Week 3 Part A: Aesthetics, Design and Branding

     For the first part of this post I will discuss http://artcenter.org/ and http://www.headhunterhairstyling.com/. 

    I will start by saying I think artcenter.org looks ok at first glance but the longer I stay on the page the more cluttered it seems. Seven of the links on the "featured events" section are for the same event just on different dates. This happens again on another page on the site. Same event different links. This was confusing for me as it doesn't say what the difference is between the links. I think it could be confusing for viewers when they see so many links for the same event. The way the site is set up makes me not want to stay on it long.

    Artcenter.org has the look of a professional site at first, but the longer you stay on it the more you realize it could have been streamlined. I thought the images on the site were nice but they don't make up for the unnecessary links and buttons. 

    If I had to make improvements on artcenter.org I would definitely condense the information into a few links. There were multiple links giving the same information making it a little frustrating and confusing. I would work on making it a nice streamlined experience for the person browsing. 

    As for headhunterhairstyling.com, it seems pretty straight to the point but a little bland. I think the colors, the layout and the way the information is presented gives off sort of a parody vibe. The page is simple but doesn't excite me. If I was looking for a haircut I would probably think this place was just so so. The problems the site has is that it's boring leading me to believe a visit there would also be boring. Overall the site gives me an unprofessional vibe, like if they just put something together with not much thought put into the aesthetics.

    If I could make some changes I would make the colors less bland. The color scheme just doesn't do it for me. I would also try to put everything on one exciting looking page instead of spreading it across multiple boring ones. There is not much information being presented so that should be easy to do.

     For the second part of this post I will focus on two websites that I feel did a good job. These websites are https://www.apple.com and https://www.toyota.com. 

    Both of these websites have a clean and elegant design. This makes browsing easier, you don't have to scan the page up and down to find relevant information. Both sites have used contrast and color to make their websites look both professional and attractive. I also noticed their use of repetition, reinforcing their brand. The images are spaced away from the text in a way that makes the sites seem spacious yet gives a lot of information at the same time. 

    Both these websites come across as very professional and you can tell they spent money to make them look this way. I would expect websites for both Apple and Toyota to be top notch, given how much money they probably budget for marketing. My reaction to their sites is as expected, they make me want to purchase something from them! I'm sure they carefully crafted the aesthetics, design and branding to invoke such a response.

    The main thing I take away from this is that it really does pay to spend time on a good website. If you have a terrible looking website and that is all a customer has to base their opinion on it could drive away business solely based on that. It wouldn't matter how good of a product you have if the customer already made up their mind after a few minutes on your site.