Week 4A

image from: http://www.thinkstockphotos.ca/image/illustration-design-word-abstract-logo-sign/460455891



This week I'm looking at aesthetic and design (which is exciting to me!).  Unfortunately I was much less excited when I chose my first business' website to evaluate and it looked like... well... follow this link to find out for yourself: http://jamilin.com/

I clicked on the link only to groan loudly to myself.  "Noooo" I said out loud to the computer.  "Nooooo..."

First of all, what is this even for?  As my eyes adjust to being assaulted by the clutter of this web design I notice the words "age-less-skin-care.com" and I think: "Is it for skin care?  But wait, that's another web address isn't it?"

I see more words: Cool stuff.

uh huh....

More words: Chakra, Galactic Spirit... This must be a spiritual guru's site?  I'd have to dig further into the chaos to find out more.

Ok I could go on but the verdict is this: Its bad.  This is bad.  It is very bad.  I generally think that the message should be clear upon first impression and that if it is not you have done a bad job.    Secondly, if the design of your page is so cluttered with images, information, and rainbows that your viewer feels the need to physically move away from their device (over exaggerating here a bit, but you get the point.) then you've maybe over done it.  I wanted to out-loud tell this website to "calm down".

The next site I went to was this: https://www.headhunterhairstyling.com/

And I'm sitting here thinking: "OOOOH loving that title.  Head Hunter Salon.  Modern.  Fresh.  Drama. Yasss Queeeen."  But no.  The site is very plain with a very sad color scheme.

To their credit the site has a clear message and after the last site I visited I felt safe (my eyes were safe here).  The site is easy to navigate with clear a precise information.  However, the look of the thing is drab.  The first page opens with an awkward and unattractive announcement and switches to a badly taken photo of their unattractive store front.  That, however, is followed by some very attractive and modern images of hair models.  Lead with that!  And a more updated layout!  They may also want to update the images of their stylists... blurry phone photos are off putting I think...

Next I looked at this site:  http://www.riversideartcenter.org/

Oh hello!  THIS is what I'm talking about!  This layout is everything.  Its clean, its elegant and a second later a cute little subscribe widow plops up on the screen (I almost said "bloop" out loud I was so pleased.  Mostly because I just read an article on online lead generation... anyway...).  The whole site just feels welcoming and because they offer classes and admission I would hope that they understood the importance of being welcoming and inviting.  Obviously they do.  Much of their art is displayed immediately upon arriving on the site too.  This site is soooo pretty to look at and so easy to navigate!  Need I say more?  No I need not.

Lastly I looked at: https://www.apple.com/ for reasons...

I mean.  Apple has always had great design aesthetic in my opinion.  Super clean, crisp, easy to navigate.  Professional.  Mature.  You immediately know you're on an apple site.  It feels like apple.  I think that that is the genius behind their design aesthetic.  It is so simple yet so recognizable.  You can go to a website and the entire thing is white with simple clear lines and think "Yup this is apple all right."