And the battle for best website begins....
Jello.com and bettycrocker.com will compete on thr
ee factors. These three factors are:
Every website has an intended target audience. In order to appeal to the target, website features, such as design, text choices, background should be reflective of your target's interests.
Argument is the equivalent of the website's thesis. The argument for a website acts to persuade the audience to take action, or share an opinion. While, the purpose of a website is what the website wants their audience to do after looking at the site.
2. Web Architecture: Web Architecture is the navi
A site does not appear out of thin air. The creator puts tho
ught into how to build the site. There are multiple layers in one site, and the creator needs to make sure that the visitor can easily move around the site to get where they need to go.
3. Design: Design includes color, typeface, and layout choices.
These three design elements contribute to the website's overall argument. Color
should be closely aligned with the argument's "mood." Color choices should not distract the viewer, and should provide for easy viewing.
Typeface should be limited to two or three different fonts, as to again make it easy for the viewer to read. Layout choices should remain consistent throughout the entire website.
Now that I have briefly outline the three criteria in which we will be judging two websites on, let me know re-introduce the competitors.
In the right hand corner, we have....
In the left hand corner we have....
Jell-O:
1. Content:
Jell-O's target audience is consumers who are on a diet on want to satisfy their sweet tooth. These are health consciousness individuals, probably women, who are looking for fun ideas to incorporate healthy snacks into their diet. Its hard to be on a diet, and Jell-O tells its target that they can still indulge on low calorie Jell-O snacks. How can I tell? Because of Jell-O's tagline: "Every Diet Needs a Little Wiggle Room."
As mentioned above, target audience is intertwined with argument and purpose. Jell-O's argument can be summarized through their tagline as well. They are arguing that Jell-O is the perfect snack for when you are on a diet. Their products are even broken up into different categories based on calories, and sugar content. For example, you can "satisfy your sweet tooth" with a 10 calorie Jell-O snack. The purpose of the site, is for consumers to buy Jell-O snacks.
When someone visits Jell-O site, they know exactly who Jell-O is targeting, and what their argument is.
2. Web Architecture:
You enter the site through Jell-O's homepage, which has three different tabs located on the top, in addition to a "search" bar. The tabs are labeled "products," "recipes," and "explore Jell-O." Once you click on a tab, for example "products," the user can choose from other subpages, such as "Jell-O Gelatin," "Jell-O Pudding," and "Jello-Flavor Finder." The same is true for the other tabs. Whenever clicked on a subpage, for example "Flavor Finder," the three tabs remained a t the top of the page. I could also click on the "Jell-O" to return to the homepage. There is also a site map at the bottom of the page, if the user chooses to navigate the site that way.
3. Design:
This is Jell-O's best asset. First, I would like to mention that Jell-O is known for its wiggle, and its site incorporates this. When you move your mouse over an image it wiggle for you! The color choice is reflective of the brand, because Jell-O is indeed red. Typefaces are animated, but yet still easy to read. There are three different fonts that appear on the homepage, but the rest of the website is consistent in its main font choice. The website's layout is very well balanced.
Betty Crocker:
1. Content:
Betty Crocker's target audience is people who cook and bake. But, unlike Jell-O's website Betty Crocker does not just feature one product line, it features many different ones. When I first visited the homepage, there was a Turkey-Pineapple salad, but then two minutes later I checked back and saw that the salad had transformed itself into chocolate? So after doing some more browsing, I realized that Betty Crocker offers more than cake mixes and brownie mixes. Betty Crocker does dinner ("cooking") and desert ("baking"). There is also an emphasis on ease of use and convenience. Betty Crocker's target thus are people who like to cook, but dont' like to spend all day preparing a meal.
Betty Crocker's argument is its tagline: "Expertise from our kitchen to yours." This further supports who their target audience is. Every meal or desert that is advertised is also accompanied with a quick and easy recipe.
2. Web Architecture:
Since Betty Crocker is such a varied site, it has many more pages and subpages than Jell-O. Compared to Jell-O's three tabs plus a search bar, Betty Crocker has eight tabs plus a search bar. It is only when you click on one of the tabs that you can access the subpages. There is no drop-down menu like Jell-O's site. The main tabs do however remain on each page, and I can click on "betty crocker" to return to the homepage.
3. Design:
This is perhaps the websites worst attribute. There is way too much stuff on each page!! On the each page (including the home page) there are four different sections. Unlike Jell-O who's one main page was broken into smaller sections, Betty Crocker's pages actually have four separate pages in one. I want to stress that the content is unrelated as well. For example, on the right side of the homepage you can subscribe to the newsletter, become a member, and participate in the kitchen poll. On the bottom of the page you can read a blog-esque section. In the middle of the page you can get the recipe of the day, cookie mix contest info, and peanut butter recall info. And, finally at the top of the page, a rotating recipe is featured. Although there are only two main colors (red and blue) all of the content's images are too distracting. Since, there are so many different sections located on one page, three different typefaces are used to distinguish them. Although three typefaces are okay, more than three gets you into trouble. Since Betty Crocker is already doing poorly on her layout, she should play it safe on her type choices.
So you might have guess it.... the winner is Jell-O!
Jell-O keeps it simple, while Betty Crocker piles it on. The best bet in website design it too keep it simple, let your user navigate through content easily, and make sure the user knows what your site is about. Jell-O is successful on all three of these. Although BettyCrocker.com is not necessarily the worst website, she has a long way to go to compete with Jell-O .
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job picking websites and comparing them, but I have to disagree about the Betty Crocker site. Unlike the Jell-O site, it has a lot of content to control, and I think it does a pretty good job of keeping it organized using headings, boxes, and colors. For instance, the colors: Red and blue (Betty Crocker colors) are always there, whereas a third color cycles through.
Your typeface point is interesting, though. It mixes serif and non-serif fonts, which I'm not crazy about. But there are worse things. I wish you had picked a "worst" site with which to compare, but picking two similarly good sites was an interesting way to emphasize design aspects.