I've chosen Bilbao and Jyvaskyla as the two sites out of the four that needs improvements. The two sites are, no doubt, very informative and well organized. However, when I first visited the sites I felt a bit overwhelmed. To start off, Bilbao's homepage didn't create a positive first impression nor did it define a quality to me. I wasn't able to access the homepage from the logo on the top left corner because it wasn't enabled. The colors, fonts, and heading didn't draw my attention; I wasn't able to define a purpose for the site due to lack of graphics, images, and multimedia. The selected picture on the main page didn't capture any value nor captivate the significance of Bilbao. The items on the homepage were aligned but once I began to click for information, it seemed cluttered. As far as navigation, the site uses the breadcrumb navigation but the font is both light and too small to find on the first visit. The page layout for “where to eat” section provides a small map of the city with tiny font listings of restaurants, bars, and cafes. The content design of the map is not professionally displayed nor legible due to its size. The site also doesn't provide any search function or multimedia. Overall, the site's lack of optimizing user experience and drawing viewers attention leads me to conclude that it is in need of desperate improvements.
All the four sites that I was assigned to, Bilbao and Jyvaskyla was always standing at the bottom two for cities that I wouldn't most likely visit due to its presentation. After carefully analyzing the site by checking through the list of what a good website should have, I was only able to point out a few flaws. Jyvaskyla's site is intriguing and it is appropriate to audience. My guess is that the site is targeting couples to visit their city because the selected pictures for each categories show a couple that convey intended messages. As far as improvements, I would suggest that they change or fix the target audience; I was entertained by the graphics and images but I didn't have a positive first impression because I don't fall in the category as a visitor. The homepage is simple with plain white background and font; the heading, titles are different and larger. They stand out more but the title is in a different language even in the English setting. The color selections are a bit distracting however the positive side is that helps me remember which sections I've visited. A couple other flaws I noticed were the lack of multimedia, missing search function, and the content design.
