Textual Analysis of Various Websites

Like all media, Web pages are tailored towards a specific Target Audience / Market. Below I shall analyse two contrasting markets - the male orientated Dave and the female orientated ITV2.

Dave's website is designed to fit in the gentleman's club parlour art style demonstrated on the idents. The dark floral wallpaper and up light images really capture this atmosphere. The little touches such as picture frame borders further enhance this dark, even seedy, guilty pleasure that is a channel designed for panel shows, male magazines such as Top Gear and sit coms. The dark red used on the navigation and login - the highlight colour as explained in the Colour Theory post - has connotations of the "underworld", a boudoir-esque feel acheived through one simple contrasting colour.

On the polar opposite of the scale of Gender related websites, ITV2 demonstrates in just the background alone which audience it caters for. The made up woman and smart-casual dressed male is not something a male targetted media text would contain as the largest "surface area" of the page. Furthermore the big advertisement for one of the channel's shows entitled "The Only Way is Essex", women stood in posed positions are crucially not sexualised in the way a male audience would respond to. Sure, they aren't ugly but the toned down clothing and stern faces seem to be showing female strength rather than the typical "come to me big boy" look.

The colourscheme of the site is also an indication of its target age range. The almost garish lime green implies its intended for a younger audience. Older women would stereotypically prefer pastel shades in calmer colours, this is very in-your-face. The programming also backs this up, older women who are perhaps of a higher income would not want to watch fly-on-the-wall documentaries of Katie Price (generally speaking).