Week 3A: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Today I put bring some websites for your consideration. We are looking at the design and functionality. Is it practical? Is the site easy to navigate? Is it beautiful? Can you get the information you need?

Check out the sites below and let me know what you think!

- The Good  -

Head Hunter Hairstyling http://www.headhunterhairstyling.com/

At first, I was astonished at the clashing colors, but the simplicity of the site won me over. The navigation features 5 pages besides “Home”. If I wanted a haircut, I could get the main questions answered in minutes. Really, this site is genius, except for that disgusting greenish yellow background.

But all is forgiven because the information is so professionally organized and yet give me a feeling that this salon is a pleasant, homey place to go. Their list of services is clear, with pricing all laid out. Cute iconic graphics, too. The possible exception to the pricing is clearly laid out and the slideshow of product logos is nice, too.

The only thing I would suggest is placing the contact information in the footer and making a separate page for that cute product slideshow. Products could be listed on the page, just like the services were. If the contact information was in the footer, viewers could find that phone number and call without clicking around.

All in all, this is a simple, inviting, easy to navigate site. This is a good site.

- The Bad -

Rover P6 Cars
http://www.roverp6cars.com/

This website is just so outrageously bad, it’s fascinating, like a B-rated horror movie. I had to think twice about actually putting up a link, what with bad karma going around and all that. I went ahead with it because, after all, it is for our education. So grab a glass of whatever sustains you, and check it out.

The first thing you may notice is that the left menu is a stack of cars (the same one over and over again) with big red letters splotched over each one. This does not work at all. Navigation should be simple, subtle and dependably accessible form every page of the site.

Main colors are black, red & gray. Hmmm, black and red are power colors, but red also translates as a warning sign, danger, stop. It says, "Watch out! 

This is some kind of car parts site. I don’t think danger is the signal to send. Black would work. Gray would work, and a little, tiny bit of red would work, but this is really too much. As you scroll, there are other random colors splashed about like a random Van Gogh from my nightmares. Scary.

Keep scrolling down and there are lots of random car photos. Now, I don’t hate cars and can even understand a certain obsession with them, but this looks like a kindergartner went wild with scissors and glue. Here are some random events, there are some references to more car parts, and even when your hand gets numb from scrolling, you find the navigation cars just won’t stop.

Changing gears, we scroll back up and click on something called Online Store. 

Suddenly you're on a completely different site! 

Did someone click their ruby red slippers and say, "There's no place like home"? This sudden site is a little better, but now we have endless text streaming down the screen. At least the left side navigation is better. I’ll admit it, if you really, really want to find something on this second site, you might be able to find it. As a whole, though, it is bad. So bad. 

- The Ugly -

Riverside Art Center
http://www.riversideartcenter.org/

The first thing I noticed about this site is that it is ugly. That is a matter of opinion, and subjective sure, but seriously folks, no images? On an art site? The landing page was basically a long list of… stuff. No concept, groupings or anything to let me know what was important or interesting. No hierarchy. I was, let’s just say, confused. Normally, I would click away from a site like this in about 3 seconds, but, for your, my Social Crafties, I forced myself to stay.

The navigation on the left hand side had teeny-tiny print. I love volunteers so I clicked on that button. It wasn’t a page thanking their volunteers, or testimonies about the satisfaction of volunteering. It was a boring list of tasks. Yawn, I am so not motivated to volunteer for this organization.

I gritted my teeth and clicked on one more button called Photo Gallery, my one last hope. Then I clicked on 2015 Photo Show. A gigantic photo of ferns took over the screen, then you had to scroll down to get more images. Some of the photos were beautiful… and awesome. Why weren’t they on the landing page?

Disappointment clouded my eyes. I clicked away, relieved that it was over. I had done my duty. It was a terrible site. So, so, so very ugly.

But wait... there's one more!

- The Beautiful -

Toyota
http://www.toyota.com/

This website has beautiful aesthetics. There is a three dimensional feel to some images that is remarkable. Elements were nicely grouped. The seas of white space told me that they had plenty of room for all, and could pull it off with style. It's so easy, find the right Toyota for you!

Navigation on the landing page was amazing, but this achievement did not apply to the entire site. I did falter a couple of times when I tried to get back to the "Home" page. Other features were very unique. I especially liked the "Build & Price" concept and the fact that you could find local information, too. This site is a stylish and thoughtful way to show off their product.

And that, my friends, is beautiful!