Week 4A - Aesthetics, Design & Branding

     This week we are going over the importance of branding and how first impressions affect people and their decisions. This is a very interesting topic to me because we all make subconscious decisions that aren't obvious to us and trying to understand this psychology is fascinating.

   
     The first website I chose that needs improvement is pennyjuice.com. At first glance it is a vibrant and colorful website that seems simple to navigate. However, there are many issues including: the logo, bad use of pictures and graphics, the header, and the fact that I can't find any nutrition facts. Almost immediately it's obvious that the header doesn't snap to the top of the page which looks unprofessional. The logo looks a little like a broadway title; it should be fun, young and vibrant but instead it has a theatrical font with an ugly brown, sort of tie-dye penny in the middle. I understand the idea behind the use of color-blocking to try to organize sections like rows on a table, but the content doesn't flow and looks piece-meal with random graphics. Why is there a large banner image showing kids playing with play-doh? Also, the footer has this weird child ribbon design that doesn't go with anything else.
     To improve on the pennyjuice website, I would change the logo to be younger and more playful so the brand looks like it belongs on that website and the logo should be more attractive to kids. Second I would use better imagery and graphics; I realized that there weren't any images of kids drinking any juice which is strange since that's the product! I would make the website cleaner, use appropriate imagery and also make a stronger sales pitch as to why someone should buy the juice in the first place. The product itself needs some help with branding and packaging as well; the bottles that the concentrate comes in looks like bottles that I would see out of a warehouse or chemistry class.


     The second website that I chose for improvement was jamilin.com. Wow this website is a blast from the past, it looks like late 90's or early 2000's in design, there is clutter everywhere poor graphics and imagery and quite frankly I'm not sure what I am even looking at. It took me a minute to actually figure out that this woman is in to energy healing of some sort. There are links all over the place and I think the majority of them are affiliate marketing links which ties in to some weird affiliate marketing instruction or seminar that she offers, I'm still not sure. There are broken internal links to some graphics as well which doesn't help this website out one bit. I'm scared to keep clicking around actually.
     This website looks like an affiliate marketing trap, there are external links all over the place and there are links to learn how to sell with affiliate marketing too! This is a quote from her "About" page: "Jami has practiced conscious interior design for more than thirty years and her special talent for color has become her trademark." If this woman has a special talent, it isn't web design. In order for this website to work, it needs to be heavily revamped with a clear message of who this woman is, what services she offers that isn't part of affiliate marketing and a cleaner website that is functional.


     One of the websites that I think are doing things right is headhunterhairstyling.com. You can easily tell what the brand is and what they do right away and the website is clean, simple and functional. The video graphic on the front page is a nice touch and makes the brand current and more engaging. Since the site is nice and you can tell that they put some thought in to it, I get a little sense of trust that they do things right and so I would book an appointment with someone. It's harder to start to like a brand when you have a bad first impression than to dislike a brand over a good first impression so I think they did a good job here.
     The other website that I like is toyota.com. Everyone knows the brand, it is a household name so they don't have to go out of their way to try to convert you in to a lover of Toyota because you probably already made that decision before visiting the website. The site is clean, simple to navigate and they show what's going on in the company beyond cars which I think is important. In my opinion they could have done a little more with graphics to make the site more engaging and more technology-focused in order to try to bring in some younger customers.