing as the colors used harmonize together. The fonts are easy to read and overall I believe enhance the message of the web application. The website is responsive for both web application, mobile application and tablet. A responsive web application is extremely important as it improves the users experience.  

Navigation Design 

In my opinion, I believe the navigation scheme is not easy to find as the consistency of the majority of websites have their navigation bar at the top of the page making it to easy to find by users. With Fitbrains, their navigation bar appears just above the footer of the page before you login into the application and moves to the top of the page once you login.The application also does not provide a breadcrumb trail and a sitemap. To get back to the main page of the website you must click the websites logo. Unfortunately, not all users would be familiar with this and find it extremely difficult to return to the home page. 

Interface Design 

With the overall Interface design, frequently-asked-questions are ready available to all users. Two call-to-actions are available consistently in the header section of the application. Unfortunately, required fields within a form are not clearly stated.

  

Information Design  

The home page of the website provides the users with who the website is, what the website does and what the user can do here. The layout for this website is not appropriate as it does not stay consistent once you log in to the application to play the games.  

Games 

To actually play the games the user must first sign it or register for a free trial. After the free trial period has ended, a user must pay a monthly free to use this application. The website provides over 60 games in total covering all areas of brain training. 

Game Type: All 

Case Study 2: http://www.brainmetrix.com/ 

Visual Design 

Overall, the visual design of Brain Metrix is aesthetically appealing as the colors used harmonize together. The fonts are easy to read and overall I believe enhance the message of the web application. The downfall to the websites visual design, is that it is not responsive.  

Navigation Design 

In my opinion, I believe the navigation scheme is easy to find and stays consistent throughout the website. The application also does provide a breadcrumb trail but no sitemap. To get back to the main page of the website you can use the main home button available within the navigation, the breadcrumb trail and the logo.  

Interface Design 

With the overall Interface design, frequently-asked-questions are not available within the website. Unfortunately, within the contact us page required fields within a form are not clearly stated.  

Information Design  

The home page of the website provides the users with who the website is, what the website does and what the user can do here. The layout for this website is appropriate as it does stay consistent throughout. 

Games 

To play the games a user does not have to login, therefore a users score will not be tracked. Before a user begins to play a game, a prompt box appears to ensure the user is ready to play the game. 

Game Type: IQ  

Case Study 3: http://www.neuronation.com/  

Visual Design 

Overall, the visual design of NeuroNation is aesthetically appealing as the colors used harmonize together. The fonts are easy to read and overall I believe enhance the message of the web application. The downfall to the websites visual design, is that it is not responsive.  

Navigation Design 

In my opinion, I believe the navigation scheme is easy to find and stays consistent throughout the website. The application also does not provide a breadcrumb trail and no sitemap. To get back to the main page of the website you must click the websites logo. Unfortunately, not all users would be familiar with this and find it extremely difficult to return to the home page. 

Interface Design 

With the overall Interface design, frequently-asked-questions are not available within the website. Unfortunately, within the contact us page required fields within a form are not clearly stated.  

Information Design  

The home page of the website provides the users with who the website is, what the website does and what the user can do here. The layout for this website is appropriate as it does stay consistent throughout. 

Games 

To play the games a user must login. To register a user will be asked a numerous amount of questions about their everyday life and then for their email address. Once logged in the web application will begin to track your progress for the day. This website is limited and only focuses on logical training.  

Game Type: Logic 

User Requirements, Deliverables and Final Deliverables

User Requirements 

1. The user interface system shall be menu driven. It will contain help pop ups, dropdown lists in navigation, buttons and user inputs. 
2. The interface will prompt the user to login using their unique email address and password. 
3. If a user does not have an account, the user will be prompted to sign up to the website. 
4. Text will be large enough for all users to read. 
5. A breadcrumb trail will be provided for users to navigate back throughout the website without problems. 
6. For people with visual problems, alternative text will be provided for images and videos. 
7. Games incorporated into the web application will allow users to view their previous scores. 

List of deliverables 

1. Project Proposal
2. Project Blog 
3. Research Project 
4. Wireframe/Navigation structure/Mood board 
5. User Requirements 
6. Project Design (HTML) 
7. Database Design (SQL) 
8. Functionality to website (PHP) 
9. Presentation of first prototype 
10. Testing 
11. Final Report 
12. Week of Demonstrations/ Submit Project 

Description of deliverables 

1. Within my proposal I have outlined the initial thoughts in which I believe enable me to develop my project.  
2. As I move further down the line, my project will allow me to part-take in research. This research will outline my main competitors to establish what my website needs to meet the needs of a fully functional website. It also allows me to research which games and what information I would like to see on my website in which I think would be beneficial for all users. 
3. My blog will be updated on a regular basis to ensure my supervisor will know my progress and what deliverable I will be moving onto next.  
4. My wireframe/prototypes/navigation design/mood board will provide a visual representation of the look and feel I hope to achieve with my website. 
1. My wireframe/ prototypes will provide the overall structure of my website, while my navigation design will visualize how users will be able to navigate across my website. 
2. I ensure to keep my wireframes/prototypes and navigation design consistent throughout my website.  
3. My mood board will provide information on my colour scheme, fonts and images that will evoke my project concept.  Once my wireframes are complete I plan to take my prototypes and develop my website with HTML and CSS. 
5. The next step within my project will be database design. Before I structure my database I will ensure that I have all the tables and fields that I believe I will need to ensure my project is fully functional. 
6. The next step will be to add functionality to my website. My functionality will include a user login, register to the website, include games and the overall keeping track of the users score so they can see their progression. 
7. I will then present my site to my supervisor for my first demonstration. This will allow my supervisor to become familiar with my website and guide me in the correct path if they believe there is functionality not complete. 
8. For testing, I hope to have a numerous amount of people to navigate across my website and provide me with feedback of the overall look and feel, how easy or uneasy it was to navigate around the website and also any features they may want to see incorporated into the web application. 
9. Final Deliverable: At the end of my project I plan to submit a fully functional website hosted with an online server known as AtSpace. 

Gantt Chart

The following is a Gantt Chart. A Gantt Chart is a chart in which series of horizontal lines shows the amount of work done or production completed in certain periods of time in relation to the amount planned for those period. Below, is a screen capture of my gantt chart and the progress I plan to make each week.

Deliverable	Approx. Date	Project Week
Project start	Jan 16th	1
Project Blog	Ongoing	1-14
Project Proposal	Jan 25th	2
Research Report	Feb 3rd	3
Wire Frame/navigation structure moodboard	Feb 10th	4
User Requirements (Wire Frame/user testing/profiling) Interface Design	Feb 20th-24th	6
Presentation of first prototype – mandatory attendance, marked, full class present	March 6th -10th	8
Testing week	March 27th- 31st	11
Final Report	April 3rd to 7thth	12
Easter holidays		2 weeks
Week of Demonstration	April 24th to 28th	13