As part of the NED23 course we're asked to analyse a couple of sites with usability in mind. Some of the sites were appalling and I acted as if this were an everyday situation - got myself outta there.
http://www.elementk.com/
What draws your eye - 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
The first thing that drew my eye was the changing picture. It was quite attractive, initially.
The second thing to draw my attention was the ‘element k’ logo in the top left corner.
The third was the picture – again. It had changed and caught my eye.
Note if something draws your eye again - or causes you to avert your eyes
The picture keeps drawing my attention, but unfortunately it doesn’t tell me anything about what the company does! I gather they don’t specialise in mountain climbing gear, but the animation on the picture makes it difficult for me to focus on anything else.
What role is white space playing?
The white space makes the whole page look ‘cleaner’ – and works to delineate the text from the rest of the page.
Can you determine if the design is intentionally directing your eye? How?
The page seems to be intentionally drawing my attention to the pictures – though this isn’t telling me a whole bunch about what the site is about.
What is the purpose of this site?
Element K specialise in helping companies develop learning and development solutions.
Is this site of value to you? Would it be of value to anyone else? Why?
This site is valuable to me because I have a special interest in learning and development, especially online learning. It would be valuable to companies wanting to design and implement a targeted, internal training program, particularly if the company was large or was geographically distributed because they could deliver the training online.
How is this site organized?
The site is organised into products and services – though there seem to be other things on the site which should be a ‘product’ or ‘service’ so I’m not sure why they’re listed separately.
How does it work? How are people supposed to use it?
Customers are supposed to navigate around the site to see if Element K can help their company with training solutions.
How long did it take for your partner to figure out what the site was about, or "Get It"?
Still don’t know if I get it properly, but spent probably five mins looking around.
http://www.convergys.com/employeecare_learning.html
What draws your eye - 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
The first thing to draw my eye was the Convergys logo, placed in the top left corner. The next was the picture of the woman along the banner, and the third was the heading of the page: “Learning: Driving performance improvements and better return on investment”.
Note if something draws your eye again - or causes you to avert your eyes
Nothing ‘kept’ drawing my attention except the text – I was actually motivated to read it!
What role is white space playing?
The whote space makes it perfectly clear where I’m supposed to be looking – there’s little redundancy on the page and the white space is used to good advantage.
Can you determine if the design is intentionally directing your eye? How?
It seems as if they want me to read the homepage text. It describes what they do – as well as why they do it better than anyone else – and it’s in a slightly larger text than the rest of the page (including left nav). The text has clear headers which make scanning easy.
What is the purpose of this site?
The purpose is to advertise the products and services of Convergys.
Is this site of value to you? Would it be of value to anyone else? Why?
Yes, because I’m interested in training and development. It would be valuable to companies if they need organisational development.
How is this site organized?
The site is organised much more simply than the other – into the different services they provide, by ‘division’, e.g. ‘business support systems’ and ‘customer management’. It would be easy to navigate around the site if you had a clear idea of what your business required.
How does it work? How are people supposed to use it?
Companies would use it to find out information about the company, and to discover its relevance to the success of their company (i.e. it does a good sell job!)
How long did it take for your partner to figure out what the site was about, or "Get It"?
Almost immediately. The text was clear and non-redundant and explained what the company offered, and how it was better than anyone else.
http://www.madxs.com/
What a pain. This site will not load, and they have lots of instructions about how to make it load – all of which I can’t be bothered to take. They want to me download Flash and other software (even though I’m sure I have it) and they recommend IE 5.0 or above – I have 7 and its not working. Leaving!
http://www.virtualflowers.com/home.asp?se=1
What draws your eye - 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
The flowers pictures in the middle of the screen draw my attention first, then theVirtual Flowers logo in the top left corner (its flashing). After that, the flashing banner-something in the top right corner.
Note if something draws your eye again - or causes you to avert your eyes
The flashing! I’m trying to avert my eyes but it keeps drawing me back to it. Annoying!
What role is white space playing?
The white space seems to be nothing more than a background colour. The site would be worse with a coloured background, but at the moment it doesn’t particularly seem to be adding anything to the site.
Can you determine if the design is intentionally directing your eye? How?
The site is using a lot of animated signs – too many. They’re detracting my attention away from their products.
What is the purpose of this site?
To make me read their advertisements? Presumably to sell flowers, though they’re not doing a very effective job.
Is this site of value to you? Would it be of value to anyone else? Why?
The site is of value to me because I occasionally send flowers to people. I’m not sure though that it’s utilitarian value would overcome the site’s poor design though.
How is this site organized?
Badly! The site’s organised into the ‘types’ of flowers people might want to send – though these are not mutually exclusive so you’re left thinking – something Steve Krug would never have! For example, they have a link to both “send fresh flowers” and “birthday flowers”. This leaves me thinking:
Are birthday flowers not fresh?
Can I not send birthday flowers?
Why would they put “send” there? Isn’t that self evident from the site?
I’m annoyed with this site and at this point in my shopping expedition, I’d be outta there…
How does it work? How are people supposed to use it?
People are supposed to navigate around the site, select the flowers they like and send them to people after paying for them. Whether this happens in reality is another question.
How long did it take for your partner to figure out what the site was about, or "Get It"?
It’s easy to figure out what the site is about – selling flowers. They make the actual process of choosing and paying for your flowers a little more difficult.
http://www.ibm.com/us/
What draws your eye - 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
The first thing to catch my eye was the text on the left – though it changed almost as soon as the page had properly loaded. The second was the IBM logo, and the third was the detail in the picture.
Note if something draws your eye again - or causes you to avert your eyes
Nothing really ‘grabs’ my attention except the changing picture across the top third of the page, though it changes slowly so it still gives you time to read the [very small] text.
What role is white space playing?
The white space creates strong contrast between the text and the surrounding area. It’s really important here because there’s a lot of text (all links) and you need to be able to read them easily and understand where you want to go.
Can you determine if the design is intentionally directing your eye? How?
The page is directing my attention to the top banner, but it seems only because everything else is really difficult to read. I just noticed that the picture changes with my moving the mouse over separate icons on the page – it took me a while to realise this though!
What is the purpose of this site?
To ‘learn about’, ‘shop for’ and ‘get support’ for IBM products. The site is organised well – information, e-comm and support. It’s user focussed in that respect.
Is this site of value to you? Would it be of value to anyone else? Why?
The site doesn’t have great value to me because I’m a Mac-er (!), though I can see it having great value for people wanting to find out about IBM products, purchase them, and then find out what’s wrong with them ;)
How is this site organized?
The site is organised in the same way as people would want to come and use it (its purpose).People either want to find out about the products, buy them or get support for them, and its organised in exactly the same way – its organised by the user’s tasks and goals.
How does it work? How are people supposed to use it?
See above – all very consistent.
How long did it take for your partner to figure out what the site was about, or "Get It"?
I ‘got it’ almost immediately – though that was probably only brand recognition. The site fulfilled my expectations about what I thought I should be finding on such a site.
http://www.disney.com.au/#
What draws your eye - 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
There’s an AD in the middle of the screen! Get me out of here! Sorry, at this point I’m totally turned off. I don’t mind inconspicuous advertising, but this is appalling – it completely dominates the whole view, and it’s for a product that I find disgusting (kids lollies marketed as ‘fruit’). I’m out of here on ethical grounds.
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