Aesthetic Effectiveness

Here I will discuss the aesthetic effectiveness of two of the sites I visit most frequently. 

http://dodgers.com

 

I imagine all the Major League Baseball team sites are standardized, but the Dodgers site is the one I visit on a regular basis. I am impressed with the layout and design of the site. The homepage can be seen from top to bottom in three scrolls, with the bottom third of the page being dedicated to their well-maintained social media feeds. You can toggle between feeds to their Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, tumblr, and Instagram pages. The Dodgers brand is prominent on every page within the site. From a fan’s perspective, anything you could be looking for can be found on the site within a few clicks. I return to the site regularly for instant highlights. Since I do not live in the Dodgers’ market area, I rarely got to see the games televised. I visit this site almost daily during the baseball season for up to the second interactive play-by-play using their MLB Gameday application (see image).  From a marketing standpoint, the only criticism is the fact that occasionally ads from one of the major company sponsors like Chevrolet or State Farm will litter the homepage. I understand that those sponsors help monetarily, but I tend to feel like a company is selling out if their page is littered with ads. 

http://www.swagbucks.com/

Swagbucks is basically an online rewards program where you can earn virtual currency called “Swag Bucks” and you can turn these “Swag Bucks” into real prizes. In the few months that I’ve been using this site, I have already earned $55 in Amazon gift cards. In fact, I paid nothing for the required books for this class because of it. That is the reason I keep coming back. It is not because of the site’s visual appeal or social media presence, although they do make good use of branding with colors and logo throughout the site. There is good contrast and the alignment of the page is well thought out. In terms of the ease of use, navigation is pretty easy if you know what you’re looking for. I remember, as a newcomer to the site, I found it difficult to find what I needed. I looked for about 5 minutes for their customer support. Once I found it, it was pretty effortless, but it should have been easier to find. I suppose some people may think that on a site like this where there is an incentive for people to visit, aesthetics is not as important. Not so. Sites like this always have skeptics. Good design helps ease the worries that it is a scam.