Research into Other Related Websites - Part 3/BBC Switch

BBC Switch is a relatively new brand of televsion, aimed at teenagers within the UK. It includes a number of television programmes shown on BBC 2. BBC is one of the oldest broadcasters around, with a number of services ranging from a number of television programmes, radio, and now online. The BBC aims to reach a large range of audiences by producing many niche services, spanning from Politics on BBC Parliament, CBBC for children, BBC for factual and now BBC Switch for teenagers.


Here is an example of the teenage TV channel website homepage which I find appealing and unique. It is the BBC Switch TV channel website.

<-- As with nearly every website which I have been researching, there is again an option of typing in a searchbar. I now fully understand the importance of searchbars, as they really do help to navigate quicker around the website, pinpointing information the audience wants to see (as found on e4). The scroller at the top of the page is very attractive, as well as being user - friendly, and demonstrates a creative approach to showing a number of upcoming TV shows (possible use of widget). The arrows on the left and right of the screen stand out, as they are large, white to stand out through the black in the background and have some form of special effect added to them (in this case, a 3D effect makes the arrow feel more interactive within the page). As well as that, each time you scroll through the TV shows, other TV shows are visible on each side of it. The special effect added with shadows gives the impression that it is a sphere going around you, making this feature unique among similar rival websites. Lower down the homepage, there are subcategories, which are unrelated to what is on the TV channel. It's layout on the page is compact within a small space, but is colour co-ordinated, such as yellow for Music, Orange for shows, then there are other options to select from such as online features/exclusives etc.. In some ways, this homepage may have too much going on, becuase there are so many options to chose from, ranging from news, advice, games, online.., making it harder for an auidence to chose from and much of it could be irelevant. The colour font is effective, as well as font style, as they stand out from the black background, and makes it easier to navigate the website, as everything is colour co-ordinated. I like this idea, and I feel this will be a good feature which I could incoperate into my website.


When you click on another option, such as 'Shows', the layout of the page changes quite significantly, but the colour assoiciated with the option is kept consistent. This feature, as well as making it easier to navigate it, gives the website a structure, making each page flow into another.

I like the background colour of black (black boxes, suspended onto a bluey template), as it goes well with any other colour, and it gives the page a 'retro' feel, making it attractive to a younger audience, specifically Teenagers.