Magazine Review

Kia Leona Hughes reviews WWW.AWN.COM

The website im going to review is www.awn.com or Animation world network in short . it’s a site which features information on movie trailers, short animation and clips that have been newly released for viewing entertainment. First glances this website were quite poor in my opinion simply because I felt that the background was quite plain but it doesn’t draw to much attention to the information on hand which I feel is a agreeable thing. The WebPages are bright yellow and blue presumably to make the text on the page stand out but also to match the logo of the site. There is no price for viewing this site all animation is free to watch it simply shares video clips from over 151 countries world wide and the site boldly states that it provides “a wide range of interesting, relevant and helpful information pertaining to all aspects of animation“. This is clear to a certain extent yet I feel it has done to much to promote other products and websites then on the actual animation. This can be evident from the numerous advertisements displayed on the webpage such as Shapeways and Intel software dispatch. I feel this spoils the feel of the website taking away its look of a professional site. The site itself is targeted at universities and students that have a general interest in animation. Its provides reviews on different animation festivals, shows and shorts and is frequently updated. It provides new information daily which is a impressive as most sites are updated weekly and the information is posted in columns on the front page. After browsing thought the pages I found that the information provided on the pages was strait to the point but not exciting enough I feel to keep the reader interested , However this can be just a matter in opinion.
One particular review I found quite interesting was its response to Spore creature creator, im not sure what it has to do with animation it is more appealing to those of video game design. However the reviewer comments on its excellent game play its groundbreaking graphics and its intelligent interface. The Evolution of Spore by Janet Hetherington written on the 08/09/08 looks into the basic game play on Will Writes newest creation. I liked how she talks about how the players can interact with there friends. This is evident as she states the games allows “players to create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt worlds and then explore universes created by other players”.
After further reading I found that the websites videos available look impressive and that the overall feel of the site was adequate but lacking in design. I would think that a Web, Mobile and Game design student would like to use this page as it does give interesting idea’s and help on how to animate characters and what others have done in there work. There are reviews that cover Video games for different interfaces that may be useful or interesting to a Web, Mobile and Game student. I likes the video’s this sight has to offer and the reviews this sight has to offer was intriguing yet I still feel this sight was lacking. It could have been better layout and less advertisements but other then that I felt It held up to most expectations.

My rating 6/10