Navigating the web and gathering information to make important decisions can be ridiculously stressful at times. Graphic designers sometimes forget functionality and focus on some abstract art that gets glanced over as a web-surfer quickly abandons the page.
For the past two summers I have gone to Bonnaroo, a four day music and arts festival. Last year Bonnaroo attracted 80,000 guests, and hosted over 150 performers. To handle this kind of volume, organization and functionality is essential. I found out everything I needed to know about bonnaroo from their website; every musician, attraction, and application that awaited me and easily purchased my ticket via their website.
And being an Art festival the website must remain pretty and enticing while accessible. So the opening page of this year’s Bonnaroo displays the colorful action-packed banner that remains informative and useful. It instantly reveals what “Bonnaroo” is with a patched together image of a huge crowd infont of a large stage and artistic carnival attractions. All the well known aspects of the festival are placed in the banner: stage, large tent, ferris wheel, fountain, and large “Bonnaroo” arc that stands at the entrance to the festival grounds. I know first hand the lunacy, the outlandish celebrations and the mind bending hysterics that take place at this festival and the banner triggers these reveries and gets me excited.
The page layout is also well done. Drop down tabs under the banner direct users to all aspects of the festival in eight specific categories. On the right there are rotating photos drawing attention to the artists and keeping the user watching to see what comes up next. To the left of that is the “news”. A large “JUNE 11-14 MANCHESTER, TN” makes it very clear when to quit your current job and buy plane tickets. Below that is all recent announcements about the festival. All the text is a clear and legible helvetica. Another aid in advertisement is the consistent color theme throughout the website. Now whenever I see this color turquoise with orange, green, yellow and red I will think, Bonnaroo.
Most importantly, with a single click on a miniature poster on the bottom right you can see the entire artist line up for the festival, headliners first. Maybe the organizers are just trying to make it simple for all the burnt-out veteran freaks who need to order their tickets online but for the attention deficit user with little spare time, like myself this website design gave me all the info I need to get my ticket and sparked my forgotten lust for a romping summer celebration. Quit your job and check it out.
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