Aesthetics, Design, and Branding

For this week's blog post, I am reviewing the aesthetics, design and branding of four websites: apple.com, toyota.com, tectorch.com, and richsoil.com. The looks of the websites were as different as the goods they are selling. One thing was constant: The good were very good and the bad were very bad.

http://apple.com
I am an Android man personally, but even I can appreciate the sleek, simple design of their products, and that is reflected in their website. The simple navigation that has become synonymous with their products also defines their website layout. Almost the entire page is dedicated to the latest gadget that Apple has released. It is perfect in its simplicity.
The color scheme of the site is consistent with the Apple brand and it is constant while navigating the site, which means Apple-familiar consumers are at ease, because they know they are still on the apple site and not some phishing site.

http://www.toyota.com/

Following suit with Apple, Toyota puts visually appealing rotating pictures of their most popular vehicles right in the middle of the webpage. I personally prefer Toyota’s site because there is no guesswork. The headings are clear and the site is easy to navigate (perhaps why I am partial to Android over iPhone). There is a defined and constant color scheme throughout the site. I love that the Toyota menu bar stays constant after clicking on tabs. This ensures that the logo is on every page, thus reinforcing the brand. Another thing that Toyota’s site has on Apple’s is the presence of social media on the website. There are links to their well-maintained social media pages at the bottom of the page. Very well done.

http://tectorch.com/

This is about as bad as it gets. There is no sign of any branding whatsoever. There is no company logo and no attractive design to speak of. Text overpowers the page. Maybe they have a specific demographic that they are targeting- the manly welder who wants to go on the site, get what he wants, and get out. That’s the only reasoning I could think of that would explain this layout (or lack thereof). But maybe I’m giving this web designer too much credit. The site does not look polished. You have to scroll through a sea of text and products to get to the contact information. The alignment and hierarchy are all off. Some text is aligned to the left and some is centered. The prime real estate, the top of the page, is dedicated to the company history. No matter how proud you are of your history, it should not be the focus of your website.

http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

I stand corrected. This is as bad as it gets. Were it not for the URL, I would have no idea what the name of the webpage is. There is no sign of branding or design from the parent homepage, nor is there a coherent way of returning to the main page. After much searching, I found a link hidden among the others reading “permaculture articles” which returns users to the main richsoil.com homepage. A uniform heading throughout the site would solve many of the issues here. Instead, an ad occupies the top of the page. There is no rhyme or reason to the placement of photos. There is entirely too much text and too much page. All of this information could still be on the site, just organized on different pages with tabs and links pointing to the new pages. Jump links and “back to top” links wouldn’t even solve the issues this site has, but it would be a start. Poor, poor design.

People these days are visually driven. We are an on-demand society, and we need be engaged immediately or we are off to another site. A site that is not aesthetically appealing or is difficult to navigate will give users a negative image of your company. If you can engross the site visitor in the content, they will associate that positive experience with your brand. Aesthetics, design, and branding play a key role in the success of your site and your company.