These companies are incredibly difficult to get off the ground, especially considering how excessively competitive the market is. The largest and most difficult task for startups is the initial wave of investment capital. Without money, there is no way to gain publicity, which is what generates more capital, more investors, notoriety, etc. Once these goals are met, a startup can choose one of two options; they can either attempt to market their product themselves, or hire a public relations firm to help gain even more of a following. The latter is almost always the most effective method for success, although some budding companies either do not have the financial ability to make this possible and still manage to make a profitable technological entity without their help. Venture capitalism and angel investors are the most common method for gaining pre-launch revenue, but one must first have an idea that will convince these people that it will eventually become a lucrative decision in the long run. The interesting part about this entire process is that in the vast majority of cases, it all occurs before the product is made available to the public. (Preston, 2003)
At this point, you may be asking: Why and how are these businesses related to or important for studying Visual Communication? In this case, this website uses screen shots of the login pages of various successful tech startups in order to analyze their aesthetic appeal and how they draw in new users. A website or mobile application’s sign in page is one of – if not the most – important tools for attracting more clients. Whether they choose to employ a bare-bones, straight to the point style, or a flashy and exciting model, their decision is based on the pretense that its aesthetic will be the most accurate representation of what their target audience wants to see. There are many visual techniques which are utilized and have been perfected by the largest and most profitable startups. These companies employ a plethora of graphic designers and advisors who help them make their websites and mobile apps as appealing as possible to their potential users.
Each of the following pages features screen shots from the home screens of the websites and mobile applications being analyzed and a description of their visual strengths and weaknesses. I will begin with Facebook.com as a basis for the rest of the study, because it is common knowledge that what ever they do and have been doing for years has obviously been received exceptionally well by the general public. It is by far the largest and most successful social networking website, so it seems to be an excellent jumping off point for the rest of the analyses. The other startups featured are as follows: Turntable.fm, Viddy.com, LinkedIn.com, and Evernote.com. All of these websites provide different services, although some function very similarly to others. In addition, each has a mobile application available in the Apple App Store for iPhone users, and most are available from the Google Play Store for Android users
This study utilizes two major methodologies employed in Visual Communications Studies, and explained at length in Gillian Rose’s book, Visual Methodologies; An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials. These have been coined Semiotics, and Discourse Analysis. Semiotics is the study of signs, which are the “basic unit[s] of language.” (Rose, 2012). Although this kind of analysis often focuses on words themselves, it can be and is often used in relation to images. In arguably most cases, it is applied to how visual images and words work in relation to one another within specific texts in order to obtain an understanding of the underlying meanings behind those texts. For the purposes of this study, semiotics will be employed to analyze the images, icons, written texts, and how they are connected on every homepage for each website and mobile application. Advertisements contain many more messages than one might imagine. Emphasizing this point, “Barthes claimed that the seemingly innocent poster, ads and even all mass cultural materials were not really innocent for they were intended to shape and reshape readers’ ideology, to persuade the audiences to accept the ideology of middle class.” (Zhang & Li, 2011) In her book, Rose distinguishes two different types of discourse analysis. This paper will focus on what she has dubbed ‘Discourse Analysis I’. This methodology, among other things, puts similar texts which use the same media (websites and mobile applications) into conversation with each other, and contrasts their social implications and functions. Discourse analysis will be the primary methodology put into practice throughout this study, because it will provide the most information as to why certain texts work better than others to gain users. Using these methods of analysis, this study argues that hospitable, lighthearted homepages of tech startup websites and mobile applications which provide services that fall within the entertainment industry are most successful, whereas direct and unambiguous homepages favor more business-oriented companies.