Week 3A Aesthetics, Design, and Branding

 Poor Designed and Hard to Use

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/

https://best-electronics-ca.com/

The first potential problems that both of these websites share are the blocks of text with little breaks and hard to read continuous texts. Both websites lack hierarchy, and really any lack of logical listing of information on the pages. Craigslist is the most current posts first and the Best Electronics site is just a non-updating outdated stream on information that has no breaks or segmentation. Both of these two above issues tie in into a proximity issue whereas all information is jumbled together and you'd have to go over the text many times (and click many times) to navigate to what you need to find. 

These websites do not come across as well designed and more seem to have been a quick, one time design and launch process with no more thought or improvement. You get the sense that while scrolling user comfort was not thought about and its more a hope that the intended audience may eventually figure out what they hope to find or then move on. If there were less words, more catchy graphics, and even an easier "site map" to lead the user from page to page, the experience and usage would be greatly increased. The websites could definitely use an update, overall, and a reinvestment into what users find when they access the site.

Well Designed and Easy to Use

http://apple.com

http://www.toyota.com/

These websites are clearly well planned, created, maintained, and invested in. Apple's website plays right into their aesthetic, tying the brand together and creating a solid sense of user comfortability and ease of access. Toyota creates a sense of excitement, attraction, and encouragement to purchase a vehicle and explore options. Both have well organized categories of information, no overwhelming blocks of text, and a straightforward path to get from the first page of the website through the end desire (be that a sale, contact of the company, or post-sale support). While the concept and contrast are wildly different, you know immediately what the site is for and why you are there. Both share elements in repetition in branding, slogans, and familiar imaging that are a constant subtle reminder of who designed the website and who is providing the excellent service. 

Its clear that in this digital age that the website design and branding directly feed into ones willingness and ability to use a website and continue to patronize a business or brand. Well organized information that utilized easily tracked concepts can lead a user down a path designed by marketing to build loyalty or make sales. There is little frustration accrued by the customer when navigating the good sites however one could very quickly become fed up with the bad sites and give up/navigate elsewhere to try to meet their needs. I would also be more apt to share the resources and good websites with friends and family than I would the bad sites.